Fighter PilotTypical Day

As is the case with virtually everyone in the military, the typical day of ace fighter pilot Val “Mother Goose” Maverick starts insanely early and is strictly regimented. As this is highly classified government information, the only thing we know for sure is that the food is probably pretty bad. We’re willing to venture a guess on some of the particulars, though.

Maverick rises early each morning and begins with a 10-mile jog around base on days when he’s not cooped up on an aircraft carrier (which can be up to six months a year). After his light workout, he heads to the briefing room to check in on his unit’s current tactical situation. He holds out hope that some new threat has emerged and he will be tasked with escorting a clandestine bombing mission where enemy fighters could rain upon them from the clouds requiring him to put all of his years of flying experience to the ultimate test, but he is instead informed that he and his squadron will be performing a flyover of a televised football game.

After the game, Maverick heads back to base to check in with his commanding officer. A new batch of pilot trainees has just arrived, and the veteran airman has been tasked with showing the new blood how it’s done—no, not in the skies, in a classroom off of the mess hall. The trainees were hoping to get up in the air as soon as possible, and Maverick can’t blame them, but as he doesn’t want to spend his afternoon scraping a Tom Cruise wannabe out of a $60-million-dollar piece of government machinery, he understands that some things need to be worked out on the ground first.

Once he’s scared the trainees into thinking that they are constantly going to be one second from death while they’re flying (it’s true), Maverick is released for the day. He meets up with a few of his fellow pilots, and they make a plan to head off base and grab some chow, maybe talk about the football game they all flew over.

As soon as the pilots get to the restaurant, though, Maverick hears the air raid siren. He and his squadron rush back to base to scramble their jets. China has finally invaded the United States.

We’re just kidding. A commercial airliner has mistakenly veered into a no-fly zone, and Maverick is tasked with taking a jet to escort the plane out of the area. It’s most likely a navigational error, but the Air Force doesn’t like to assume things. If the jumbo jet decides that maybe it wants to take a tour of the restricted area, Maverick needs to be there to “recommend” it stay on course.

Once back on the ground, Maverick finally joins his friends for dinner, enjoys a great meal, sings some karaoke, and does it all again the next day.