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thatsrightice · 9 months

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HOW TO BECOME A FIGHTER PILOT

So as you may or may not know, I am writing a fanfic. Unfortunately for me, I can never do things half way, and because aviation is my passion I must do hours of research on a particular subject that I probably won't even use or reference in said fanfic. Here is a guide for how our favorite characters (probably) became fighter pilots. If there are inaccuracies let me know, I want to know :)

United States Naval Academy

The USNA is an undergraduate college that is a combination of academics and military development programs. Students who want to go into Flight School could qualify with one of a variety of different majors, but there are particular majors that obviously may provide a bit of an advantage to aspiring pilots. The USNA currently offers a variety of different majors and minors, though there are fewer than you might expect from a typical university, and overall the degrees are more tailored towards the Navy. They encourage participation in athletics in the form of a Varsity or club/intramural sport(1).

NOTE: Maverick likely attended a regular college and was a part of the Naval ROTC program at that school. He would have gotten his degree in a field relevant to aviation, likely Mechanical Engineering given his mechanical aptitude seen in Top Gun Maverick, and then attended the 13-week program called Officer Candidate School. To be honest, Maverick’s path within the Navy is a mess and impossible to follow but in the most straightforward scenario, he would go to flight school following Officer Candidate School.

Flight School

Flight School is an approximately 2-year-long program that is required for Naval Aviators to earn their wings. Primarily located at the “Cradle of Naval Aviation” aka Pensacola, FL, flight school consists of many different phases that will divide students into different specializations.

1. Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation (NIFE)

Divided into four phases, NIFE is a program that evaluates students’ aeronautical aptitude as well as screens them to ensure they’re capable of becoming aviators. Students may earn a “pink sheet” for any score below 80% or a failure of a task, requiring them to stand before a panel of instructors to explain why they failed and how they plan to improve. Too many pink sheets result in removal from the program(2).

1a. Water Survival Training Following medical clearance, students are taught and tested on their ability to swim while wearing flight gear as well as formerly instructed on various survival techniques and CPR(2).

1b. Academics A 3-week phase where students take classes and exams in five subjects. It is condensed to test a student’s ability to retain information, learn new information in a high-stress environment, and challenge their self-discipline in regard to time management and other areas(2).

1c. Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) Students are entered into a 2-week-long modified civilian flight training program where one week is dedicated to ground school courses before they must conduct a series of flights in a Cessna using Navy flight procedures during the second week. Students had to memorize and prioritize information to complete the flights, specifically in regard to conducting pre-flight briefings and emergency procedures. Overall, they’ll conduct seven flights in which they are required to complete a set of standardized maneuvers(2).

1d. Aviation Physiology A week-long training course that consists of emergency-specific training evolutions such as the hypoxia chamber, emergency first aid, and the “helo dunker.” The “helo dunker” (from what I understand) is a particular training device that consists of strapping a pilot into a cockpit-like or helicopter contraption within a pool and submerging the entire structure under the water, simulating an environment in which their aircraft has landed in the water and they need to escape from the seat(3). An image of this can be seen below(2).

The Top Gun cast had to undergo a similar training course in order to be allowed to fly in military airplanes for filming. A video of some of their training can be viewed below.

youtube

2b. Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination

A 6-week long program that marks the beginning of the aviation pipeline. Located in Pensacola, FL, students attend classes covering the basics of aerodynamics, weather in relation to aviation, air navigation, flight rules and regulations, and aircraft engines and systems (3).

Prior to API, those interested in becoming Radar Intercept Officers (RIO) will have expressed their interest and requested a designation as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO).

2c. Primary Flight Training

A 6-month-long program that teaches the students the basics of flying. There are two locations for Primary, one at Training Air Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Pensacola, FL, or Training Air Wing 4 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, TX. Both Naval Air Stations (NAS) are taught the same curriculum and fly the same aircraft, the T-6 Texan II. The students learn about the instruments, flight basics, radio instrument navigation, formation flying, and aerobatics, and also conduct several solo flights. At the end of Primary, students choose which pipeline they would like. This is conducted depending on the needs of the Navy and how many spots are available(3).

Obviously, Iceman, Slider, Goose, Cougar, and everyone else got Jets, though they may not have gone through flight school at the same time.

2d. Intermediate Flight Training

Intermediate Flight Training is a 27-week program. Split into five platforms; Jet, E2/C2, Helicopter, Maritime, and E-6 TACAMO. The jet platform flight training focuses more on navigation, air traffic control, individual skills, and cooperative skills of flying jets. The intermediate flight training program for jets is located at Meridian, MS (Training Air Wing One) at either VT-7 or VT-9, and Kingsville, TX (Training Air Wing Two) at either VT-21 or VT-22, both of which teach the same curriculum. Students in the jet platform will complete 58 graded flights in the T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft(3).

2e. Advanced Flight Training

Similar to Intermediate Flight Training, the program is split into five platforms but lasts 23 weeks. The students will probably have stayed with the same training squadron throughout the intermediate and advanced flight training. This stage includes learning skills specific to the chosen platform. The Advanced Flight Training program for jets is what’s called the Strike Syllabus. The Strike Syllabus includes an additional 67 graded flights in the T-45 covering air combat maneuvers, low-level navigation, tactical formation flying, and aircraft carrier qualifications. Students will then graduate from Advanced Flight Training with the Wings of Gold(3).

3. Squadron Selection

The final selection process assigns naval aviators to a particular squadron based on the needs of the service. Naval Aviators are assigned to a fleet replacement squadron or other similar training assignments for further training on their specific aircraft type. Here, RIOs and pilots must become qualified by gaining the required flight hours and meeting the proficiency standards necessary.

NOTE: It’s kind of hard to figure out when exactly the RIO training occurs. I know it takes place over the course of all the primary through advanced training occurs as well but I’m not sure if they have to attend seperate courses for it.

TOPGUN

From there, pilots and RIOs may have been moved to their first official squadron for deployment. They would have been in their first squadron for approximately one and a half years, deploying with them. Their squadron would come back from a deployment and during the stand-down time before their next deployment, their commanding officer would select them to go to TOPGUN.

Sources

(1) https://www.usna.edu/homepage.php

(2) https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2944668/nife-lays-foundation-for-naval-aviation-training/

(3) https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/tw4/flight-school.asp

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where-s-all-blue · 3 years

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Hey, I know that I don't really talk here about things like this but...

Could you please, please, please, respect fanfiction authors at least the amount that you aren't trying to get them to write their stories like you want them to?

Yes, this is about the Denden Tea - R side.

Basically, before I joined on AO3, I was on wattpad, and I was writing a series of longer stories for another fandom. And one of my readers was practically trying to backseat write the story for me in order to add something that I am not that confident nor comfortable writing, romance.

In case you must know, the culture I am from does not show affection publicly, straight and gay couples neither do that. We don't do the "I love you" or public handholding or hugs or lovey-dovey stuff that you people from overseas appear to do. How we show affection is in small things, gestures, gazes, smiles that we don't usually give to people, soft expressions, soft touches, gifts. My father is a person who barely speaks a word, he enjoys silence and he enjoys pure music, but he always watches my mother with a soft look in his eyes, he buys my mother things that he knows that she enjoys despite the fact that he himself absolutely hates them (my mother likes mint, my dad hates it, he buys her mint chocolates), and the other year he made her a present. He composed a song for my mother. My mother cooks his favourites, she buys him green shirts (it's dad's favourite colour), she helps him to write (he has dyslexia), she shows him her drawings and stories. They watch movies and shows together. If you're in the same room as them, you can feel just how much in love they are even after 26 years of marriage.

And these always, always, happen at home, where nobody else can see them.

Now look at my writings and how I write about affection and more over how I've written R, my own stand in within the universe. And ask yourself.

"Would a man who, despite of losing his memories of his original home world, still acts very much like is normal within the culture grew up in act lovey-dovey? Would that person even say the word 'love' out loud? Would the author who is from a culture where you do not show affection out in the public write a romantic story in a setting where the two people are actually never alone?"

I am bringing this up because I received some comments:

As you can see, the commenter completely discarded what I'd answered and somehow come to the conclusion that I was saying that a love story can't happen. And practically arguing that it should happen and that I should add extra scenes to make it happen.

As a writer, this makes it feel like this person does not actually want the story I've been writing up until now and that they do not care about anything else than just having romance being explicitly stated to be romance. Which brings us back to the before mentioned Wattpad stories. In which I couldn't write, wasn't allowed to write, characters be friends. I had my readers trying to "predict" what will happen, which honestly was just what they wanted me to write. In the end, I actually changed the entire story, I changed the ending, and while it is one of the best ones I'd written, the ending that is, I absolutely loathe the creation. All because I felt like I wasn't allowed to tell the story I was envisioning in my head.

I've already answered to this commenter in length and it's more than likely that it comes off as me loosing my temper, but I am just so so tired of commenters like this. They put more pressure onto my shoulders, make me overthink about things, limit my creativity, and cause me to stress so much that a fun little writing project turns into a nightmare in which I am actively deleting drafts of chapters that were almost complete.

TLDR: If you are a reader of fanfics, try not to act in a manner that limits the author and forces them to write a story they aren't comfortable in writing. And more over do not try to get writers write things they clearly aren't comfortable to write. Don't limit them. And listen to them when they tell you things.

-Fanfic writer who is very tired of people like this

#not op #not one piece #writing #fic writing #writer problems

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