Catching the Wire (Full Episode) | Top Guns: The Next Generation | National Geographic

[♪ dramatic music playing] -The difference between the United States Navy is that we need all our pilots to land on an aircraft carrier. That's what makes us special. -Landing on this ship is one of the most challenging things that we do. The margin of error is incredibly small. If you get low, you run the risk of hitting the back of the ship, killing yourself and others. -Too high, you're gonna have to come back around and try again. -If you don't catch a wire, you're gonna find yourself going underneath the ship. -By the time you can see the aircraft carrier, it's just, it's terrifying. -You're absolutely stressed to the max. You try and take a couple of deep breaths. -Cover your ears. It's gonna get loud. -You feel the hook grab the wires. That rapid, aggressive deceleration. -You feel the satisfaction of the hook grabbing one of the wires, the adrenaline is absolutely pumping. Your knees are shaking, your arms are shaking, and then you got to get your hookup and get gas and get ready to go again. [Narrator] ...For the first time ever. [Narrator] The US Navy has let cameras document the Advanced stage of its elite fighter pilot training program. -Give 'em hell out there, man, as usual. -Will do. [Narrator] Where pilots learn the skills to be ready for frontline combat. -You show up to work every day so that when the war happens, you win. [Narrator] From dogfighting... [Narrator] ...to carrier landings. [Narrator] Low-level flying... precision bombing. [Narrator] In pursuit of their fighter pilot wings, they'll have to pass the most intense training of their lives. -I want my wings, I've worked so hard for them -What up big dog? -We're all here to get our wings. So in terms of dream, I think I'm kinda like the threshold of living my dream. -This is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I was meant to do and I love it. [Narrator] But not all of them will make it. -Right out of the gate, it will be an unsat. -I dropped the ball. -Woo, baby, you like to die. -I knew that coming here would be a challenge. I just don't think I had any idea how tough and like what kind of tough. [♪ upbeat music playing] -I do enjoy the time driving to and from work. It really is beautiful and very peaceful out here. It looks a little bit like home for me. [announcer] It's the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show. ♪ You got to feel it ♪ ♪ You got to believe it ♪ -I knew when I graduated high school that I wanted to join the military. My dad was a Marine for many, many years. Both my grandpas were in the Army and the Navy, and so it's kinda the family business. [Narrator] Carissa Meinster had studied medicine and was on track to become a military doctor before one flight changed her life. [Carissa] It was with a F-18 pilot, and she flew me around for 20 minutes. I just was so impressed by her, and at the last minute, felt called to do it. It is cool to think I'm getting closer to being what she was. [Narrator] Carissa's husband, Ben, recently passed the program and is now flying F-18s for the Navy. [Carissa] Being in the military and being married is very challenging. There's never any promises of time together. My hope, obviously, is that I could go join him out in Lemoore, California. Ideally, we'll be able to live and work in the same place. [pilot] Here we go. Strike time. [Narrator] So far, Carissa has completed the first phase, Strike bombing. [Narrator] And unlike some of her classmates. [Narrator] She excelled during the stage. [Narrator] But now, in this next stage of the course, Carissa is really struggling. -Okay, Field Carrier Landings, alright, that's what this mission is. You're going to get to go out and execute a fighter-style jet powered field carrier landing. [Narrator] Due to the extreme dangers of landing on a carrier at sea, students train on a landing strip at Meridian. -What you're going to see on the runway is a painted aircraft carrier box. It's the landing area that the aircraft carrier has on it. So the aircraft carrier landing area is small. We drive that nose up position, drive it aggressively until we crash on deck. So we have to practice landing in that particular violent manner in order to get aboard the aircraft carrier. The reason we do that is because you've got to put the hook, in a certain part of that landing area in order to catch a wire. [Narrator] As well as landing, pilots must be ready to take off, because if they miss a wire, there's less than 500 feet of runway to get airborne again. [Narrator] To mirror the conditions of carrier landings, students have been learning a maneuver called "Touch-and-Go". [Narrator] Where they accelerate after touching down to immediately take off again, mimicking the procedure should they miss the wire on the ship. -I'm trying to learn how to, uh, land on the carrier. Landing on the wire is difficult. -You see those Navy style landings. Really like smack it in. -Navy lands on postage stamps. [tower] Golf 1, welcome to the pattern, Charlie. [Narrator] To pass, students must show improvement over 13 flights, each one consisting of six touch and go landings. -I've done 30 landings in the past 24 hours, so I'm a little fatigued. I'm fatigued. [Marcus] What differentiates us from like the Air Force is landing on the boat. So CQ is all about doing what the Navy does. [Narrator] Any student unable to prove they can master field carrier landings cannot become a fighter pilot for the US Navy. -Two flights left. [Narrator] Carissa failed her first attempt at carrier qualification. -Thank you. [Narrator] And is currently resitting all 13 flights of the stage. -I tried so hard. Going all the way through like 13 straight flights of just working harder than I think I've ever worked in my whole life, and then it not being enough is like so painful. You can't let up for even a second or you'll get bit. -I think everyone that goes through this program deals with self doubt. You have to do the thing, you have to execute. There's no other way around it. [Narrator] Captain Stephanie Harris is the only other female pilot in Carissa's class and so far, she's on course to pass her carrier qualification. [director] How would your classmates describe you? -Oh. I think they think I'm a hippy. Yeah they think I'm a hippy. I'm Stephanie Harris and I'm 33 years old. Before I got into aviation, I lived on a houseboat in Brooklyn. I interned at the United Nations. I went to India and worked on a farm. And so when I was like, I'm gonna join the Marine Corps, everyone was like, what? [laughs] Who would've thought! But I've always felt like a protector. Uh so, I've been thinking about putting Legacy Hornets number one. It's like F-18s. They do some cool missions, but as the time gets closer, I'll have a better idea. [Narrator] Carissa is 11 flights into her resit and has just two flights left to pass the stage. [Justin] If Carissa were to fail the carrier qualification landing stage, a second time, it's grounds for dismissal from the syllabus. [Carissa] The program here is so challenging. Nobody can make you believe that you can do it. The only thing you can do to get past it is go up and do the exact same thing they just told you, you weren't good enough at again. [tower] McCain ground go to Runway 1 and take Alpha Bravo. Ok Tower, 24152 takeoff. [Narrator] Scrutinizing each touch and go are landing signal officers Commander Polson and Lieutenant MacGriff. -At the field, we're teaching the students how to successfully fly the ball and land on the carrier. We have this thing called IFLOLS. Some green lights that go across the middle. Those are called the datums. The green lights represent the point on the ground for you to actually touch down. [Narrator] When coming into land, the students are targeting an amber light called the ball. When the amber light is parallel with the strip of green lights, the aircraft is on the correct glide slope to catch an arresting wire on a carrier. If the ball drifts above the green line, the aircraft is coming in too high, missing the wire completely. But if the ball drops below, the aircraft is too low, and if this was a carrier, the pilot would risk crashing into the stern of the ship. [Chelsea] Roger Ball is a way that establishes two-way communication. It's in response to the pilot calling. The fact that they do, in fact, see the ball, and we're acknowledging, okay, you got the ball. You're clear to continue flying it. Each flight, they'll do six touch-and-gos. What we're really looking for is an improving trend. So they're getting better both in that period itself and then overall during the phase. [Narrator] Carissa is lining up for her first of six touch-and-gos. Since the start of her carrier landing training, she's been struggling with the same issue. [Justin] For Carissa, often times her power corrections are too erratic. Her height above the target for touchdown has been too high or too low. Unfortunately, the reality is it's very hard to get over that hurdle. -She didn't add enough power on her line up correction, and she got below glide slope before I waved her off there. [Narrator] If she'd continued that approach on an actual carrier, Carissa would have crashed into the stern of the ship. [Narrator] So far, Steph has been a standout performer on the course. -My head's so in the game. I love to push myself. [Steph] You're only as good as your last landing. You always wonder if you can do it. See us working around the runway. [Steph] I arrive to a good start and then beginning a steady descent, hopefully down to the touch down point. [Steph] It's difficult. [Steph] It's not so much yanking and banking. [Steph] It's a lot more finesse. [Chelsea] She showed up pretty high, she handled it well, working it back down to glide slope. But obviously we don't want to get ourselves that high in the first place. But she handled it well. [Narrator] It wasn't a perfect landing, but on an aircraft carrier, Steph would have successfully caught the wire. Carissa fails the next four attempts. Now she has just one landing left today. [Narrator] Carissa's approach was too high, she's failed her final attempt of the day. -Carissa, don't put yourself in that position to have to get lucky. -All of these comments about, you know, a little bit too much power here or too much power here. [Chelsea] The reason why some of those little fly-through downs or no grades was the rate at which we were coming down. -If I think I'm high or a little high, then I don't need to come crashing down under the sky to arrive. [Narrator] With just one flight left, Carissa's dream of joining her husband as a fighter pilot hangs in the balance. -I do think I have a little bit of imposter syndrome, kind of wondering, you know, when are they gonna figure out that I'm not really that good? You know, why am I even here? Am I even good enough at this? [Narrator] Aircraft carriers have been the centerpiece of American military might overseas since the conflict in the Pacific during World War II. In 1942, the Battle of Midway was fought between the United States and Imperial Japan. [reporter] The trap is sprung. 80 planes roared from the decks of our carriers, army bombers, marines, funded destruction over 300 miles battle area. [Narrator] In a devastating attack, US naval aircraft launched an assault, sinking three Japanese carriers within minutes, and a fourth later that day, turning the tide of the Pacific War. Today, Aircraft carriers are central to US global military strategy with at least three deployed at any given time, often to regions as a way to project power, their very presence can deescalate conflicts. Another student with ambitions to operate aboard aircraft carriers is also one of the course's most unpredictable talents. -My name is Andrew Charles Seepe. I've wanted to do this since I was like third grade. I read a article from a fighter pilot in the Navy who was describing what it was like to take off from an aircraft carrier, go out to these multimillion dollar aircraft, rip around the skies, and get paid. Like, honestly, that's just crazy to me. -A degree of arrogance can go hand in hand with being a fighter pilot. But you need to temper that enthusiasm a little bit because that's going to get some people's noses bent. [Andrew] Sometimes I can't keep my mouth shut, you know I say something royally stupid or out of line and get myself yelled at or in trouble. This, this is cool. It blows my mind how big these are. -Dude so this is 106, right? -Yes. -When Andrew and I were dating, he would quiz me on all of the different types of jets and I'm like, "Babe, I cannot tell the difference between an F-22, an F-16, and an F-18. That's just not me. I'm like, that, that is a jet. I can tell you that much." -It's super cool, dude. -Yeah. -We've been married four and a half years. He does everything 110%. He's a very gung-ho individual. [Andrew] Some of our classmates were complaining about like getting woken up by F-18s in the morning. I was like, honestly, I don't care. That's super exciting. Like, it usually gets me really excited to hear them out there, rippin. It's hugely motivating at the same time, like another confirmation of like, this is 100% what I want to do. Like, this is absolutely sick. [Chelsea] First of all, welcome families. Before we get going, who has a joke? Seepe? [Andrew] All right. Morning, everyone. What's red and bad for your teeth? A brick. [Chelsea] Oh, God. All right. I don't know how to come back from that. [Audrey] He is absolutely a class clown. You know, he's the first one to crack a joke. He's the first one to laugh. Honestly, it's one of the things that I think helps relieve a lot of tension when things are overly serious. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with him. -I know your families are here, which is a lot of fun. This is still a real period, take it seriously, don't try to impress anybody. Looking at you right now, Seepe. -Roger ball. This is the first time I've actually seen him in a jet and been able to identify, that is my husband. [Andrew] We all want to be super good at what we do. I'm trying to prove I am better than everybody else. So that naturally leads to kind of a competitive like “How did you do versus me?” -Rock and roll. Woo! [Narrator] As the families begin to disperse, the students get back to their training. [Narrator] Andrew has aced every single touch and go today. [Narrator] The last part of the exercise requires a routine flight back to base. [Andrew] I love flying. Being able to go fast and rip the jet around and do things with an aircraft people won't ever get to do. But I wouldn't say I'm reckless. I think there's small moments of rashness, I guess. I just ripped it as much as I could. It's just a crazy roller coaster. super cool. [alarms blaring] [automated voice] 1, 8, 5, 6. [Andrew] I messed up. Did something I wasn't supposed to. Coming back to land, normally, I will come in at like 350 knots. Trying to push the envelope a little bit, I came in at a little over 440 knots. -All right. Raise your hand if you think that you flew well today. Seepe, what were you doing? -I was riding the lightning. -Yep. You went to the moon. We saw you like come up, and you just kept right on climbing. [Andrew] It was. Yep okay. [Chelsea] Seepe, don't do anything stupid, it's not worth it. You're flying around that fast there, you get yourself into a really scary situation for you, for us and that's why we got to do something. -Alright. So put yourself in an unsafe position, we're just going to get rid of you because that's what's gonna happen at the boat. -That is why this is that big of a deal. Any questions? -No questions. [Chelsea] Alright. [Narrator] Andrew speeding is a serious breach of Navy protocols. So serious his future on the course is now in doubt. [Andrew] Got told to go see Skipper. So I was automatically like uh-oh this isn't going to go over well. -All right, everybody listen up. We're going to do six laps. All right, on your mark. Get set. Go. [Narrator] This morning, Andrew is licking his wounds after being hauled in front of his commanding officer for misconduct. -12:58. All right, before you guys leave, I need you to check your scores and sign. [Andrew] Skipper chewed me out pretty good. They've gotta inspect the jet and make sure it's not damaged. So it was like a breach of trust. Skipper kicked me out of his office, and now my penance is to fly the desk for a few days. This is the duty desk. I just make sure the coffee and popcorn is filled and answer the phones and if it needs to be routed up, it kinda goes from there. [Narrator] Andrew won't be able to complete his carrier qualification until his superiors are satisfied he's learned his lesson. -And everybody really loves being behind this desk instead of flying. -I think it was a blemish on a Seepe's character, and frankly, a question of his integrity. My hope from this experience is that he raises his humility. We need somebody who can take their licks and keep on going. Learn from it, grow, and then move on. [Andrew] What I did wasn't good. It was just stuff that was dangerous for no reason to be dangerous. I'm not gonna do that again. Watching all my classmates go off flying while I'm sitting there on the desk. Yeah, it sucks. But hey, I messed up on this. I'll take what I can from it and learn and grow. Apparently, I like to learn the hard way. So, not a good time. -I don't think the best pilot today is the kind of fighter pilot that we would have envisioned 30 or 40 years ago. [Justin] You know, a little bit arrogant and aggressive. [Justin] Your typical jock or something like that. Being a good pilot, you don't need to be cocky. What we're looking for is a variety of personalities. [Steph] Release. Nice deep breath in. [Narrator] When she's not training to be a fighter pilot, Steph holds yoga sessions for her classmates, instructors, and partners of students. -And relax. Nice. Yoga being in my life, it's a good feeling. Reaching the fingertips to the sky. The postures, the mediation, the breath work. Exhale. I can get my head out of stuff and just focus. Press the palms towards the sky like you're holding, like, a box up. I think the whole like idea of being a fighter pilot, I don't know if I've fully embodied yet. There's this element of fear that can be restrictive. Palms into the mat really firmly. There's like a bigger burden to carry when you're aware of what's at stake. So if you take yourself to a high plank. That's a good distance for your hands and your feet. But I think the values and the centering that yoga has brought to my life, it makes you a little bit more careful, and smart about the decisions you make. And that's how we hold our balance. -I think there's a really amazing group of women that we have here that work together. [Steph] Exhale. [Carissa] When things are a struggle, that kind of mutual support is really, really helpful. [Narrator] Steph and Carissa's final carrier landing flight is scheduled for tomorrow. [Carissa] Tomorrow is a big day. It seems like it's a very big hill to climb. To be honest, I'm trying to ignore that it's coming. It can be very intimidating when things are a struggle and you see other people who aren't struggling. [Justin] This isn't easy and I think for somebody like Carissa who comes here wanting to do this but doesn't do very well, that can sow a lot of self-doubt. [thunder] [reporter] People along the Louisiana Coast are waiting for the arrival of tropical storm, Francine. [reporter] Forecasts call for potentially deadly storm surge, destructive winds, and widespread flooding. -Today, we're preparing for Hurricane Francine's landfall. When there's a hurricane, we get jets in the hangar to protect them from the weather. So all the jets on the line are chained down. They're all covered and plugged. In Mississippi, it happens a lot. Because we have a lot of weather that we have to contend with. [Narrator] After all the buildup, Carissa and Steph have been told to stand down. [Steph sighs] [Carissa] One day. One day. Just not today. -Not today, but soon. -Because I wore some yesterday and we didn't fly and I was like, am I gonna do a whole load of laundry for a new pair, so. -I should be more superstitious, I'm not really. -I don't like being superstitious, I try not to be, I like to find... ...I think I'm too logical of a person to be superstitious. -But I grew up very Catholic, so I don't always have the choice. [Steph] That'll do it. [Narrator] In spite of the setback, a determined Carissa throws herself into perfecting her landing technique in the simulator. -188, Marshall on mother's 180, Angel 7. Expected approach time, four zero. [Carissa] Growing up, academics and studying in school was something that I found joy in and also found myself to be quite capable. Nothing felt insurmountable. -Through high school I think a lot of the gentlemen were uncomfortable around her because she's just wicked smart. She can take a lot of information in and process it very fast. [tower] Better watch your beam distance here so you're not too tight. [Scott] Everything that she goes after, she has achieved it. -This is looking pretty good right here. -But then I came to flight school and was absolutely humbled. -Roger. Little power. Watch your BSI. Don't drop. Don't drop. That's alright. [Narrator] Before joining Advanced Phase, Carissa had to push through setbacks in basic flight training. -I failed a flight in division flying. -Easy on the angle bank. -And that was a really, really brutal experience. -If the elevator doors are open, there in the rear as soon as you see those like one potato, two, go. -I got up and I kept flying and I got better. I worked hard. I never gave up. -107, cleared, left down out a mile. -You know the way that she deals with adversity, I mean it's pretty, it's pretty amazing. -She has always wanted to go the hard route. It doesn't matter if it's hard, she's going to figure out how to do it. [Scott] She's just an amazing, amazing young lady. -She's unstoppable. -I've spent a lot of hours and a lot of time, and there's been tough roads along the way, but this is a pass or fail. So I'm really trying to make sure that I stay focused and finish strong. [Narrator] With the skies finally clear, Carissa has been given permission to fly. [Carissa] Big day. Really big day. There's a lot of buildup. This is why we have done all the learning we've done up to this point. [Narrator] Today's flight will be one of the most important of Carissa's career. [Justin] For Carissa, it's that make or break situation. Team, how we doing? Good? It's that last flight where she has to step up. All the other flights beforehand have been preparation for that event. [Narrator] For Carissa, failure today could end her dream of becoming a fighter pilot for the US Navy. [Carissa] Getting your helmet on, getting everything cleaned up and like putting your gloves on and getting ready to walk. It's the one kind of brief moment of privacy that you get before you go out to fly. A lot of that time, I spend pretty quiet, just trying to focus on what's coming up. You want to make sure that you have all of your brain space free for what you're about to do. [Narrator] Also taking her final carrier landing exam is Steph. [tower] Cleared 147 McCain Tower. Runway 1, right. Wind 100 at 8 on departure. Cleared for takeoff, contact tower button 1-2. [Narrator] Carissa has just 6 touch-and-gos left to prove herself. [Narrator] As much as Carissa has tried to prepare for today, her nerves seem to be getting the better of her. approach was too fast. It's not the start she wanted. [Narrator] Next to attempt a landing is Steph. [Narrator] Steph's landing goes smoothly, now it's time for Carissa's next attempt. [Narrator] And to make matters worse, next two landings. [Narrator] Leaving her with only two more attempts to pass the stage. -I can't imagine what's going through Carissa's mind right now. [Carissa] My husband gave me the advice one time of, just try at least once every flight, to like take a breath and take a second. And slowly feel time slow down and you see you're like, oh, I didn't see that last time, but I saw it this time, cool. All right, now back to what I was doing. Right for lineup. -Tango 5. -Yes sir. -Side 191. We started showing a declining trend. -Your fifth and sixth pass. It was all on the line at that point. -Yes, sir. -And you really went to school, and I was really happy with the way we finished today. Bird and I both would feel comfortable taking you to the boat if we were going to the boat tomorrow. So nice work. Overall, you're qual, both of you. [Steph] Thank you. -Congratulations. -Working hard out there for you, sir. I don't want you to be disappointed in me. -Nice work. -I felt like it made more sense every time. I had Steph cheering me on. She was like, you got this. It was kind of a nice moment to prove not only to them, but to myself, I can do this. -We're done CQ. -Good job. -Thank you, you too. When it finally clicked and I was like, I got this, and then it just being smooth for the last few. It was a really awesome moment to finally believe in myself and not get in my head because I know I've been able to do it all along. -I am just really proud of you. I'm proud of you. [Steph] And to know that like they would take us to the boat is also a really good feeling. -Yeah, and I feel like I would want to go to the boat. Like I feel like if they said tomorrow, like let's go, I'd be like, hell, yeah. Let's do it. [pilot] Fight's on. [Justin] The students are going to learn the fundamentals of dogfighting. -Up and over. -What we call the knife fight in the phone booth. -I'm really looking forward to dogfighting. I felt like I was chosen. -Claggett's one of those more aggressive personalities. -Woah! -My biggest fear is to be the guy that people are worried about. -Well this is uncomfortable. -Well we can't give limitless chances. It's put up or shut up-time. -Well, I probably won't fly this plane ever again.