A fighter pilot analyzes the use of the “hard deck” in Top Gun: Maverick. The 2022 film starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Val Kilmer, and Glen Powell refers to the training tool throughout flying exercises. The hard deck is what flying instructors define as the ground in each exercise. If a pilot dips below the established hard deck in an exercise, it essentially means they crashed into the ground. In real life, the pilot would be dead, and in an exercise, the pilot gets scolded.
Dave Berke was a fighter pilot in the Marines Corps for 23 years. Throughout his career he flew the F-18 Hornet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-22 Raptor, and the F-35 Lightning II. In a recent video by Insider, he comments on Top Gun: Maverick’s use of the hard deck.
“The hard deck is there to keep people safe. When you’re training in a dog fight, you don’t want to get so low to the ground that if you make a mistake, you hit the actual ground. That’s a terrible way to train, but in the real world, the ground is the lowest you can go. So they set the hard deck at 5,000 feet, so if you hit 4,999 feet, you simulate it hitting the ground. You are dead.
5,000 feet is a great number. It gives you that distance from the ground, plenty of room to recover. If you had a problem, that would be highly unsafe and dangerous. But boy it makes for a good clip.”
What Berke’s Comments Mean For Top Gun: Maverick
Since Top Gun: Maverick debuted in May 2022, the film has been scrutinized for accuracy. While some inaccuracies have been uncovered, it’s clear the film team’s dedication to precision was a priority. For example, Cruise arranged an intense flight training program for the cast to partake in prior to filming. None of the actors ever actually operated the jets they were in—they were controlled by experienced pilots. But Cruise and his co-stars were in the cockpit while the aircrafts were performing maneuvers that generated 8.5 g’s in order to get the most realistic shots possible.
Our Take On Berke’s Top Gun: Maverick Comments
With a seasoned career of 23 years as a fighter pilot in the Marines Corps, Berke’s analysis of the flight exercises in Top Gun: Maverick is credible and notable. The Kosinski film has been complimented for its accuracy since the movie’s debut two years ago. Kosinski and Cruise’s dedication to accuracy is why the film is so fun, intense, and captivating to take in. It’s the attention to detail—like making sure the hard deck is set at 5,000 feet—that keeps audience members coming back to Top Gun: Maverick two years after its release.