In the Cockpit: Docuseries Captures Intensities of Elite Fighter Pilot Training

While movies like "Top Gun" and "Top Gun: Maverick" show people a glamorized version of military fighter pilot life, most people really have no idea what it takes to become an elite aviator, until now.

A new National Geographic docuseries called "Top Guns: The Next Generation," follows a handful of Navy and Marine Corps officers as they go through advanced strike fighter training - the last, hardest and most unforgiving phase of fighter pilot qualification training.

The show's producers chose to film that phase because of its intensity, but it's also what audiences are most familiar with. The show skips past the classroom training and highlights when students go beyond being "just a pilot" to what it takes to become a fighter pilot.

"It's the most crucial point of their training. It's really the point in which they can fail, and their dreams of becoming a fighter pilot are over," said Karen Edwards, the series' showrunner. "They spent years getting to this point, and now it's all on the line."

When choosing candidates for the show, Edwards said they met with about 30 trainees assigned to Training Wing One, based at Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi, where most of the series was shot for more than a year. They selected a variety of students with different backgrounds, experience levels and skills.

"One of the participants used to be a yoga teacher and is now a Marine," Edwards said. "Another guy talked about how he was adopted at birth and how that has impacted him and his religion. For others, it's in the family blood."

Marine Corps Capt. Micah Nissly was the adoptee Edwards mentioned. He said his dad, a pastor, impressed upon him the importance of public service and giving back, so he enlisted in the Marines. After eight years of service, he went to officer candidate school before starting aviation training.

"I think it's important for individuals to know that, regardless of their upbringing and how they came into this, they have this opportunity," Nissly said. "Naval flight training is truly the great equalizer: you give it all. You make it or you don't. And I think your background matters so little … what matters is your performance."

Initial Reluctance

When the documentary opportunity arose, Nissly said he initially denied the offer to preserve the legacy of the "quiet professional," as he knew most in the jet community to be. But then his wife convinced him that it's something his 6-year-old daughter could one day look back on with pride.

"I really hope the viewers … see that behind every flight is a naval aviator committed to teamwork, integrity and self-improvement. They'll see our ups and downs, but humility and accountability define us way more than the egos," Nissly said.

Marine Corps Capt. Stephanie Harris was also reluctant to be part of the production because she didn't want it to take away from her focus on training. But she eventually agreed.

"I've looked up to so many people who walked this path before me," she said. "Providing an example of the kind of people that do this - and not just your stereotypical version - felt important to me."

Stunning Cinematography With a Focus on Accuracy

Some of the series' filming also took place at Naval Air Facility El Centro in the California desert. El Centro specializes in teaching trainees strike training - how to accurately drop bombs and other ordnance. A small portion of filming also took place at Naval Air Station Key West, so the students could access the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. These locations helped crews capture stunning aerial visuals that included precision bombing drills, dogfighting, evasive maneuvers and carrier landings.

"[Students learn this] in a really short period of time, and it's a lot to ask, which makes it all the more amazing when they achieve it," Edwards said.

To get the shots, the production team put cameras inside T-45 Goshawk training aircraft using in-cockpit mounts designed, fabricated and installed by Naval Air Systems Command and the Naval Air Warfare Development Center. When the students are flying, the audience can hear minute by minute what they're saying.

"Everything that happens inside the jet is caught in real time," Edwards said. "You hear them being taught - what they get right, what they get wrong, how they can improve."

To ensure safety wasn't compromised, the production team had instructors and professionals fly the aircraft for the external cockpit-to-cockpit scenes, recreating the flights the students had taken.

"We filmed them externally using the same film crew as they used for 'Top Gun: Maverick' … because that is so dangerous," Edwards said.

Nissly said he thinks the series did a great job of focusing on authenticity.

"They did an amazing job filming the honest struggles. There's no do-overs for this," he said. "This is real life, and the stakes were as high for us then. What you see is what you get."

"It's inspiring to hear and see up close the authentic stories of those serving in our Navy today," said Navy Rear Adm. Ryan M. Perry, the service's chief of information. "It's about young men and women chasing a dream to fly, and the intense training and challenges they go through to achieve their goals."

Emotions Run High

For many of the participants, the high-stakes, life-or-death training takes an emotional toll, which is also captured on camera.

"All of them come back and share and have moments where it's like, 'Am I good enough? Am I going to pass tomorrow? Will I make the grade?'" Edwards said. "That is crucial to their training. They can never become complacent or confident. They're always being pushed to the next level."

At one point in the series, Nissly gets sick while practicing dogfighting with a senior officer in the jet with him. The fact that it was an incident beyond his control was something he struggled with.

"Getting through that mental block of, 'Will this happen again? Is this going to be a common occurrence? How am I going to fight through that?' It was definitely something I had to get over," Nissly said, before joking, "Humility also comes in and will always keep me on the straight and narrow."

Nissly said he's driven by the desire to support enlisted troops - which he was, once - fighting on future battlefields. Similarly, Harris said the hardest part of her training was the thought of those troops on the ground someday and knowing that she needed to hit her targets for them.

"[Strike training] is one of the most difficult missions that we do. So that phase, for me, felt the most intense," she said.

When asked what drives her, Harris said some of it is the fear of letting other people down. "Not being prepared enough when the moment comes," she said. "Fear that I won't be ready, and that drives me in tremendous ways."

The Takeaway

For the Navy and Marine Corps, the goal of capturing the intense demands of this program on film was to highlight what it truly takes to be a naval aviator - even if it shows failure that inevitably happens.

"These are real human beings, real people who are really giving it their all," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joseph "Bones" Pfaff, entertainment liaison at Navy Office of Information West, which led the project. Based in Los Angeles, the office works with entertainment industry professionals to ensure an authentic, accurate portrayal of the Navy's assets, policies and people in television and film.

"We have a very strenuous and challenging pipeline to go from being an unwinged aviation student to actually earning their wings. Not everybody succeeds, and that's OK," Pfaff continued.

"It doesn't end when they finish fighter pilot school," said Marine Corps Maj. Hector Alejandro, director of the Marine Corps Entertainment Office in Los Angeles. He explained that the trainees who earn their wings continue training at their squadrons in the fleet. "Someday, a 19-year-old Marine is going to be pinned down on a hillside, and he'll be looking to the sky for help. The person in that cockpit has to be the one who won't fail him. Our selection and training pipeline is ruthless because we're building pilots worthy of that trust."

Series producers said they expect the audience to connect with the dedicated men and women highlighted in the show - and learn that it's not like what they see in the movies.

"It's not just about going up and having some fun in the jets on a daily basis. This is a job. They are careful. They're trained by very, very experienced people," Edwards said. "You take the audience into a privileged world that they would never, ever be able to see."

"Top Guns: The Next Generation" airs on Tuesdays on National Geographic and streams the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.