All language subtitles for Top.Guns.The.Next.Generation.S01E04.Fights.On.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-ALLEYESONME

[♪ upbeat music playing
"See My Baby" by J. Stapley]

♪ See my baby, she
knows how to rock ♪

♪ See my baby, she
knows how to rock ♪

♪ She knows how to rock,
heads straight to the top ♪

♪ See my baby, she
knows how to rock ♪

- Oh yeah, this...
This, this is cool.

I'm pretty sure this is
about the same surface area

as the wings on a T-45.

♪ See my baby, she
knows how to rock ♪

- F-18s, freaking
coolest aircraft ever.

- So these very jets,

literally the
ones we're looking at,

you could be flying
in 6-8 months?

- That's the goal.
Really hope so.

I've always talked about
putting warheads on foreheads

and blowing stuff up,

and like this is 100%
what I want to do.

Like this is absolutely sick.

Like, this is the
best job in the world.

Here's where the
ladder comes out.

I wouldn't say I'm reckless,

but I think there are small
moments of rashness, I guess.

There's one incident a
few months ago where my head

was up my own butt.

So!

ANDREW Here we go

[Andrew] I was in the shoot,
flying like crazy,

screaming at the
Earth at 450 knots.

I saw the target,
pickled, and then,

when I looked back,

I saw a number like 200
feet lower than I expected.

[voice] Pull up, pull up,
pull up, pull up.

- It surprised me,
and so in that surprise,

I like flinched.

I grabbed the stick
just a touch too hard.

Yeah, he wasn't
happy with that one.

- Seepe

- Yes, sir.

- I want you to
download your jet data

Right now

- Yes, sir.
I'll get it download right now

- So I was like, oh,
that's not a good tone.

Oh [bleep].

He wants me to go
pull the HUD tapes.

You get to watch frame by frame
every little thing you did.

- Guess what happens here?

- And you're like, oh,
that's where I messed up.

- He had overstressed the jet,
didn't realize it,

and that's not what we want.

You've got to rely on the
training you've had already.

- Yes sir.

That was a very difficult
moment where I was like, okay,

there's a lot more learning
going on here as opposed to me

just ripping around the
pattern and pickling bombs off.

- Yeah.

[Andrew] I gotta behave,

that's really baseline
here because I gotta

stay out of trouble.

[tower] Powerdive 4-1 Take off
single 3-0.

[Narrator] After five months
of advanced phase training and

with dozens of flights
under their belts,

some of the students could
be weeks away from getting

their wings of gold.

[crew] Good morning,
how are you?

Hey good morning.

Good to see ya.

- Six or seven years of
my life have gone into like

getting my wings,

the goal that has
been so hard to get to,

and we'll see if I get it.

- I think every one of
the students here knows

why we're here,
and it's to fly an F-35

or an F-18 and-and go
overseas and yeah, see combat.

INSTRUCTOR Get back on that tail

MICAH Yes sir

[Narrator] Most recently, the
students were tested on their

attacking skills in
offensive dogfighting.

INSTRUCTOR
There you go, back to the left

Take the shot if you have it

MICAH Fox 2

INSTRUCTOR Right there, good

[Narrator] But now, the
hunters will become the hunted.

[pilot] I see him
loud and clear.

[Narrator] Dogfighting,
known in the Navy as

Basic Fighter Maneuvers or BFM,

featured heavily in the
wars of the 20th Century.

Whilst many fighter aces
were celebrated for the planes

they shot down,

it was their ability to
execute effective evasive

maneuvers that
ensured their survival.

To this day, defensive
BFM remains a vital part

of fighter pilot training.

INSTRUCTOR Fight’s on

- BFM is hard in general, right?

Defensive BFM is even more
difficult because now you're

trying to fly the aircraft
while looking backwards at

the other aircraft.

INSTRUCTOR Drive towards him

- You're kind of craning
your neck in all sorts of

weird ways to try to like,
see the other person.

- I've got degenerated discs
in my neck from doing this.

It hurts, plain and simple.

INSTRUCTOR
Break right, 3 o'clock, high

SPENSER I’m blind

- Did a BFM defensive flight.
Got my ass handed to me.

INSTRUCTOR Fox 2

- Man, they've killed
me every single time.

INSTRUCTOR Fox 2

AUSTIN ♪♪♪♪

- I mean, you learn more
from getting shot, probably.

So, I'm learning every flight.

EVAN Man, I'm horrible at
that, but that's a lot of fun

- Sir.
- Indeed.

- That’s word on the street, bro.

[Narrator] The next student
to face defensive dog fighting

is Andrew Seepe.

- Must be this,
above this tall for the ride.

Honestly, I can't believe
I get paid to do this job.

Every time I put on the gear,
like it always gets me a little

excited that I'm putting
on my big boy clothes

to go to work, you know?

I very much look forward to
getting into that jet and

you know, see what it can do.

[Narrator] Despite
being a skilled pilot,

Andrew has faced disciplinary
action for reckless flying,

he’s also gained a
reputation amongst instructors

for being cocky.

To pass this next stage,

he must keep his
behavior in check.

-Ocean 131 ready.

[Narrator] For his
first defensive flight,

Andrew is facing a highly
experienced F-18 fighter pilot,

call sign ‘Hot Cakes’.

- So, in defensive BFM,

it is a very distinct
advantage for us.

We have not only done it
in the fleet in an F-18,

but we've also done
hundreds of BFM flights,

and they've never
done it before.

ANDREW Waypoints are set

Transponder 5551, standby.

[Narrator] This part
of the course consists

of three flights.

Andrew will have two
flights with an instructor

in the back seat to
evaluate whether he is ready

to fly the final test solo.

In defensive dogfighting,

students are under attack
by an enemy instructor.

They must avoid
becoming tracked and

locked in their
opponent's sights,

representing a
hit known as a Fox-2.

But if a student's aerial
maneuvers exceed the G force

limit of 6.5, the
jet may be damaged,

so the flight is terminated.

'MAGMA' Don’t pop the nose

ANDREW Yes sir

[Narrator] In the back seat
is instructor Russell Gogan,

call sign ‘Magma’.

‘HOT CAKES’ Three

Two

One

Fight’s on Inferno 1-1 high

ANDREW Inferno 1-2 low

‘MAGMA’ Go! Go! Go! Go!

‘MAGMA’ Figure out where he is

‘MAGMA’ He’s on our six

ANDREW Oh ♪♪♪♪

[Justin] In
defensive dog fighting,

your opponent has a game plan,

and your job is to
complicate that game plan

as much as possible.

You're trying to get your
jet out of their crosshairs.

‘MAGMA’ Dump some air speed

Pull into him as
much as you can.

[Narrator] With
Hot Cakes on his tail,

Andrew's best chance
of escape is to execute a

defensive break turn.

By reducing
airspeed and aggressively

pulling the control stick,

a jet can turn at angles
of almost 90 degrees.

‘MAGMA’ On our six

Don't accelerate.

ANDREW Screw me

[Narrator] But instead,
Andrew accelerates,

attempting to outrun Hot Cakes.

‘MAGMA’ I see where you’re
going, but this ain’t working

ANDREW ♪♪♪♪

I lost sight of him and
figured he was about to shoot

‘MAGMA’ Well, tighten
down and try and regain sight

‘MAGMA’
Keep pulling, he’s on our six

‘HOT CAKES’ 1.2

‘HOT CAKES’ 1.1

‘HOT CAKES’ Fox 2

ANDREW No way

‘MAGMA’
Alright, roll your vector

‘MAGMA’ Gotta keep your nose up

‘MAGMA’ Keep pulling into him

‘MAGMA’ Not where we need to be

'HOT CAKES' Fox 2

ANDREW Dang it

'HOT CAKES' Fox 2

‘MAGMA’ It’s not working, we’re
just getting shot, shot, shot

ANDREW Yes sir

'HOT CAKES' Fox 2

ANDREW ♪♪♪♪

[Andrew] It's extremely
frustrating because I'm working

myself to death and
he's not even breaking a

sweat back there.

Like, "Fox Two."

'HOT CAKES' Fox 2

[Andrew] I don't
know what to do.

And he's just ripping you up.

‘HOT CAKES’ Fox 2

ANDREW Oh, this is a lot

‘HOT CAKES’ Knock it off,
Inferno 1-1. Knock it off

ANDREW Inferno 1-2, knock it off

[Narrator] On average,
students get hit seven times

on the first attempt.

Hot Cakes has hit him eleven.

ANDREW I fricking suck

[Andrew] That was the
first defensive BFM flight.

Yeah, it was tough, so.

- Any questions from the brief?

[Andrew] No sir.

- All right, cool.
Overall, ooh baby.

Overall, actually, name of
the game is you like to die.

Um, you enjoy death.

I have no idea what that was.

- His defensive flying,
it wasn't good.

- And also you're
very, not aggressive.

[Russell] Seepe
failed his flight.

He probably thought, oh,
that was just kinda like

a mediocre flight.

I'm, I’m good, though.

But then when you say,
yeah, that's an unsat, like,

that’s a oh, okay.

- Questions on that?
- No questions, sir.

- That's all.

- He does have a
kinda like little arrogant

attitude about him.

[Narrator] Andrews
poor performance has led

to a failure.

He will need to vastly
improve in his second attempt

at defensive dogfighting
or his dreams of flying an

F-18 could be in jeopardy.

[Justin] Failing is
part the program here.

We learn the most
sometimes when we fail.

- Pull up, pull up.

AUSTIN ♪♪♪♪

AUSTIN That was a deck violation

INSTRUCTOR Sure was, bud

You got greedy.

- The program here
is so challenging.

It can be very intimidating
when things are a struggle.

- We're putting
ourselves in a bad spot.

- It's really hard not
to doubt yourself.

- Failure is always around
the corner in this jet.

You do one thing
wrong, that's it.

INSTRUCTOR If we go low
again, dude, we’re going home

AUSTIN Yes, sir

[Andrew] They all try to
tell you that the consequences

of failure here are you
never get wings, you wash out,

you're done.

That's a huge thought in
the back of your mind of like

you can't shed
that responsibility.

[Carissa] And
that's the hard part,

is nobody can make you
believe that you can do it,

so you have to get back
up after something went

really poorly and
just keep trying.

- Fall down seven
times, get up eight.

- Hit!
- All right, I think I got it.

- Nice shootin’.

- We're all flawed, and
we're all trying to learn.

That humility, I think,

has helped us work
together and figure it out and

there's been a lot of
bonding moments in the suck.

- So it's beating them up
and breaking them down and

getting them to come
through that knowing they're

going to survive if they
do what they're taught.

- You see the self-doubt,
you see the failure,

you see the intensity,
you see the emotion,

and how important
this is to all students.

We bleed and we fail.

I came here for an indoor
soccer game, and I,

I had pizza and chocolate
milk right before it.

I threw up and I...

[Andrew] Projectile?

- I, it was so bad.

The guy in that
stall next to me,

I could see his
feet like moving.

- Like a little shuffle.

I think I couldn't have
asked for better classmates.

We joke around a lot,
and we have a really good

sense of humor.

I think I'm probably
considered the class clown,

partially because I
can't keep my mouth shut,

which is a double-edged sword.

- Andrew's super extroverted,

just kind of a loudmouth
and you know super funny.

He loves flying, and uh yeah, I
enjoy having him as a classmate.

[Narrator] Marcus Figueroa
has been facing his own

struggles on the course.

[Marcus] So I kind of came into
advanced training with like a

little bit of a chip on
my shoulder, so to speak.

Very, very much like an
anxiety-driven student,

trying work hard,

trying to keep up with
the rest of the students.

- Is everyone good to go?

No one's sick today?

No injuries that have
popped up since then?

All right. Let’s go. Two laps.

[Marcus] I really don't party.

I really don't try
to go out too much.

For the most part, I
come home from flights,

and I'm right to the books,

just trying to keep myself
as consistent as possible.

- Grab water if you need it,
and we'll meet on the track.

Don't bully the Marines, please.

- You know you watch
movies and you think it's all

Tom Cruise and Top Gun,

but reality is that you're a
25-year-old kid out of college.

You left home, and you're
just trying to find your way,

and of course,
you have self-doubt.

INSTRUCTOR Go!

[Narrator] In the
strike bombing stage,

Marcus had a hard time.

INSTRUCTOR You’re slow

MARCUS Roger

MARCUS Checkpoint altitude
I'm not making it

INSTRUCTOR Copy 4, no drop

INSTRUCTOR
You have a really weak rip

You're literally
not doing anything.

MARCUS Sorry, sir

[Marcus] It was
probably my worst fight.

It was a point of which I felt
like I had met my limit.

You know?

- Dude, did you
go up in a lame duck,

like what happened with you?

- Ugh, it was a, it was
kind of a circus for me.

Yeah.

- To look at Figueroa is to
see somebody who is incredibly

dedicated, somebody who is
trying very hard to do well.

- Eh, I had the worst bomb, 137.

[Andrew] 137?

Holy [bleep] that's not great.

- I have spent the last
three and a half years

chasing this goal.

- You also had the
worst first bomb.

So that's like a double,
a double whammy.

- Yeah, yeah.

But the biggest fear that comes
of it is that realization that

you may not be good enough.

That is super scary
because, oh, man,

have I wasted the last
three years of my life?

- Hey, Marcus.

- Hey, what's going on?

Dude, I had a really
bad flight, and uh,

I got even harder
flights coming up.

- I'm sorry to hear that, but
you know it's been a challenge

all the way, so...

- Yeah.

- You got what it takes, man.

It's gonna be ups
and downs, but.

- Yeah.

- You just gotta
stay focused, you know?

[Marcus] My stepfather raised
me since I was three years old.

He lived in Kuwait
during the first Gulf War

when Saddam invaded.

So he got to come here as a,
a refugee of war on a C-130.

And uh for me,

it's kind of an, an honor
to fly for the military,

which saved his life.

- We're rooting for you.

Just don't let the
moment overwhelm you.

- Yeah.

I'm the first person to go
to college in my family,

and I'm the first military
officer in my family.

So I'll keep you guys posted.
I love you guys.

- Thanks for the call.
We love you, too.

- My parents are expecting to be
here to put those wings on me,

so, I use them as
kind of a crutch.

You know when times get rough,
I think about all the things

they went through and
what it took for them to give

me this opportunity.

[Narrator] Tomorrow,
Marcus starts a new stage

of the course,
close air support.

Which includes the
very technique that

shook his confidence,
precision bomb dropping.

This time, there's
even more pressure,

he'll be against the clock.

- How am I gonna turn
it around in 24 hours,

being able to drop bombs
without being

behind the aircraft?

It's one of those things,

either you get crushed or
you rise to the occasion and

you do something that
you honestly didn't believe

you could do.

It's who I am, it's what I want,

but there's that X-Factor
that you don't know whether

you're good enough
to do it or not.

[tower] Central tower.

25 16-mile northeast of
the field for an overhead to 6.

[Justin] Close air support
is when we are going to drop

weapons on enemies in
order to provide support to

our troops on the ground.

[Narrator] In this
simulated combat scenario,

students are given
coordinates of friendly troops

in danger of an enemy attack.

They must arrive within
a time limit and deliver a

simulated bomb drop
with pinpoint accuracy.

Arriving too late will
allow the enemy to attack.

- This trip over to the
hangar is kinda like try to

get a little bit, like calm.

You should just get nervous
about just the entire thing.

I mean, you're being evaluated
for close to 2-3 hours.

Between the brief, the debrief,
and the flight itself.

You want to perform well,
so it's easy to kind of fall

to the nerves right
before an event.

INSTRUCTOR Roger,
ready for game time

MARCUS Copy, sir

INSTRUCTOR Hammer 1-2,
this will be a Type 2,

bomb on target

Enemy consists of
mechanized infantry

[Narrator] Once he
receives the coordinates,

Marcus has two minutes to
locate and destroy the enemy.

INSTRUCTOR North 31 45.33

West 088 06.10

Friendlies currently
North West of the target area

about 2000 meters

12 miles

2 minutes facing

MARCUS Copy, sir

INSTRUCTOR Hammer 1-2, go

MARCUS
Hammer 1-2, IP inbound 270

[Justin] Close air support
has been one of the critical

missions in naval aviation
for the better part of the

last two decades.

MARCUS Heading 250

- When I was a
lieutenant in the fleet,

we did a deployment
to Afghanistan.

You take off from
an aircraft carrier,

you cross Pakistan,

you find yourself
in Afghanistan.

The next thing you know,
you get that voice from God

that tells you that, hey,

we need you to go from
this place to some other place

as quickly as possible.

So you bust it from
point A to point B.

You check in with
troops on the ground.

- Rage 3-7,
Hard Rock 5-2. Over.

- They tell you that they
are in contact with the enemy.

INSTRUCTOR Target at
your 1 o’clock, right there

MARCUS Copy, sir

- It's an incredibly
stressful situation.

If you get it wrong,
lives are on the line.

INSTRUCTOR Hammer 1-2,
this will be a 30 degree roll

in on the bridge target

Your final attack heading is 230

MARCUS Copy, sir

[Justin] Your training kicks in.

If you are doing your job well,
you are able to deliver a weapon

on a precise target
exactly where it needs to go

at the right time.

INSTRUCTOR Got 2 miles to action

MARCUS Copy, sir

[Narrator] Marcus has
successfully located the target

but only has
seconds left to strike.

INSTRUCTOR Theres the rip

Looks good

[Marcus] No one outside of this
community knows how difficult

it is to do this.

MARCUS
Hammer 1-2, in heading 232

[Marcus] No one can
fly the jet for you.

No one can save you.
And you have to make it happen.

MARCUS
Hammer 1-2, off safe blind

INSTRUCTOR
Good effects on target

The bridge appears
to be destroyed

Ground commander's
intent has been met

- Hey, look at that

Sweet!

Timing, I think you were 3
seconds early, so nailed it.

MARCUS Yes, sir

[Justin] Figueroa
did really well.

He's showing his mettle,

and I was pleasantly
surprised with the performance

out there today.

[Narrator] Marcus now
has two more stages standing

between him and his
fighter pilot Wings.

- Overall, pretty clean there.
So, nice job.

It was fun flying with you guys.

- Sir, thank you so much.

Thank you, sir.

Why not dare to do
something great?

Achieve the highest
achievement that you can.

To become that person,

you have to be someone
that puts it all on the line.

- Hey there, Elijah.

You want to roll again?

Ready? Ready? Ready?

- He's like, no, I
got blanket now.

- Good job, buddy.

[Andrew] Most people would
strongly dissuade trying to

have a kid in flight school.

Everybody is like, focus
on getting your wings.

Don't add additional
responsibilities to your life.

- It's been an interesting
time for both of us,

to say the least.

It's got its rough parts,

but you know that's
how we grow, right?

[Andrew] It is tough,
but I don't know.

There's nothing quite like the
feeling of when you're looking

at your little mini me,

and he just lights up
when he sees you.

- Huh! Yeah, is that right?

I've really appreciated
seeing the dedication and the

love for his family.

[Andrew] Oh, a naked baby.

Being responsible
for a small person,

it's really
exhausting, hard work.

It does make it more difficult.

[Audrey] He shouldn't worry
about us whenever he needs to

be in the plane because his
focus and his priorities need

to be flying so that
he can come home to us.

[baby crying]

[♪ intense music playing]

[Narrator] Andrew is
facing his second defensive

dog-fighting test.

Following his failed flight,

this is his last chance
to progress to the solo.

ANDREW ICS check,
switches set, norm 2.9

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Also I’m set, norm 2.9

[Narrator] Coaching Andrew
from the back seat is instructor

call sign 'Lord Fartquad'.

'BAMBI Base 30, 32 taxi.

[Narrator] Flying against him
is instructor call sign ‘Bambi’.

[Andrew] Getting up super tired,
dragging myself here.

But we all want to succeed.

So there's kinda that like,
can I push myself further and

harder than the next person?

But, yeah, do that, you can
get yourself in a bad situation.

[Narrator] To improve his
performance from last time,

Andrew must defend
more aggressively.

‘BAMBI’ Three

Two

One

Fight's on

'LORD FARTQUAD' Nice pull, there

ANDREW Yes, sir

[Narrator] Instead
of following Andrew...

‘BAMBI’ 1-1 high

[Narrator] ...Bambi tries
to hide from him by pulling

into a steep climb
towards the sun.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Follow her vector

ANDREW Lost visual

ANDREW Damn, I'm too blind

[Justin] We have this cliché
where you lose sight,

you lose the fight.

If you can't see what
the bad guy is doing,

you can't defend yourself.

'BAMBI' Fox 2.

ANDREW ♪♪♪♪

[Sarah] I think Seepe
flies by the seat of his pants.

'BAMBI' Fox 2.

ANDREW Argh!

- And sometimes he does things
that maybe he shouldn't be

doing that is outside of
his abilities at this phase

of his career.

[Narrator] Determined
to avoid more hits,

Andrew also attempts a
steep climb at high G,

a physically challenging
maneuver for a student.

[heavy breathing]

[heartbeat]

‘BAMBI’ Dealer 1-2, Dealer 1-1

ANDREW Roger

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Recommend terminate

‘BAMBI’ Knock it off,
Dealer 1-1. Knock it off

ANDREW Dealer 1-2, knock it off

[Narrator] Andrew has
been hit only twice.

But by flying more aggressively,

he has pushed his body
to a dangerous limit.

ANDREW ♪♪♪♪

[Andrew] That was exhausting.

Some days you're
tired and beat down,

and as soon as they pull
on the stick, you're like,

yeah, this sucks.

Got to work on my neck
because I tweaked it real good,

pulling six plus Gs,

and rotating while
doing that was a bad move.

The blood just went "foop,"
and I'm like,

"I lost color vision.
That's not good."

We'll call that greying out.

From there, you'll start
to lose consciousness.

Think if you like pulled the
power plug on your computer,

you don't want to
play around with that,

especially when you're the
only one flying this jet.

[Narrator] Flying at high G
force increases the pull of

gravity on the body,
draining blood from the brain.

- Three, two, one, engage.

Deep breath.

[Narrator] All the students
have undergone centrifuge

training to prepare them
for the effects of G force

they’ll experience during
combat maneuvers.

- One, two, three.

Squeeze your legs,
squeeze your butt.

Hey, squeeze,

keep squeezing,

keep squeezing.

- The transition from
"everything is fine" to

blacked out and unconscious
can be very quick.

- How you doing?
How you doing?

- I’m doing alright.

- You know what happened?

- No, I don’t.
- G-line.

- No.

[Justin] It's a very
dangerous situation,

and that's why the students
are gonna learn the onset

rate of that G and staving off
the blood loss in your brain.

[Lord Fartquad] Cool.

When I push you to spread,
it looks like you just kinda

overshot it there.

So be diligent there and keep
it inside of a 0.8 to 1.0.

[Narrator] Andrew is waiting to
find out if he’s improved his

defensive flying enough
to pass the flight.

- A lot of people
really undervalue, I guess,

the sun and sun angle.

ANDREW Lost visual.

[Lord Fartquad]
You know, being silhouetted.

That definitely affects
your ability to see.

ANDREW Damn, I’m too blind.

[Lord Fartquad]
Nine times out of 10,

hopefully,
environmental is not a factor.

But sometimes, like hey,
this has real ramifications

on a fight.

‘BAMBI’ Fox 2.

ANDREW Argh!

[Lord Fartquad]
Don't do that again.

Exactly.
Questions for me?

[Andrew] No sir.

[Lord Fartquad] Cool.
No big deal.

You pass complete,
and that's it.

- Thank you, sir,
it was a pleasure.

[Lord Fartquad]
Yeah, likewise.

[Andrew] Passed the flight.

Definitely some
improvements I think,

as far as like turning the jet
like it's supposed to turn.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Nice pull there.

- But you're also just
fighting the physiological part

of putting your body under G,

and you're trying to keep sight,

and depending
on where they're at,

you're breaking your
neck in half while trying to

break the jet around.

Moving on to the
defensive solo tomorrow.

But yeah, defensive sucks.

- I think I always, like in
the beginning of a debrief,

I'm like always waiting
for those, like the words.

You know what I mean?

- Pass complete.
- Yeah.

They’re, if they're cool,
they'll always be like, hey,

pass complete, like,
and like now let's talk.

- Or they might hit you
with it, you, you, you did...

...pass but...

[Andrew] What was y'alls your
favorite part of the syllabus?

Chuck and I was
probably strike, right?

- See, I did not like strike.
- You didn't like strike?

You were, you were
more tweaking.

- I was tweaking on strike.

I had a really bad
flight in strike. So.

- But you passed!

- All three of us
were in that flight.

- Yeah, but it just from how
much I had to get better.

Obviously, like, you know
your worst flight’s never

gonna be your favorite moment.

So, yeah.

- I think that's how
all flight school goes,

is you go from like the
high to like the bottom that

you've never been to like
back to back all the time.

- Yeah.

If you go back day one,

like what would you
have done differently?

- I’m gonna go back and keep my
head down...

- Yeah.

- And shut up a
little bit more. Like...

- Yeah.
- That’s a good answer.

- That's kind of like
something I'm trying to take

away from this.

Quite a few instructors are
trying to kinda speak some

wisdom to me,

and it hasn't just been
one voice that said that,

it's been multiple instructors.

So it's kind of like one
of those flags, right?

Yeah, that's probably really
good advice to keep my

giant mouth shut.

- Yeah.
- So.

[Andrew] I've always wanted
to fly fighters for the Navy,

but I've gone through so
much to get to this point.

In 2013, when I applied
for the Naval Academy,

they made me go get a
bunch of testing done.

I got a small letter back
from the Naval Academy,

and they had disqualified me
for an allergy to bee stings.

It was a pretty dark period.

- Sometimes he would get
discouraged and try to

go a different path.

[Andrew] Working
at a restaurant,

working at like a battery
place to just make ends meet.

But I still wanted
to be a pilot.

- Then I'd be like, you know
this is what you've wanted to

do since you were
like six years old.

- I had to start
venom Immunotherapy,

where they inject you with
really small doses of bee venom

to build your tolerance up.

My arms are just like purple
and bruised from all the shots

I was getting.

I had to do that once a
month for three years.

As a kid, I would have never
pictured my path being this way.

I think God really
wanted to humble me.

Anytime it gets really
hard and I'm like, oh,

this really sucks, I can
just take a step back and go,

look at all the stuff I
went through to get here.

It just makes it all
worth it at that point.

- Ready?
- Yes, sir.

[Lord Fartquad]
Dealer standby check in and out.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Dealer 1-1

ANDREW Dealer 1-2

[Narrator] Andrew’s had his ups
and downs during this stage.

TOWER
Ocean 131, clear for takeoff

[Narrator] He has just
one flight left to pass,

but now he’s flying solo.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ We’ll
track a little bit further out

here, just for the clouds.

[Andrew] Yes, sir.

[Narrator] Andrew's instructor
from the last flight,

‘Lord Fartquad’, will now
be flying as his enemy.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Take it away

[Narrator] And knows
his weaknesses.

'Lord Fartquad' peels away
from Andrew to see if he's

learned to keep
track of the enemy.

ANDREW Where are you going?

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
You got your eyes

ANDREW Yes sir

ANDREW Visual

'LORD FARTQUAD' Nice

'LORD FARTQUAD' Keep pulling

ANDREW Roger

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ A little acute

Bring it left, a
little bit harder

ANDREW Roger that, sir

[Narrator] Andrew has learned
enough from his previous

flights to stay out of trouble,

but 'Lord Fartquad' has
one final test for him.

He will make a
deliberate mistake,

leaving the chase to fly at an
angle that will allow Andrew to

easily change course and
escape if he spots the error.

But if Andrew continues
on his current course,

it'll be easy for Fartquad
to circle back for the kill.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Keep the power up

ANDREW Yes, sir

ANDREW Lost visual

ANDREW Visual

ANDREW 1-2 low

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Copy

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Very good

ANDREW ♪♪♪♪

I over-G’d

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Copy, what number?

ANDREW 7.6

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Copy that

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
Knock it off, knock it off

Dealer 1-1, knock it off

ANDREW Okey dokey

[Narrator] Andrew
has over G’d the jet,

ending the test.

However, he has
avoided being hit.

‘LORD FARTQUAD’
I’ll see you back home

‘LORD FARTQUAD’ Let’s roll out

ANDREW Roger that, sir

[Audrey] He is a very
passionate individual.

I think if he was prevented
from making this his career,

it would be heart crushing.

It would be something
very hard to get over.

[Narrator] When a
student over G's the jet,

the mission is terminated,

but if they've done
enough before that point

they could still pass.

[Andrew] Pulled 7.6.

Pretty disappointed with
myself for doing that,

especially having
over G'd a jet before.

The G-limits are
there for a reason.

You don't want them
even bending, cracking,

and shortening the
lives on these jets.

There's a bunch more work now
that maintenance has to do.

- Gave me the biggest
screwdriver of all time. Golly.

- The, um, PCs out there
were saying,

this is your second one, so.

- Yeah, it is my second one.

- Uh, do you remember
when it happened?

- I was like bullseye nose low,

and then I was like 3K
above the deck 60 nose low.

That's when I
snatched the 7.6.

So, I did a deck...

- That makes sense.

Now, if he had
continued to fight,

I would have had to
have downed him there.

But, you know, he
recognized it immediately.

It's a high stress flight,
you're constantly go, go,

go and you know what?

If he leans forward
and over-stresses,

I'm not gonna fault him,

especially when
he fessed up to it.

All right, cool.
Just ease your mind.

We're pass complete.

Everything else was
good leading up to it,

and so we say good attitude,

good knowledge, good effort.

That's pretty much it.

- Alright.

A lot of ups and downs today.

Over G'ing a jet and getting
all in my head about,

I probably could have
unsat this event.

Not only an emotional
rollercoaster,

but a physical
rollercoaster as well.

But it feels pretty good
to hear, pass complete.

Yeah.

ANDREW 121
passing 7.4 for a 1-0 thousand

[Narrator] Today, Andrew is
taking his final flight on the

advanced phase course,

having passed all
remaining training stages.

[Andrew] Going
through the program,

a lot of changes have happened.

I feel like there's been a lot
of professional development,

physical development,
mental development.

It's just this constant growth.

ANDREW
Clear to land 28.121.

[Andrew] I know if I went back
and looked at me day one...

versus now,

just, like, what I can
handle and what I can do.

Almost night and day difference.

ANDREW Good brakes

INSTRUCTOR Looks good

[Narrator] Andrew will
soon join the naval fleet,

but will need to wait to find
out if he’s ranked highly

enough in his class
to secure his dream jet,

the F-18.

- Over the arc of
his experience here,

I was very happy to
see his maturation,

his evolution from somebody
that was rubbing some people

the wrong way to
taking the feedback.

- Hey, Marcus, get him
good with the hose.

- Oh, I’m ready.
- Oh, yeah.

- He learned to have
a degree of humility.

- Don't forget to
take your gear off.

[Andrew] Yes, sir.

I'm definitely very glad
I stuck it out because

eight-year-old me would not
believe I made it this far.

Let's go!

- He's waited for
this day for so long.

I think it'll be one of the
proudest moments of his life.

- That hose is cold.

- I've told him that
actually multiple times,

that the one thing I respect
about you the most is that you

never give up.

- Thank you so much, sir.
It was a pleasure.

- It's been very impressive
to see how dedicated

he is to his work.

He has never done
anything halfway,

and it's one of the reasons
I fell in love with him.

- Now I'm gonna
squish the munchkin.

-Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.

- We're gonna fly at 500 feet
and we'll invert it and go on

the backside of mountains.

- Oh, don’t overbank that much.

- Fear is intense.

- Watch that rising terrain.

- I'm fairly confident that
he's gonna come home every day,

but there's always the
chance that he doesn't.

- Get the nose up,
get the nose up.

[Justin] It hasn't been smooth
sailing for Spenser so far.

He's going to have to
prove to the instructors that

he has what it takes.

[Spenser] Keep [bleep]
losing sight of him.

I’m blind.

This is the most demanding
and the most challenging thing

I've ever done in my life.

[Justin] Hey, guess what?

This is what you signed up for.

-Watch your airspeed.

[alarm]