BAe Hawk - Suomen ilmavoimissa/in Finnish Air Force

Jet trainer BAe Hawk entered service with Ilmavoimat, the Finnish Air Force, in 1980. Thanks to additional purchases and updates the Hawk is still in use in 2015 and will serve well into the 2030s. The Hawk has proved to be an excellent jet trainer with good handling qualities and performance. It will be the longest serving aircraft type in the Finnish Air Force.

The author Lieutenant Colonel (E) Jyrki Laukkanen served in the Finnish Air Force from 1966 until 2002. Since 1971 he served as a test pilot at the Flight Test Center until his retirement and logged 1016 flying hours on the Hawk. Jyrki ranks the Hawk as the best aircraft of all the 153 different types of aircraft he has flown.

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