Gizmo joined the Belgian Air Force in 1996 and started his standard pilot training at Beauvechain Air Base with prom 96A. After completing basic flying training on the Alenia Aermacchi (formerly: SIAI Marchetti) SF-260M/D and basic jet training on the Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jet 1B, he received his pilot wings in 1998. He then went to become a C-130 pilot at Melsbroek Air Base but returned to Beauvechain Air Base 2 years later as an Instructor Pilot on the SF-260.

He started his conversion training with the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at Kleine Brogel Air Base in 2005 and began flying Lockheed Martin F-16s. He joined 31 squadron at Kleine Brogel Air Base in 2006 and became the Wing Aviation Safety Officer (WASO) there in 2013. He has over 4,400 hours flying of which around 1,500 hrs on the F-16 MLU.

Since 2015 he is the Belgian Air Force F-16 Demo pilot.

1 2 ►