The thirtieth pilot in the fifty-seven year history of the U-2 Dragon Lady high altitude reconnaissance aircraft reached the 2,000 flight hour milestone during a flight over Southwest Asia on 10 February 2012. The pilot, flying from an unspecified base in theater, is deployed from Beale AFB, California, and is flying with the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. A native of Mobile, Alabama, the pilot, whose name was not released for operational security reasons, has been flying U-2s for ten years. He also has 1,900 flight hours as a B-52 bomber pilot. More than 900 pilots have flown the U-2 over its history but only four have recorded 2,500 flight hours.
