Looks like you are incorrectNo, that is not accurate. There are no F-15s based at NAS Pensacola. The USAF has a training squadron there for their CSO and airlift and tanker pilot trainees. i.e. backseaters for USAF aircraft are trained there. They go thru basic training on the T-6 Texan II and on the T-1 Jayhawk. At any one time, there are over a hundred foreign students there, usually from countries that bought planes the US Navy operates like F/A-18 and what not. In fact, many of our lao chio A-4 Skyhawk pilots were trained in NAS Pensacola. They go thru all the training side by side with US Navy A-4 drivers, except for carrier quals. But they are also tailhookers. In fact, on a normal day, the security at the base is quite tight. I was in NAS Pensacola recently, and they make you exit the car at the security checkpoint and check your passport etc. NAS Pensacola is so big, and there are so many entry gates into it. I am surprised that a gun dealer sold this saudi student pilot a gun, I didn't think he met residency requirements. But he can enter easily with his base pass and not be too heavily checked.
The gunman was believed to be enrolled in the base’s Aviation Preflight Indoctrination program. Students in the training hail from countries such as France, Italy and Norway, in addition to Saudi Arabia, which began sending trainees to the base in 1995. The Saudis usually train to fly either helicopters or F-15s, according to a Navy pilot familiar with the program. There are often a couple of foreign students in a class of 15 or so; Americans and Saudis go through their initial training together before branching off for separate training programs.