AIR FORCE PAIR READY TO FLY FAMED SPY PLANE; MAJOR, CAPTAIN QUALIFY AT EDWARDS AFB FOR MISSIONS ABOARD SR-71 BLACKBIRD.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane touched down, and for the first time in nearly a decade, two more names were added to the Air Force's list of men qualified to fly the sleek jet.

Maj. Bert Garrison, the pilot, and Capt. Dom Ochotorena, the reconnaissance officer, became the first newly qualified SR-71 crew since April 1988. Upon their return from a flight over Nevada and California, they were greeted by a small party of co-workers and families.

``We just do our jobs,'' Garrison said. ``We're nothing special. We want to get on with our mission readiness training.''

In the nearly three-hour mission, they traveled 4,000 miles. Half of that came during a 50-minute stretch when the airplane was traveling faster than Mach 3 - more than 2,100 mph.

The crew made a pair of runs over a military exercise called Red Flag being held on the ranges of Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.

``We made two passes using different types of sensors looking at fixed, bunker-type targets,'' Ochotorena said.

The two men are the newest participants in the on-again, off-again saga of the Blackbird program, highly classified for the most part.

The successor to the nearly identical A-11 spy planes operated in secret by the CIA, the SR-71 first flew in December 1964. During their Air Force service, Blackbirds flew 3,551 operational missions, including more than 600 flights during the Vietnam War.

The planes also provided information for Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The Blackbirds were retired in 1990 in favor of spy satellites, but Congress voted in June 1994 to reactivate the program. After being refurbished by Lockheed Martin, the planes' original builder, the Blackbirds were declared ready for spy missions in January.

Garrison, who used to fly heavy aircraft such as B-52 bombers and the military version of the Boeing 737, and Ochotorena, a former member of the B-2 stealth bomber test program, were among 110 Air Force officers to apply for the new crew positions.

Garrison and Ochotorena were chosen; a second crew may begin training in October.

The two interviewed for the position in December and began training in March. The flight was the eighth overall for Garrison and the third for Ochotorena.

``It's not an easy airplane to fly,'' Garrison said. ``You don't sit back and drink Gatorade. There is a lot of stuff to watch.''

Although the two are qualified to fly the aircraft, they still need to complete 15 sorties before they are considered ready for actual spy missions. They expect to finish that part of their training in October.

The SR-71 unit received $39 million in this year's defense budget. The same amount is earmarked for the unit in the 1998 defense budget still pending in Congress.

Provided those dollars stay the same, the plan is to bring in a second new crew in October for training.

The Air Force wants to maintain two mission-ready crews at all times. As the new crews rotate in, the older crews will move on to new assignments, said Lt. Col. Blair Bozek, a reconnaissance systems officer for the unit.

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Photo

Photo: (ran in AV edition only--color) Maj. Bert Garrison, left, and Capt. Dom Ochotorena have qualified to fly the fabled SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News