A fighter pilot analyzes the use of the “heavy deck” in Top Gun: Maverick. The 2022 film with Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Val Kilmer and Glenn Powell refers to the training tool during flying exercises. The hard deck is what flying instructors define as the ground in every exercise. If a pilot dips below the established hard deck in an exercise, it essentially means that they crash into the ground. In real life, the pilot would be dead, and in an exercise, the pilot gets scolded.
Dave Berke was a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps for 23 years. Throughout his career he flew the F-18 Hornet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-22 Raptor, and the F-35 Lightning II. In a recent video by InsideHe commented Top Gun: Mavericks use of the hard deck.
“The hard deck is there to keep people safe. When you’re training in a dog fight, you don’t want to get so low to the ground that if you make a mistake, you hit the actual ground. That’s a terrible way to train. , but in the real world, the ground is the lowest you can go. So they set the hard deck to 5,000 feet, so if you hit 4,999 feet, you simulate it hitting the ground.
5,000 feet is a big number. It gives you the distance from the ground, a lot of space to recover. If you have a problem, it would be very unsafe and dangerous. But boy it makes for a good clip. “
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Since Top Gun: Maverick Debuting in May 2022, the film has been scrutinized for accuracy. Although some inaccuracies have been uncovered, it is clear that the film team’s dedication to precision was a priority. For example, Cruise arranged an intensive flight training program for the cast to attend before filming. None of the actors had ever actually operated the jets they were in – they were controlled by experienced pilots. But Cruise and his co-stars were in the cockpit while the aircraft performed maneuvers that generated 8.5 g to get the most realistic images.
With a seasoned career of 23 years as a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps, Berke’s analysis of the flight exercises in Top Gun: Maverick is credible and notable. The Kosinski film has been complimented for its accuracy since the movie’s debut two years ago. Kosinski and Cruise’s dedication to accuracy is what makes this film so fun, intense and captivating to take in. It’s the attention to detail — like making sure the hard deck is set at 5,000 feet — that keeps audience members coming back to Top Gun: Maverick Two years after its release.
Source: Inside