Florida Congressman Jeff Miller sits in the cockpit of the Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft AA-1 while Lockheed Martin test pilot Jeff Knowles explains the $40 million aircraft’s touch-screen display innovations during the congressman’s visit to Eglin on April 24. The visit capped a week of events involving the JSF. The aircraft’s first arrival at the base was to provide a showcase to Team Eglin and the local community. Media and local community leaders saw and heard the aircraft in action during a sortie and got an up close view of it. They were also shown a cockpit demo to see what it feels like to sit inside an F-35. Nine countries and three U.S. services have orders for the new aircraft and they all will pass through Eglin to learn to fly it. The 33rd Fighter Wing will transition from an operational fighter unit into a joint training unit in October to educate and train the pilots. The first of new fighters are scheduled to arrive March 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo.)