Eastbound in a fast jet: Rotorua Skyhawk pilot returns to home skies in RAAF F-35A

Flying one of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-35A Lightning II aircraft around the country was a pilot who started his career in the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s (RNZAF) No. 75 Squadron, cutting his teeth on the A-4 Skyhawks.

15 September, 2026

“It’s been a bit of a homecoming,” Squadron Leader Jason “Easty” Easthope said.

The RAAF fast jet pilot from Rotorua was at RNZAF Base Ohakea last week during a deployment for Exercise Agile Tasman, working alongside RNZAF and New Zealand Army personnel. 

Squadron Leader Easthope picked up the “jet pilot bug” when he was 14 and was introduced to Skyhawks flying at an airshow in Rotorua.

“Two Skyhawks from Ohakea 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.” 

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

In 1989, at 18 and just finishing Rotorua Boys’ High School, he enlisted as a pilot.

“No. 75 Squadron was my first operational frontline combat squadron. I was 19, young, ignorant and didn’t really know what the hell was going on. I loved it. 

“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.”

In those early days Squadron Leader Easthope spent a lot of time training and exercising in Australia with the RAAF, cementing an early Anzac connection. 

Thirteen years into his career the government disbanded the RNZAF’s air combat capability and the pilot had a big decision to make – stay with the RNZAF or continue flying fast jets overseas.

“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 completing a few months conversion training, Squadron Leader Easthope was posted to No. 3 Squadron flying F/A-18 Hornets. 

Now, after more than two decades with the RAAF, Squadron Leader Easthope flies the F-35A aircraft. Two of his four sons have followed in his footsteps into the RAAF, with one also a pilot and the other about to join.

Ex Agile Tasman was the first time he has flown the F-35A on an exercise with the RAAF alongside the RNZAF in New Zealand, showcasing niche capabilities, and the interoperability of the two countries.

“We’re doing agile operations. We brought over a C-130J Hercules aircraft that armed and refuelled the two F-35As. It showcases we can pretty much land anywhere in the region, refuel, arm fighters and project a potent combat capability.

“The aircraft also dropped high explosive ordnance into the range at Waiouru, controlled by a New Zealand JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller). That showed just how close our procedures are, how interoperable we are, and actually how effective we can be with minimal coordination.” 

The exercise also included intercept training with the RNZAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft, Squadron Leader Easthope said. 

“That was really neat, because we were using leading-edge technology with No. 5 Squadron. We were working together, enhancing the capability of both of those platforms. 

“And it’s not just about the platforms. We’re here to show that with highly skilled and dedicated aviators we can do this easily, often, and anywhere in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“For me personally, I’ve come home to my roots. It was here in Ohakea where I first started flying fighters. 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.”