The new National Geographic docuseries, Top Guns: The Next Generation, captures the science behind elite strike fighter training with unprecedented access to the U.S. Navy’s toughest fighter pilot school. The final phase incorporates six months of high-stakes aerial training and brutal physical demands—a true test of precision, pressure and perseverance—plus a full understanding of the technology required to succeed.
Innovation & Tech Today had the honor to interview Marine 1st Lt. Austin Claggett, a rising star who earned his wings last year. Pushed to his limits, he endured some of the harshest physical forces imaginable to prepare for combat. Practicing dogfights, aerial bombings, and jet landings he kept his head clear for the critical thinking needed to make crucial judgement calls. His journey flies right off the page.
I&T Today: What made you want to be a fighter pilot?
Austin Claggett: A love for this nation. Sense of purpose. A mission—I believe in defending the nation. A love for flight. All those were big factors, and the Marine Corps recruiter proposed joining the Marines as the big challenge, and I wanted the challenge.
I&T Today: How do STEM skills tie into flying a fighter jet?
AC: In the design. In the understanding the systems, there’s a lot of rote memorization of what causes each thing to work in the jet so that we can handle emergency procedures with a layer of critical thinking ability, other than just blindly following procedures. It adds a layer of safety in case you need to make a judgment call. The engineering details of what’s the coefficient left of the wing and what AOA (Angle of Arrival) does that occur at is about the deepest point on the engineering side things.
I&T Today: Can you explain the “fly-by-wire” system on your aircraft and how that works?
AC: Instead of every motion with the stick affecting pulleys or hydraulic pistons, which would then actuate the ailerons, elevator or rudders of your aircraft, the motions of your stick send to a computer chip that says, ‘Roger, I’ve measured the stick movement. I’m going to tell electric motors or hydraulic pissed in motors to move the aircraft.’ They’re trusting your computer.
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope premieres on National Geographic on August 24, then streams on Disney+ and Hulu on August 25. In this hopeful but tense film, photographer Ami Vitale follows a global effort to save the Northern White Rhinoceros, one of the most endangered species… Continue reading
I&T Today: What does it mean if the jet is overstressed?
AC: The jet is overstressed when a maintenance inspection is required because it’s getting close to the threshold of the stresses on the materials. We need to check all the materials for stress fractures. and the strain gauges hidden inside the aircraft that measure specific points to ensure that he material is still in good shape and is fit to continue flying.
I&T Today: What is “lame duck” flying altitude and why do you go there?
AC: “Lame duck” means a pattern above the normal pattern altitude. When we’re doing a bombing run, we call the laps a pattern. Depending on what dive profile we’re using, “lame duck” is a pattern above those. We all know what it is beforehand, and depending on which dive profile you’re at, it’s above so that you’re out of everyone else’s way. If some emergency happens to your aircraft, just climb up to get out of everyone else’s way and go into a holding pattern to troubleshoot. It’s always variable. It’s never one set altitude.
I&T Today: Can you describe “touch and go” landings and the IFLOS technology?
AC: “Touch and go” is preventative so that you don’t crash or overshoot for carrier landings. You don’t wait to catch the wire, you immediately assume that the wire is not going to be caught, so that you get to max power and can safely keep flying in that event. So if you catch a wire, you being at max throttle does not prevent you from coming to a stop. IFLOS is the light that communicates to us pilots the glide path slope we are on relative to the aircraft carrier landing spot for us identifying where we are in space relative to the carrier. It’s up to us to manipulate the aircraft accordingly to arrive in the right spot on the deck. And we use that ball to identify and assess where we’re at. It’s really interesting, crazy technology because the carrier decks is also moving.
I&T Today: What training is provided for a systems failure?
AC: They trained us to handle any emergency in flight. Emergency procedures in simulated events where they are throwing aircraft malfunctions and emergencies into your simulated aircraft and watching you work through the problem and arrive on deck safely. We have a big checklist. When you have an emergency light come on in your cockpit, you identify the emergency light, then do the associated immediate actions. Once complete with the associated memory items, you break out the checklist and you continue with steps as you are RTB (returning to base).
I&T Today: In the cockpit, how much is real-time mental computation?
AC: We do a lot of real quick algebraic computation. We’re doing ratios all the time. I need to fly at this angle to accomplish that in this distance. And you need to be thinking about that ahead before you start dropping your nose, As you’re leveling off, you’re thinking, ‘Okay, how many thousand feet to go? Where should my current aircraft nose be?’ You’re at this current altitude, the ratio roughly this degrees. We prep with a lot of rote memorization beforehand.
I&T Today: How much are you relying on the computer in there and how much is the human factor?
AC: Dealing with an emergency is heavily human factors. That’s why the training is so important. The jet is not going to save itself. You’ve got to save the jet.
