Original subtitles

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[♪ upbeat music playing]

- Yo, what’s up, dude? - How's it going, brother?

Thanks for coming out.

- Yeah, man.

- So today, one of my pride and joys.

Every Marine is a rifleman first.

There you go.

Dude, I love this thing.

- I've only seen these in the museum.

- What'd you bring today?

- I have an AR that I got recently.

- Yeah. - And, quote, I've ruined it.

- Let's see it. Couldn't have made it that bad.

Oh.

- No case. It doesn't have a case.

- Ah, brother.

The only guy that I know that would show up at a

gun range with a pink AR-15

is Austin Claggett, and that tells you about

as much as you need to know about him.

All right, I’ll set up. I'll grab, I’ll grab these.

- I stand out because I'm weird, but Micah...

Ugh, jeez.

...He is the utmost professional, excellent pilot.

- What did you think about Strike?

- I failed two flights in Strike.

Two!

- Yeah. I'm not going to lie, I had a lot of fun.

- No failures. - No.

No failures, but man, just a little spit out, but.

- Alright, whatever.

The dude is unstoppable.

Nice.

[Narrator] With Strike complete,

Austin and Micah now face their most difficult

training mission yet.

[Micah] I'm not going to lie,

I'm, I’m really looking forward to dogfighting.

[Austin] Dogfighting is one of the hardest parts

of the curriculum.

It's where I've seen guys ahead of me get failed flights.

I guess we'll see who's the better shooter here.

I don't know if that’s going to say anything about

who's going to be the better shooter in the air, but.

- Hey, at least these targets aren't moving yet.

All right. You want to shoot it?

[Austin] Yeah, I do.

[Micah] Alright.

[Austin] Going into it, I am worried about

failing another event.

I cannot afford anymore.

[Micah] At any point in time,

the military can tell us that this just isn't the right

occupation for us.

Pressure in these stages only builds.

On target.

[click]

[Micah laughs]

[gunshot]

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[overlapping radio chatter]

[radio] 44-23 live, welcome to mobile station.

[instructor] We’re loud and clear.

- Roll for the crank and then completely tucked under

or something, I've never done that before.

- Morning, team.

- How are we doing?

- You know you go to college, you go to graduate school,

you like work hard, get good grades.

- Yeah. - Join the Navy.

And now I sweat all the time.

- Yeah. Like every day.

[shooter] Hey, there he is.

This is your big-time winner.

What's going on, boss? You ready?

[Austin] Yeah, sure am.

[shooter] Alright, let’s go. I got you.

- You can take your seats.

All right.

So, the next evolution that students are going to learn are

the fundamentals of dogfighting.

It's going to be an opportunity to fly something fast,

something tactical.

Here in naval aviation,

we refer to it as Basic Fighter Maneuvering

or BFM.

It's the most heart-pounding,

exhilarating experience anyone will have ever gone through

when they're doing it for the first time.

[Narrator] Warfare changed forever when combat took

to the skies and was key to allied victory

in both the World Wars.

Around a century later, dogfighting,

even with supersonic jets like the F-18,

remains a vital skill needed by all fighter pilots.

- No pressure, Marcus. No pressure.

[Marcus] Thank you, sir.

- You got it, man. Good luck. We'll see you in a little bit.

[Marcus] Thank you.

The one I'm most nervous about is probably dogfighting.

- It's like the monster in the closet.

It's the thing you're waiting to do.

- You up for some BFM?

- Yeah, let’s do it.

- All right, have fun, dude.

- The training wheels are off, and we're gonna get as close as

500 feet to one another.

- But at the end of the day, every fighter pilot wants to go

out there and dogfight.

- So we train the students in three phases.

First offensive, they get a little bit of a uh advantage on

the instructor.

INSTRUCTOR And go get ‘em.

INSTRUCTOR Try and take the shot on him

MICAH Fox 2.

INSTRUCTOR There we go.

MICAH I got the shot.

INSTRUCTOR Yep.

- Defensive, they start with a disadvantage to the instructor.

ANDREW Alright, he's right behind us.

INSTRUCTOR It’s not working. We're just getting

shot, shot, shot

ANDREW Yes, sir.

[Truffles] And then head-to-head,

mano-e-mano, what we call the,

"knife fight in the phone booth."

INSTRUCTOR Alright, looks like he’s going to circle

Get the nose. Come back to the right, back to the right.

- So it is a culmination of like everything that they've learned

up to this point.

- They're going at speeds that are a lot faster

than they're used to,

a lot more G than they're used to.

- It's extremely hard. It's inherently dangerous.

INSTRUCTOR Up and over.

[Duster] There’s really no preparation that makes you

ready for dogfighting.

We know that this is going to be the first time that any of

these folks have ever been in this kind of crazy, hard,

dynamic world before.

- All right.

[Duster] But at the same time, we can't give limitless chances.

This is that next opportunity.

It's you know, put up or shut up time.

- So the primary purpose of offensive dogfighting is to

kill the enemy, essentially.

As this accelerates, is when you're gonna go,

and then you're gonna pull, max perform over the G limit,

keeping a good eye on altitude and airspeed,

and then through geometric advantage,

you're gonna naturally come back around to the inside.

All right?

The person behind is gonna be the shooter.

You know, a hunter goes out and shoots an animal

on the run.

In this case, we're the hunter.

But the target is moving, and the shooter is moving.

So if you see him do this out in front of you,

the first thing you want to do is get that nose up,

transition to lagged,

and then reverse to align fuselages.

Right. Get it under control.

But it's obviously a high-risk evolution.

They learn how to maneuver to maintain

their offensive position.

They learn how to employ weapons and keep a safe

training environment so that we don't hurt each other

while we're doing it.

If you did everything right,

you're basically in the control zone in a

highly offensive position,

and then it should be just small pulls to take a Fox 2.

Fox 2.

So think about how you're gonna do that.

[Austin] All right, will do sir.

- Sound good? - Yes, sir.

[Narrator] Austin’s classmate Micah is first to be tested on

his dogfighting skills.

[Micah] My name is Micah Andrew Nissly.

I'm a captain in the United States Marine Corps,

and I'm 32 years old.

- Nissly. - Sir, how are you doing?

- What’s going on, man? - Living the dream.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

[shooter] What kind of dream is that?

[Micah] BFM dream.

[shooter] Y’all have fun, be safe out there.

Keep each other in line.

All right, gentlemen, have a great flight.

[Micah] Thank you, sir.

Since a very young age,

I really wanted to become a fighter pilot.

Each time I fly, I get that joy that I've always

wanted back then.

There's a sense of duty that I have to the country and

those that I love.

Not everyone gets that opportunity.

One of the things that set myself apart from maybe some of

the other students is I was adopted.

My birth grandmother went to church and was talking about

how her daughter was going to abort this baby.

My mom said,

please just ask her if she'll not abort the child,

and we'll gladly take him on.

So she went home, talked to my father, who agreed,

and then I was not aborted due to the fact that they

had a different family to take me on.

So right off the bat, I felt like I was chosen.

That feeling of being chosen,

it gives me a reason to make a difference in the world

as a fighter pilot.

[Narrator] For their first dogfight,

students fly with an instructor grading them from

the back seat,

while a second instructor flies the enemy jet.

[Micah] One of the hardest things here is

the changing schedule.

You never really know who we're flying with.

[Poker] My name is Captain Juston Kuch,

call sign Poker,

and I'm the Commodore for Training Wing One

at N.A.S. Meridian.

Go-To, peace in five.

I try to make it a point to fly with each student.

The students would only fly with me,

probably once during their time here.

[Micah] The second that I saw the Commodore was going to be

in my back seat for one of the very first times,

I would ever be in a dogfight,

there was an immediate sense of anxiety.

He's essentially my boss’s boss’s boss,

and he's also been the top gun.

The things he can do with an aircraft far exceed

anything I've ever seen.

[Poker] I think BFM is the most challenging event.

The physical aspect of it all makes it very difficult.

The individual has to really dynamically

maneuver the aircraft.

They're putting on six to seven Gs.

They've got to fly their own aircraft,

but they have to be able to assess what the other aircraft

is doing at any point and then make decisions off of that.

[tower] 5.52 read that correct, cleared for takeoff,

cleared for departure, have a safe flight.

[Poker] I imagine it is intimidating.

I love dogfighting. That's the best part of the job.

INSTRUCTOR Three

Two

One

Fight’s on

[Narrator] For offensive dogfighting,

Micah starts in the attacking position behind the enemy.

He must keep his sights on him long enough to secure a hit,

indicated by the call Fox 2.

To pass the flight, two rules must be observed:

maintaining 500 feet of separation between jets while

always staying above 10,000 feet,

a minimum altitude known as the hard deck.

COMMODORE Go for the right

MICAH Yes, sir

COMMODORE Alright, start coming off to the left

MICAH Roger

COMMODORE We're going a little fast

MICAH Yes, sir

COMMODORE Take a shot if you have it

MICAH Damn.

COMMODORE Close

[Micah] Right off the bat, this dogfighting stage is a

much more complex flight,

and then it starts getting more dynamic.

COMMODORE Get back on that tail

COMMODORE Pull back, pull back

COMMODORE Go to the left

COMMODORE Keep it going

[Micah] Your brain is bouncing around a lot.

COMMODORE Don't worry about a shot on this one

MICAH Yes, sir

[Micah] As we're doing high G maneuvers,

the blood is physically being pulled from my head down

to my feet.

COMMODORE You good?

MICAH Yes, sir

COMMODORE We gotta get this alignment.

Here you go, back to the left

COMMODORE As soon as you take this shot,

back to the right

[Micah] It just builds after every single violent maneuver.

COMMODORE Keep this right about here

COMMODORE Just keep pulling back, pull back, pull back

And follow

COMMODORE Take the shot if you have it

[wretching]

COMMODORE Alright? What's going on?

MICAH Sir, can you take control?

COMMODORE I got the control, yeah

COMMODORE Did you have air sickness?

MICAH Yes, sir

COMMODORE Do you want to start flying?

Or I can keep it.

Your call

MICAH I'll take controls, sir

COMMODORE Alright, you’ve got the controls

MICAH I have controls

COMMODORE OK, well, we’re done for the day

[Micah] I can't believe I've been sick,

especially with the Commodore in the back seat.

As I'm shutting down the jet,

I see throw up on my flight suit,

and I'm just looking out.

He's already out of the jet.

[Poker] Got all your stuff?

Clear?

- Clear. - Okay.

How are you feeling now?

- I feel good. - Feel good?

A little, little wobbly?

- Uh, I’m fine now, sir.

[Poker] Vomiting in the cockpit is pretty rare.

This flight is one of the first ones I've had where

the student was air sick.

At that point, the training is over, there's,

there’s no way around that one.

[Micah] If I'm going to be a pilot who's getting sick,

dogfighting, that can be a real problem.

That could mean not even being a jet pilot.

The military can just decide that this just isn't the right

occupation for me.

[Poker] You know you boot and rallied, right?

You puked, gave you the option whether to, you know,

take the controls again,

I think it does help to fly with, with air sickness.

You know, sometimes you get a little bit nauseous,

and then the mind shuts down a, a bit,

but you stuck with it,

and that was impressive,

considering you’d just thrown up.

So nice job not having a complete meltdown.

Now we got to focus on, you know, getting back.

- Yes, sir.

[Poker] At the end of the day, he got air sick,

so the flight gets marked as an incomplete.

But he showed he's got some grit and some resilience.

I was impressed he stuck with it.

And as we say, you get to see that one again and

get better on the next time.

That's all I got, man.

- Sir. - All right.

- Thanks for your time. - No worries, man, sure.

At the end of the day,

we're training the next generations for war.

These students are gonna go out and do combat operations.

They have to be able to maintain situational awareness

and do the job.

[Micah] Nice.

You ready to jump with Daddy?

Who's going to jump higher, you or me?

- Me.

[Micah groans]

[Micah] They're going to get us.

Run, run.

What?

- Wait, daddy, wait.

I know what we were doing. We were doing a race.

[Micah] A race?

- A cartwheel dance race.

- Jump race? All right. - Winner race.

- Winner race? Okay, I go.

- I'm gonna win.

- Hi. - Can you do this?

[Micah] No.

- You want to sit right there and look?

[Micah] After a rough flight, I'm blessed with a family that

I get to go back to.

No tickles allowed?

- Tickle attack.

I've known Micah for 15 years,

and we've been married for 12.

How is that, good? You got it all over your face.

You got a mustache.

He's my high school sweetheart.

I think that for Micah, being adopted made him who

he is as a person.

Family is incredibly important to him.

In everything Micah does, he thinks of us first.

[Micah] My performance impacts their lives.

I'm definitely nervous and trying to mentally

process this flight.

I'm concerned that this is gonna happen again.

[shooter] You all have a nice, good time.

See you when you get home.

[instructor] Let's do it.

[shooter] Have a good flight.

[Austin] I'm very much looking forward to

building family one day,

but I am definitely married to the military right now.

See you guys out there.

[shooter] See ya!

[Austin] To be a naval aviator,

you have to put your life on hold,

and I'm okay with that.

I have faith that it's worth serving.

- Key is, you got to just keep your head in the game,

all right?

[Austin] I will, sir.

[instructor] You stay focused. You’re gonna.

- I am. - You're gonna rock it.

[Austin] Yes, sir.

[Truffles] Claggett's an interesting character.

He's one of those more aggressive personalities.

He makes a decision,

might, might not always be the right one,

but he sticks to it.

I know he had a little bit of a hiccup in Strike.

INSTRUCTOR Slow it down.

RANGE 17 feet

RANGE Bullseye

AUSTIN Wooooo!

INSTRUCTOR Low drop

INSTRUCTOR Abort

AUSTIN Roger that, sir

INSTRUCTOR We’re going home

AUSTIN Yes sir

- We have standards and expectations.

You gotta be able to perform in this stage of training

to meet the standard.

If you don't, then you have to ask yourself,

what are you doing here?

[Narrator] For Austin's first offensive dogfight,

the enemy pilot is Lieutenant Commander Stephen Elliott,

Call Sign, Yak.

[Yak] We fly them very slow, fly them very fast,

so that they can safely handle a wide variety of situations.

Ultimately, I think my job is to make him work very hard in

order not to get embarrassed.

[Narrator] Riding in Austin’s back seat and

grading the flight is Lieutenant Brian Wasdin.

Call Sign, Gary the Snail.

Due to Austin’s two previous fails,

the instructor will be watching closely,

that he can fly within the safety limits.

TOWER That's a flight of two departing, runway 1

AUSTIN It's go time

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ And we're 300 knots

Try to climb, OK?

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Get behind him

YAK Three

Two

One

‘YAK’ Fight’s on

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ OK, go

[Narrator] Yak starts by trying to outrun Austin.

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Now, careful here

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Airspeed, airspeed

[Narrator] But then suddenly reduces his airspeed.

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Oh, you're gonna be close

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Skip it, Skip it, Skip it!

- Woah!

AUSTIN Damn

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ This is uncomfortable

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ We were pretty close

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ See how late you were to follow?

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Don't do that

AUSTIN OK

[Austin] It's all so new.

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Go left

[Austin] It feels extremely difficult to try

to outperform another jet.

‘YAK’ Fight’s on

[Narrator] After narrowly avoiding a collision,

Austin follows Yak to a higher altitude to

reset the dogfight.

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Keep the alpha, keep the alpha, get higher

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Get behind him, climb behind him.

There you go

[Narrator] Before Austin's weapon system can lock on,

Yak makes a steep dive towards the deck.

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Good range on the throttle

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Dump that nose, get your speed

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Go low, stay low

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Remember, as soon as you take that shot

get the reverse in

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ 8 to the deck

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ 20 degrees up, 20 degrees up

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ 4 to the deck

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ 2 to the deck

AUSTIN ♪♪♪♪

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Reverse, reverse,

aggressive with the reverse

‘YAK’ Knock it off, knock it off. Rogue 1-1 knock it off

AUSTIN That was a deck violation

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ Sure was, bud

AUSTIN That was embarrassing

‘GARY THE SNAIL’ You got greedy

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Lamer] Claggett failed his BFM flight for multiple

training rule violations.

It was his third failed flight, and there'll be a determination

made whether or not he can continue in the training,

or he'll be flunked out.

[Austin] I ended up making another mistake,

so I failed the flight.

And I'm not on a schedule tomorrow.

Well, I probably won't fly this plane for a long time,

and possibly ever again.

So... And that's a little sad.

Yeah.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[Micah] I'm trying to keep my mouth shut while pulling G’s,

staring at the other aircraft directly above us,

trying my best.

[Austin] Mask on?

- Mask on, and I can't like, I'm like, "knock it off."

Like, through pursed lips, man.

And it wasn't good.

Actually, I just got off the phone with a buddy down in

Kingsville doing the same, you know,

same jet program down there, and he got an 80, NSS,

so a perfect score in primary.

He said during dogfighting, he went home,

put his head in his hands, and just cried.

[Austin] Yeah, man.

I've been having, like, stress dreams.

You know, I can't remember them now, but like,

cockpit related and like just stress,

where I just wake up at like 12:00 or 1:00 a.m.,

and I'm like, like I need to go to sleep.

[Micah] My five-year-old's not going to understand the

challenges that I'm going through at work,

and you know, even, even my wife,

who's amazing and awesome, and you know,

if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here.

[Austin] Yep.

- You, it just doesn't translate to somebody who

hasn't been in this position.

Coming out here has been awesome, man.

Thanks for doing this.

I really kinda needed to blow off some steam.

Ah, can I get a water?

- A beer and a water? There you go.

- Thank you. - Thank you so much, ma’am.

- OK.

- I want to be a good dogfighter.

- Yeah. - I don't wanna,

I don’t wanna to go out there and be, ah, you know,

I'll just do, like, good enough.

I sort of know what you're looking for.

I want to put up a good fight.

- When you're in the plane, it's everything you have.

Nothing left on the table.

And I think that's one of the reasons that I'm kinda

more hard on myself.

It's not that I could have done more,

it’s I gave everything I had, and it still wasn't enough.

- It still fell short.

[Narrator] Now, the Navy will determine whether Austin

and Micah can continue in advanced phase.

For Micah, to move forward in training,

he must retake and pass his dogfighting flight.

[Micah] I still can't believe I've been sick.

If I get sick every single time that I'm in a dogfight,

it's not gonna work out for me to be a fighter jet pilot.

Hey, guys.

- Hi, Daddy. - I love you. Bye.

Love you.

- Love you. Have a good day.

[Micah] The expectation when you get in the aircraft

is it doesn't matter what time of day it is,

you're still performing.

It doesn't matter that you're tired,

it doesn't matter that you didn't have your coffee.

You know all of those things all go away the second that

you start up that jet.

[Narrator] Meanwhile, Austin has a make-or-break meeting

with his supervisors.

- I taught myself a very long time ago that, hey,

just because you get knocked down doesn't mean

you should stop trying.

Well, yeah.

You know I'm trying, man. I'm trying.

You can hate on me, but I'm trying.

[Duster] We are in the business of perfection.

- Claggett. - Sir.

My biggest fear is to be the guy that people

are worried about.

[Narrator] After this morning's physical training session,

a panel of senior officers will determine Austin's fate

in a performance review known as a

Human Factors Board.

[Lamer] Just like the name implies,

we're looking at human factors.

We want to know if there's other things outside of work

that potentially might have caused an issue.

All of the results are kept confidential.

We are looking to get to the bottom of the situation because

it's a dangerous business.

[Duster] Sitting in the Human Factors Board is never where

you want to find yourself.

It's definitely a wake-up call.

The reality is we need to uphold a certain standard,

and if you make it through here and you get the wings of gold,

you are a great fighter pilot, but you need to be able to show

that you have what it takes because it only

gets harder after this.

- I'm not very happy with my performance because

I'm not as good as I want to be.

There’s not much more to say other than I messed up.

- I'll see you then. - Okay.

[Lamer] So we've just completed Claggett's HFB.

He has to do progress check.

Essentially, a repeat of the flight that he failed.

[Austin] My responses were, "Thank you for checking in."

"No, no outside factors are happening.

I just need another rep."

[Lamer] Claggett’s almost to wings,

so I expect a much higher degree of professional

performance out of him.

We're flying high-performance jet aircrafts,

so if someone's head's not in it,

it could lead to some serious damage.

I'm looking for him to be safe and to perform

in accordance with the flight standards that we have.

Claggett’s too aggressive.

After his HFB, I said, "Aggressiveness is good,

but you, you do have to have it under control."

[Narrator] Commander Kellner, call sign Lamer,

will grade Austin from the back seat.

While former F-18 pilot, Natalie Walker,

call sign Spicy, will fly the enemy jet.

‘SPICY’ Rogue 1-1 sets the war, all altitudes

[Narrator] To pass, Austin must prove he can keep his

aggression in check and fly within the

strict safety limits.

AUSTIN Rogue 1-2 in shooter

[Narrator] But he still needs to neutralize the enemy.

‘SPICY’ Three

Two

One

Fight’s on

‘LAMER’ You’re a little wide,

so this is not the best set up

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘LAMER’ There you go

‘LAMER’ We gotta close some distance, don't get slow

AUSTIN Yes, sir

[Austin] I had pushed the boundaries,

and it resulted in a failure.

I need to make sure this doesn't happen again.

‘LAMER’ Come on, power up

‘LAMER’ Alright, now start pulling

‘LAMER’ See how we fixed that distance?

AUSTIN Yes, sir

‘LAMER’ Keep tracking

‘LAMER’ Keep tracking

‘LAMER’ Take a shot if you get it

AUSTIN Damn

‘LAMER’ Stay with her in the flow

‘LAMER’ ‘cause if you slow down you're gonna be

off sync with her

AUSTIN Yes, OK

[Austin] And then the tempo change happens.

I'm like, why are you holding yourself back?

‘LAMER’ Alright, follow

‘LAMER’ She's getting higher than us

‘LAMER’ More, more

Up, up, up, up, up!

‘LAMER’ Keep climbing

‘LAMER’ Alright, here comes the maneuver

‘LAMER’ There she went

‘LAMER’ Alright, get more aggressive we're at 15

‘LAMER’ Keep pulling

‘LAMER’ Keep pulling, towards her

‘LAMER’ Watch it

Watch the deck

‘LAMER’ Alright 13K, watch the deck

‘LAMER’ You got a thousand feet to use

‘LAMER’ Alright, she's redefining

‘LAMER’ Take a shot if you get it

AUSTIN Sure thing, sir

AUSTIN Fox 2

[Lamer] Pull up, pull up.

‘LAMER’ Looks good

AUSTIN Let’s go

[Austin] There's something special that happens,

when you think that you don't have what it takes;

despite that, you can carry on.

That's where greatness occurs.

[Lamer] The flight went really well.

He obviously learned from his previous flights.

Aggressiveness is good,

but it has to be tempered because, like the saying goes,

there are old pilots, there are bold pilots,

but there's no old, bold pilots.

[Austin] I passed this check,

which means that I'm moving ahead to the next flight,

which is the offensive solo flight,

so I'll be flying that one by myself.

Two days ago was a low point,

but glad that this flight was completed.

[Micah] I've always wanted to do this job.

The men and women that have come before me have

accomplished so much.

Everything feels like it has built to this flight.

I want to win the fight, but the tolerances of the human

body can only be so much.

Moving forward in these flights, I'll be solo.

I'm the only one that's gonna be in that jet.

If I black out of that jet, there's no system to save me.

[Austin] The best way to explain what it feels like

pulling Gs...

if you've ever done a squat rack, feels,

what it feels like when you're lifting heavy and

you're at the lowest point of the rep and you're like,

[grunting]

and trying to lift it up off of you,

and you're struggling.

As we pull Gs, the suit squeezes our legs,

which allows the blood to stay on our upper torso,

and then it's up to us to squeeze our abs and keep the

blood flowing around our brains.

If you are not actively fighting the Gs,

you will blackout.

[Narrator] In Micah's back seat,

grading the re-fly is Akin Yonamine,

call sign Go-To.

To pass, Micah must successfully manage his

G tolerance while in pursuit of the enemy,

former F-18 pilot William Malona,

call sign 'Gollum’.

- Step up. Step up.

There you go.

You got it.

- Got it.

- Good job. Turn around, sit.

Okay.

We're going to watch Daddy fly.

- Hi, Daddy.

- Say hi, Daddy.

- Hi, Daddy.

‘GO-TO’ Alright, you got controls now

MICAH Yes, sir

‘GO-TO’ Fight’s on

MICAH Fight’s on

‘GO-TO’ There you go

‘GO-TO’ Do you see him?

‘GO-TO’ There he is

MICAH Yes, sir

‘GO-TO’ Keep pushing him

‘GO-TO’ Alright, he's going away from us

MICAH Roger

‘GO-TO’ Now he's coming back towards us

[Micah] I'm contracting my body the entire time in order to

keep that blood from pooling in one direction.

I fight off those Gs.

‘GO-TO’ Alright, I got him

‘GO-TO’ Show him what you got

MICAH He’s going away from me

[Micah] Your vision, you start seeing it come in,

and everything's graying out.

Essentially, tunnel vision.

‘GO-TO’ Go left, go left, go left

‘GO-TO’ Go left

MICAH Blind

[Micah] You're trying to find a jet,

and you're having light loss at the same time.

‘GO-TO’ Go to the horizon

[Micah] I am controlling my breathing and forcing

that vision back.

‘GO-TO’ You got him?

[Micah] All I can see is one pinprick.

That's all I have left to give.

‘GO-TO’ Use the horizon

‘GO-TO’ You got him?

MICAH Visual

‘GO-TO’ Right there, good

‘GO-TO’ Let's go out in front and see if we can shoot him

MICAH Yes, sir

‘GO-TO’ Keep him on the horizon

‘GO-TO’ We’ve got our airspeed, looks good

‘GO-TO’ See if you get that shot

‘GO-TO’ Close

[Micah] Conservative in this game means you're gonna lose.

‘GO-TO’ Corkscrew

‘GO-TO’ Good

[Micah] I have to be able to take those risks.

‘GO-TO’ Keep pushing, keep pushing

MICAH Roger

[Micah] I have to push the envelope.

‘GO-TO’ Take a shot

‘GO-TO’ Close again

[Micah] It's now time to execute.

‘GO-TO’ We don't have the distance yet for a shot

‘GO-TO’ Gotta ease a little bit here

‘GO-TO’ Alright, easy, easy, easy

‘GO-TO’ Don't accel yet

‘GO-TO’ Now go, go

‘GO-TO’ OK, get the wings under you

‘GO-TO’ Try and get the nose up

‘GO-TO’ Easy pull

‘GO-TO’ Right there, that’s the pull, right there

‘GO-TO’ Keep pulling, keep pulling, keep pulling

‘GO-TO’ Keep pulling to the left, keep pulling to the left

‘GO-TO’ Easy

‘GO-TO’ Take a shot

MICAH Roger

MICAH Fox 2

‘GO-TO’ Nice

‘GO-TO’ You got him

‘GO-TO’ Alright, so pretty fast pace

MICAH Just a bit

MICAH Thanks for walking me through it though

- Say it. Say it in here, Ariella.

ARIELLA Roger, ball

- Nice.

MICAH You sound great honey

[jet approaching]

- I, uh, I can't describe it.

It's unbelievable. It's wonderful.

Just the knowledge of knowing how to fly and just to maneuver

a plane like that.

I'm so proud of him.

He's a good man.

My husband and I got him when he was 23 hours old,

and it's just a blessing to see how he's thrived and the

accomplishments in his life.

She's so sweet.

Her and her daddy have such a good relationship.

Yep, he loves his kids. He loves his wife.

He's a good family man.

[Micah] I feel really good right now.

Definitely proud how I handled that.

It's a huge mental hurdle that I was having

to fight through,

and I'm really looking forward to the next stages.

- What's up? Congrats. - Thanks, man.

- I love you, Daddy.

[Lamer] Nice work out here.

You all look great. You all did great.

Alright. See you all.

MERRIANNE We saw you. Good job

[Micah] Thanks for coming.

You did a great Roger Ball call.

- I know. That was really good.

- You made Daddy smile in the cockpit.

I couldn't stop. I was like...

- That's absolutely awesome.

Thank you.

- Love you, Mom. - I love you.

- Good time? - We got some good pictures, too.

[Micah] Oh, that’s good to hear.

- I love you so much.

- BFM is hard.

Defensive BFM is even more difficult.

-I lost sight of him and feared he was about to shoot.

- Now you're trying to fly the aircraft while looking

backwards at the other aircraft.

[instructor] Inferno 1-2 break right inferno on your

right 3 o'clock high.

- It hurts.

-Fox 2.

- Woo baby, the name of the game is you like to die.

- He shouldn't worry about us.

His priorities need to be flying so that he can

come home to us.

[gasp]