A Rotorua-born fighter pilot who first learnt his trade flying RNZAF Skyhawks has returned to New Zealand at the controls of one of the world’s most advanced combat aircraft.

Royal Australian Air Force Squadron Leader Jason “Easty” Easthope was among the pilots flying F-35A Lightning II aircraft during Exercise Agile Tasman at RNZAF Base Ōhakea last week.

For Easthope, who grew up in Rotorua and attended Rotorua Boys’ High School, the deployment was more than a military exercise.

“It’s been a bit of a homecoming,” he said in a media release from the New Zealand Defence Force.

The fast-jet pilot traces his passion for flying back to a Rotorua airshow when he was 14 years old.

“Two Skyhawks from Ōhakea came past really low and fast. I couldn’t really hear anything and I didn’t know why, and then a few seconds later, this noise just hit me. I remember that feeling and thinking that was what I wanted to do.”

In 1989, just months after finishing school, Easthope enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a pilot.

No 75 Squadron became his first operational combat unit.

“I was 19, young, ignorant and didn’t really know what the hell was going on. I loved it,” he said.

“I had a lot of mentors around me who had been flying Skyhawks for many years, which made it easy to develop my skills as a young pilot back in the early 90s.”

Squadron Leader Easthope flying one of the F-35A Lightning II aircraft during intercept training with an RNZAF P-8A Poseidon. Photo / NZDF

His early career included extensive training alongside Australian forces, helping build the strong transtasman military relationship that continues today.

However, his career took an unexpected turn when the New Zealand Government disbanded the RNZAF’s air combat capability in 2001.

Faced with a choice between remaining in the RNZAF or continuing to fly fighter aircraft overseas, Easthope chose the latter.

“It was very clear to me that I needed to be strapped into a fighter and I went to Australia with my wife and young family to join their air force.”

After conversion training, he joined the RAAF’s No 3 Squadron, flying F/A-18 Hornets, before later transitioning to the cutting-edge F-35A.

More than two decades on, aviation remains a family affair. Two of his four sons have followed him into the RAAF, including one who is also a pilot.

Exercise Agile Tasman marked the first time Easthope had flown the F-35A alongside RNZAF personnel in New Zealand.

The exercise demonstrated how quickly Australian and New Zealand forces can operate together, with an RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft refuelling and rearming the F-35s in the field.

The aircraft also carried out live ordnance drops at Waiōuru under the direction of a New Zealand Joint Terminal Attack Controller.

“We’re here to show that with highly skilled and dedicated aviators we can do this easily, often, and anywhere in the Indo-Pacific,” Easthope said.

The exercise also included intercept training with RNZAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

For Easthope, though, coming back to Ōhakea was just as memorable as the flying.

“It was here in Ōhakea where I first started flying fighters,” he said.

“I walked through the base last night and relived some memories. I got married in the chapel on the base and then we walked down to the Officers’ Mess and had the reception there.

“It’s really great to be here. We’ll be back.”