This will change the way you watch 'Top Gun' Here's the Tom Cruise classic 'Top Gun' in under 3 minutes He was the editor of for nine years before joining We Are The Mighty as editor-in-chief in September of 2014. Ward is a retired Naval Aviator, novelist, and military commentator. “The Funky Chicken” is what aviators call the involuntary movements that happen during G-LOC. “G-induced loss of consciousness.” (Not good when at the controls of a fighter traveling at high speed at low altitude.) (“Weezer, you got me?” “Roger, Weezer is visual.”) Wingman (or other friendly) in sight (as opposed to “tally,” which means enemy in sight). (“Man, I came into the break and was vaping like a big dog.”) The condensation cloud created when an airplane pulls a lot of Gs. Usually used around the tanker pattern, an indication that the radar is or isn’t transmitting. (“Gypsy, Texaco is at your one o’clock for three miles, level,” or “Gypsy, your signal is Texaco.”) (“Nuke is tally two bandits, four o’clock low.”)Įither a label for the tanker or direction to go to the tanker. (“Rooster has an SA-6 spike at three o’clock.”)Įnemy in sight (as opposed to “visual,” which means friendly in sight). Um, not that “spike.” The real “spiked” is an indication of a missile threat on the radar warning receiver. Radar warning gear without indication of a missile threat. (“Devil 201 is on station as fragged.”)Ī pilot who’s an easy kill in a dogfight. (“Gucci is on the bug.”)Īn indication that the airplane is loaded weapons-wise according to the mission order. (“Diamondback, your signal is buster to mother.”)Įxit a dogfight rapidly. (“I had that bitch firewalled, and I still couldn’t get away from that SAM ring.”)ĭirection to go as fast as possible. Push the throttles to their forward limit. (“Delta 10 on your recovery time” means the jet is now scheduled to land 10 minutes later.) (“Lobo is bingo fuel,” or “Ghostrider, your signal is bingo.”)Ĭhange to a later time, either minutes or hours depending on the context. Low fuel status or direction to head for the divert field. If a piece of gear is inop it is “bent.” (“Giantkiller, be advised my radar is bent.”) (“Angels 3” is 3,000 feet.)Īltitude in hundreds of feet.

er, here you go:Īltitude in thousand of feet.

Fighter pilot g force