TOP GUN FANS, GET READY—NAT GEO ANNOUNCES NEW DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Before Maverick, Goose and Iceman wowed moviegoers with their exploits at the Navy’s Top Gun Program – formally called the Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (STFI) Program – they had to pass rigorous training courses and gain operational experience in the fleet.
On September 16, the National Geographic channel will begin airing a six-part documentary called “Top Gun: The Next Generation.” While the new series has very little to do with the Top Gun exploits you saw in the theater, it promises to be no less exciting and dramatic. It’s also far more realistic.
This is where and how the Navy really trains its aspiring fighter pilots, and you get to see it up close and personal.
How Does the Navy Train its Fighter Pilots?
In both the original “Top Gun” movie from 1986 and its long-awaited 2022 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” the films focused on the Navy’s STFI program formerly based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar in San Diego and, since 1996, at NAS Fallon in Nevada.
The STFI Program takes the Navy’s best and brightest young aviators and turns them into expert weapons and tactics instructors who can spread their knowledge throughout the Navy’s air wings.
Before they arrive at Top Gun, these aviators have already passed at least two demanding gauntlets – Primary Flight Training (PFT) and Intermediate and Advanced Training just to earn their wings.
At Primary Flight Training, students fly the T-6 Texan. After graduation, they move on to Intermediate and Advanced where wannabe fighter pilots enter the strike track.
The new Nat Geo series follows a group of students and their instructors as they move though this demanding and stressful training program flying the Boeing T-45 Goshawk, the only military training aircraft certified to conduct carrier landings.
If they can pass this test, aviators receive their Naval “Wings of Gold” and move on to a Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) where they receive specialized training in their assigned fighter aircraft, primarily the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or the F-35C Lightning II, the Naval version of that advanced fighter aircraft.
Where Can You Watch the Series?
“Top Guns: The Next Generation” is set to air on NatGeo on Sept. 16, and will be streamed the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
It showcases “six months of high-stakes aerial training, brutal physical demands, and emotional reckoning, where only the top performers earn the chance to fly the most coveted aircrafts,” according to the series description.
“Filmed with unprecedented access, it immerses audiences in a world of intense pressure and soaring expectations, where dreams of earning wings of gold collide with the harsh reality of the grueling training. From bombing drills to close-range dogfights and nail-biting carrier approaches, each episode captures the intense demands of a program that challenges their abilities, endurance and resolve at every turn.”
Follow Future Navy and Marine Fighter Pilots Through Training
Graduating from PFT where students fly the T-6 Texan to Intermediate and Advanced Training and the T-45, an aircraft that can attain speeds of up to 645 knots, is a significant leap.
Nat Geo’s new series follows students and their instructors through the most critical phases of this training through the six episodes.
Episode 1: Strike
Instructors throw students into the fire in the first episode. Students enter advanced phase training with “a set of breathtaking bombing tests,” according to the episode synopses.
Diving at speeds they’ve never faced, students start to make high-risk mistakes. It is up to the instructors to deliver tough assessments in the debriefs to keep the students safe.
Episode 2: Carrier Landings
Most military aviators, whether they wear Naval aviator wings or not, will tell you that the hardest thing a military pilot can do is land an aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier, particularly at night.
If the students can’t pass this test, then they will go home … or go fly a desk.
Episodes 3 and 4: Dogfighting
If you thought that the dogfighting scenes were the best part of the two Top Gun movies, then you’ll probably love episodes three and four.
Dogfighting is, perhaps, the coolest – and most dangerous – thing a fighter pilot does in combat.
The third episode follows students into the dogfighting phase, where they’re pitted against seasoned instructors working hard to shoot them down … virtually, of course.
In the fourth, the students reach the second dogfighting phase, and that spells the breaking point for some of the students.
Episodes 5 and 6: The Path to Graduation
The dogfighting drama, and tension between students and instructors, continues through the final two episodes.
Ultimately, most of the students graduate from the advanced jet training pipeline at NAS Meridian in Mississippi. The students can now proudly wear their Wings of Gold.
However, their training is far from over. Before they can call themselves fighter pilots, the students must make it through specialized training in the Super Hornet or Lightning II at their assigned FRS. That’s probably a good idea for Nat Geo’s next documentary.
Not Quite Ready for Top Gun
Even after making it through their FRS and gaining valuable experience, perhaps even combat experience, in the fleet, these new Navy and Marine fighter pilots have a very slim chance at making it into theSTFI Program.
Some claim that less than one percent of all Naval and Marine aviators get selected to attend Top Gun, although those statistics cannot be accurately assessed.
What is certain, however, is that only the best of the best from each strike fighter squadron will get nominated for this prestigious program … assuming they can make it through the challenging training hurdles set before them years before they get into the STFI Program.
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BY GEORGE RIEBLING
George Riebling is a retired USAF Colonel who served 26 years on active duty as an Air Battle Manager with operational assignments in five command and control weapon systems. After his retirement, he served ten years as a senior executive in NATO and two years with the Boeing Company in strategy and...
