Coming out of a battle alive requires nerves of steel. 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. But one of the students is questioning the orders and it isn’t sitting well with the instructors. In the fighter world, conformity is the lifeline they all depend on, knowing you can trust a guy to follow orders without question. A challenging mission finds one rookie’s landing seriously close to claiming three lives.
This is the time when jet pilots must become jet fighters. The students are entering the tactical training phase. After eight days, the final verdict is delivered. Meanwhile, the Progress Review Board is meeting about one of the trainees whose future as a fighter pilot now hangs in the balance. The students are about to enter one of the most intense and terrifying stages of the course – formation flying. Up higher, under the transparent canopy of the F-18 Hornet, a pilot can feel like a bug pinned under a magnifying glass. It is summer in Cold Lake, Alberta and the temperature on the tarmac hits 100 degrees. As the celebration gets underway the rookies anxiously await their new handles. 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. Dave McLeod gets the call that he has been chosen for the spot.
But even before taking a single flight, one of the rookies calls it quits. The students are about to fly the F-18 Hornet for the first time.
A passing grade is 100% on the Red Pages – no margin for error of any kind.
With their first flights just days away, they need to write their Flight Manual and Red Page exams. The Centrifuge is like an amusement ride on steroids and pilots call it a torture chamber. 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. In the process they will learn details of the most advanced aeronautic technology and warfare tactics of our time.įirst up is ground school, where the students are introduced to the 858 page CF-18 Hornet Flight Manual. Jetstream puts viewers at the throttle of an awesome flying machine, taking them on the ride of a lifetime through the rigorous paces and real life drama of elite Top Gun training.
Real-life Fighter Pilot Instructors keep the rookies in line, building experts out of those who make it through the grueling training and shattering the dreams of those who don’t. With unprecedented access to an elite training ground, each thrilling episode follows eight future Top Guns through adrenaline-charged missions from ground school to graduation, witnessing their fierce drive and relentless struggles. Hand-picked from thousands, seven men and one woman are poised to join the world’s most exclusive fight club. Jetstream chronicles the gripping trials of an elite group of Air Force pilots struggling to master one of the world’s most advanced supersonic tactical fighter jets, the $35-million F-18 Hornet.
From classroom instruction to flight simulator to mission planning to air-to-ground and air-to-air combat, Jetstream takes you through every step towards becoming one of Canada’s top guns.