A passionate pilot with a military and leisure aviation background, Jarmo Lindberg will welcome conference participants and give a keynote speech as well as hosting the Award Ceremony of the 119th FAI General Conference in Vantaa, Finland this October. A member of Finnish parliament and a retired general from Finnish armed forces, Lindberg is also a member of the board of the Finnish Aeronautical Association.

Lindberg has lived a life in aviation from youth into adulthood. Discovering flight through model aircraft, he gained his glider pilot licence as a teenager, and went on to make aviation a career, serving as the chief of the Finnish Air Force and eventually becoming the chief of the whole Finnish armed forces.

During the 2025 FAI General Conference, Lindberg will be an important presence for delegates with hosting duties and will take time to meet and chat with attendees.

“Aviation has been one main component of my life both at work and leisure time. Aviation keeps me young and going strong!” says Lindberg. “I am honoured to have the opportunity to meet all the delegates of World Air Sports Federation FAI and I want to sincerely welcome you all to Finland.”

What sparked your interest in aviation?
My interest in aviation sparked at a model aircraft club in Kuusankoski in Finland, in 1972. I obtained a glider pilot's license when I turned 16, and the hobby continued with a motor flight course. I gained my private pilot's license in Utti a year later.

With a Piper Cherokee - summer of 1977

I joined the Air Force for military service due to my aviation hobby, and started with the Flight Reserve Officer Course in October 1978. Then after obligatory military service, I continued to the cadet course in the Autumn of 1979 which took me to Rissala near Kuopio to fly MiG-21bis fighters with Fighter Squadron 31.

Between 1988 to 1991 I was a MiG demonstration pilot, touring airshows across Finland each summer. I flew my last MiG aerobatic display in August 1991 at the Soviet Air Force anniversary at Kubinka base outside Moscow. At the end of the year, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

After the second MiG supersonic flight in Rissala - 1983

Where did your military career lead you?
After military academy, I became the Air Force chief of flight training for a few years. One of my missions was to select and prepare pilots for the US Navy's F/A-18 Hornet training in the United States: something I wouldn't have imagined just over three years earlier in a MiG fighter cockpit in Moscow.

I led the first Hornet training group in NAS Lemoore, California, in 1995. We flew at several bases where the famous Top Gun movies were filmed, and during the air combat phase of our training, we flew for weeks over the Nevada salt flats, training with – and against – flight instructors who had been involved in the Top Gun film.

The Hornet training group in California -1995

After the California assignment, I spent four years in Pirkkala as the commander of Finland's first Hornet squadron. My wife learned to interpret at a glance whether I had flown that day: I was smiling after the work day if I had been in the air!

In the autumn of 1999, I moved to the Air Force staff as operations manager. I continued flying the Hornet in various squadron exercises to maintain a feel for the daily operations of the Air Force's combat units. After a year of staff service, I moved to Rovaniemi for a year as the commander of the Lapland Air Command.

It was great to get to know Lapland both from the ground and the air. In Rovaniemi, I qualified for a twin-engine Piper Chieftain propeller plane, after which I began flying transport flights with a multi-engine aircraft.

I started as Air Force Commander in August 2008. In fall 2009, I took the Pilatus PC-12 type theory course at the Pilatus factory in Switzerland, after which I completed the type course in Finland with Swiss flight instructors. I flew transport flights with the Pilatus in Finland and to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany.

At the Pilatus PC-12 type course in Switzerland - autumn 2009

My last flight as an Air Force pilot was in June 2014, upon turning 55. I decided to fly the Pilatus to Selänpää, where my first gliding flight instructor from 1974 was waiting for me! The circle closed, and four decades of continuous flying came to an end.

Lindberg (left) reunited with his gliding instructor Pekka Hänninen 

How did your experience in Air Force operations bring you to the Finnish Aeronautical Association?
While serving as the Air Force chief of operations I specialised in airspace management. I became familiar with inter-agency cooperation while serving as the Chief of the operational division of the Defence Command. Part of my remit was to make service agreements with the Finnish Meteorological Institute regarding flight weather.

As Air Force Commander, I signed commercial agreements and discussed with Finavia's management the impact of the upcoming aviation law on the cost structure of air traffic services. Later, as Commander of the Defence Forces, I engaged in extensive cooperation with various ministries and agencies, business and organisations, and foreign partners.

My last position was as Commander of the Defence Forces. After the five-year term, I transferred to the reserve in August 2019.

I was elected as an honorary member of the Finnish Aeronautical Association during my command period and later in 2020 I joined the board of the Finnish Aeronautical Association.

What are your responsibilities and objectives within the Finnish Aeronautical Association?
For me, aviation has been a hobby, a career, and a lifestyle that has defined my way of acting for decades. Now, on the board of the Aeronautical Association, I want to secure the conditions for general and recreational aviation in Finland so that current and future generations have the prerequisites for an aviation hobby, which may also lead to a career.

Last Hornet flight, as Air Force Commander - Rissala, February 2012

Images courtesy of Jarmo Lindberg