8 episodes · 8th January 2008
First up is ground school, where the students are introduced to the 858 page CF-18 Hornet Flight Manual. The next hurdle is the Human Centrifuge test, an extreme challenge which tests their body's ability to withstand the punishing G-forces in a fighter jet. The Centrifuge is like an amusement ride on steroids and pilots call it a torture chamber. With their first flights just days away, they need to write their Flight Manual and Red Page exams. A passing grade is 100% on the Red Pages - no margin for error of any kind. But no pressure, right?
The students are about to fly the F-18 Hornet for the first time. But even before taking a single flight, one of the rookies calls it quits. In a matter of hours Lt. Dave McLeod gets the call that he has been chosen for the spot. Meanwhile, Air Force tradition dictates that once a pilot goes solo he or she earns a "call sign," a nickname that symbolizes his or her identity as a Hornet pilot. As the celebration gets underway the rookies anxiously await their new handles.
It is summer in Cold Lake, Alberta and the temperature on the tarmac hits 100 degrees. Up higher, under the transparent canopy of the F-18 Hornet, a pilot can feel like a bug pinned under a magnifying glass. The students are about to enter one of the most intense and terrifying stages of the course - formation flying. The art of sticking together. Meanwhile, the Progress Review Board is meeting about one of the trainees whose future as a fighter pilot now hangs in the balance. After eight days, the final verdict is delivered.
The students are entering the tactical training phase. This is the time when jet pilots must become jet fighters. A challenging mission finds one rookie's landing seriously close to claiming three lives. In the fighter world, conformity is the lifeline they all depend on, knowing you can trust a guy to follow orders without question. But one of the students is questioning the orders and it isn't sitting well with the instructors.
This is the midway point through training and the pilots are about to take on "dog fighting." The only real rule of "dog fighting" is that there are no rules. Coming out of a battle alive requires nerves of steel. Time is short and the instructors have their work cut out for them: To reach inside the hearts of six congenial young Canadians and bring out the warrior in them.
At 410, every course sees at least one pilot who can't cut it. This course has already seen two. If that isn't daunting enough, the remaining six are about to enter the part of the program known as "The Dream Killer." These missions are fluid and dynamic. And it is that dynamic nature which will - in very short order - shoot down another of the group's star students.
At this point the instructors are hell bent on driving home a single message to the rookies - death can happen to you! The next mission is Low Level Flying. Diving straight for the dirt then skimming above the tree line at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Meanwhile, one final hour in the CF-18 will determine the next 20 years of one student's life. The Progress Review Board is back in session and it looks as if things have hit rock bottom this time.
The fighter pilot rookies are in the homestretch, just a few short weeks away from graduation. But that doesn't mean they can relax. Their next mission has them refueling the jets in mid-air, dropping bombs and shooting guns at ground targets. Finally, after nine long, hard and sometimes heartbreaking months of training, it is graduation day. The graduates can finally shake the annoying title of "rookie" and become bona fide fighter pilots.
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