I'm very busy with training for my new job and am exhausted when I get home so, sorry for the minimal art! But here is a Floydsin sketch for your soul <3
[Click for better quality, reblogs appreciated]
the gimmick blogs are like tumblr’s rogue gallery. yes we’ve got some heroes, yes we’ve got some villains, but more importantly if you look over here you will see some freak who devotes all their time to counting the number of “t’s” in a post
T Count: 15
Letter Count: 198
Your T Percentage: 7.58%
Average T Percentage: 6.95%
You used the letter T 1.09 times as much as average!
YOU EXIST???
Sometimes you create a guy and it turns out they already exist
Sometimes that guy has skills beyond your comprehension @identifying-cars-in-posts
1993-1997 Mazda 626
HOW TO BECOME A FIGHTER PILOT
So as you may or may not know, I am writing a fanfic. Unfortunately for me, I can never do things half way, and because aviation is my passion I must do hours of research on a particular subject that I probably won't even use or reference in said fanfic. Here is a guide for how our favorite characters (probably) became fighter pilots. If there are inaccuracies let me know, I want to know :)
United States Naval Academy
The USNA is an undergraduate college that is a combination of academics and military development programs. Students who want to go into Flight School could qualify with one of a variety of different majors, but there are particular majors that obviously may provide a bit of an advantage to aspiring pilots. The USNA currently offers a variety of different majors and minors, though there are fewer than you might expect from a typical university, and overall the degrees are more tailored towards the Navy. They encourage participation in athletics in the form of a Varsity or club/intramural sport(1).
NOTE: Maverick likely attended a regular college and was a part of the Naval ROTC program at that school. He would have gotten his degree in a field relevant to aviation, likely Mechanical Engineering given his mechanical aptitude seen in Top Gun Maverick, and then attended the 13-week program called Officer Candidate School. To be honest, Maverick’s path within the Navy is a mess and impossible to follow but in the most straightforward scenario, he would go to flight school following Officer Candidate School.
Flight School
Flight School is an approximately 2-year-long program that is required for Naval Aviators to earn their wings. Primarily located at the “Cradle of Naval Aviation” aka Pensacola, FL, flight school consists of many different phases that will divide students into different specializations.
1. Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation (NIFE)
Divided into four phases, NIFE is a program that evaluates students’ aeronautical aptitude as well as screens them to ensure they’re capable of becoming aviators. Students may earn a “pink sheet” for any score below 80% or a failure of a task, requiring them to stand before a panel of instructors to explain why they failed and how they plan to improve. Too many pink sheets result in removal from the program(2).
1a. Water Survival Training Following medical clearance, students are taught and tested on their ability to swim while wearing flight gear as well as formerly instructed on various survival techniques and CPR(2).
1b. Academics A 3-week phase where students take classes and exams in five subjects. It is condensed to test a student’s ability to retain information, learn new information in a high-stress environment, and challenge their self-discipline in regard to time management and other areas(2).
1c. Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) Students are entered into a 2-week-long modified civilian flight training program where one week is dedicated to ground school courses before they must conduct a series of flights in a Cessna using Navy flight procedures during the second week. Students had to memorize and prioritize information to complete the flights, specifically in regard to conducting pre-flight briefings and emergency procedures. Overall, they’ll conduct seven flights in which they are required to complete a set of standardized maneuvers(2).
1d. Aviation Physiology A week-long training course that consists of emergency-specific training evolutions such as the hypoxia chamber, emergency first aid, and the “helo dunker.” The “helo dunker” (from what I understand) is a particular training device that consists of strapping a pilot into a cockpit-like or helicopter contraption within a pool and submerging the entire structure under the water, simulating an environment in which their aircraft has landed in the water and they need to escape from the seat(3). An image of this can be seen below(2).
The Top Gun cast had to undergo a similar training course in order to be allowed to fly in military airplanes for filming. A video of some of their training can be viewed below.
2b. Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination
A 6-week long program that marks the beginning of the aviation pipeline. Located in Pensacola, FL, students attend classes covering the basics of aerodynamics, weather in relation to aviation, air navigation, flight rules and regulations, and aircraft engines and systems (3).
Prior to API, those interested in becoming Radar Intercept Officers (RIO) will have expressed their interest and requested a designation as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO).
2c. Primary Flight Training
A 6-month-long program that teaches the students the basics of flying. There are two locations for Primary, one at Training Air Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Pensacola, FL, or Training Air Wing 4 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, TX. Both Naval Air Stations (NAS) are taught the same curriculum and fly the same aircraft, the T-6 Texan II. The students learn about the instruments, flight basics, radio instrument navigation, formation flying, and aerobatics, and also conduct several solo flights. At the end of Primary, students choose which pipeline they would like. This is conducted depending on the needs of the Navy and how many spots are available(3).
Obviously, Iceman, Slider, Goose, Cougar, and everyone else got Jets, though they may not have gone through flight school at the same time.
2d. Intermediate Flight Training
Intermediate Flight Training is a 27-week program. Split into five platforms; Jet, E2/C2, Helicopter, Maritime, and E-6 TACAMO. The jet platform flight training focuses more on navigation, air traffic control, individual skills, and cooperative skills of flying jets. The intermediate flight training program for jets is located at Meridian, MS (Training Air Wing One) at either VT-7 or VT-9, and Kingsville, TX (Training Air Wing Two) at either VT-21 or VT-22, both of which teach the same curriculum. Students in the jet platform will complete 58 graded flights in the T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft(3).
2e. Advanced Flight Training
Similar to Intermediate Flight Training, the program is split into five platforms but lasts 23 weeks. The students will probably have stayed with the same training squadron throughout the intermediate and advanced flight training. This stage includes learning skills specific to the chosen platform. The Advanced Flight Training program for jets is what’s called the Strike Syllabus. The Strike Syllabus includes an additional 67 graded flights in the T-45 covering air combat maneuvers, low-level navigation, tactical formation flying, and aircraft carrier qualifications. Students will then graduate from Advanced Flight Training with the Wings of Gold(3).
3. Squadron Selection
The final selection process assigns naval aviators to a particular squadron based on the needs of the service. Naval Aviators are assigned to a fleet replacement squadron or other similar training assignments for further training on their specific aircraft type. Here, RIOs and pilots must become qualified by gaining the required flight hours and meeting the proficiency standards necessary.
NOTE: It’s kind of hard to figure out when exactly the RIO training occurs. I know it takes place over the course of all the primary through advanced training occurs as well but I’m not sure if they have to attend seperate courses for it.
TOPGUN
From there, pilots and RIOs may have been moved to their first official squadron for deployment. They would have been in their first squadron for approximately one and a half years, deploying with them. Their squadron would come back from a deployment and during the stand-down time before their next deployment, their commanding officer would select them to go to TOPGUN.
Sources
(1) https://www.usna.edu/homepage.php
(2) https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2944668/nife-lays-foundation-for-naval-aviation-training/
F-14 TOMCAT ISSUES AND ACCIDENTS
The following is a compilation of issues with the F-14 Tomcat that have been encountered by pilots throughout its lifespan due to both mechanical and other reasons. Some are based on individual accidents and some cover epidemics in which many aircraft were lost to the issue *cough* compressor stalls *cough* If you write something pls let me know cause I want to read it :P
LAST UPDATED 8/8/2023
Water Damage- Any type of water intrusion would cause issues with the electrical systems. It was a very common thing, so much so that they would have to duct tape anywhere water might be able to enter as a precaution when they knew it would rain.
Hydraulic Fluid Leaks - The F-14 did leak hydraulic fuel fairly often. There was a joke going around that if there isn't a bucket leaking hydraulic fluid underneath the plane then you are out of hydraulic fluid.
The Staple - Cracks were occurring in the aircraft just before the tailhook attachment point. Their solution was to limit the airplane for 3 months to no more than 4 Gs before installing a 1 ft long, 1-inch wide solid steel staple to prevent the cracking. pilots must hang from the staple as a part of their pre-flight check to ensure it won't come out.
Airbags - Now and then, the airbags would rip and they would have to fix them.
Hydraulic Failures - They happened occasionally but were not any more common than they would be in any other aircraft.
AICS Programmers - They would have to start the airplane and then run the intake ramps aka would have to cycle the intake ramps otherwise they wouldn't be able to get off the ground.
Flap-Slat Lockout - If the flaps on either side of the jet didn't program at the same rate, it would cut it out and lock them up. They were then unable to move them as the lockout was a precaution to prevent asymmetry. This forced pilots to land without flaps, requiring an extra 22 knots during landing. Flap-Slap Lockout was a consistent issue throughout the Tomcat's life.
Unreliable Fire Warning Light - Sometimes the fire warning light would just barely start to flicker on and steadily become more prominent. Overall "just a bad system." You never actually know if there's a fire or not.
Wings Won’t Come Out - This happened at NAS Oceana in 1968. The airplane landed at a speed of 230 mph, so very close to the F-14’s stall speed. When the wings are stuck back, you can't hit the brakes during landing because there is no anti-skid and you would overheat them, If you pulled the stick back you would rotate, and with the wings back you have no spoilers so there is nothing to slow you down. In this particular incident, the pilot was able to take the long landing, but if this issue was encountered at sea it would require an ejection. No big explosions or fires though, it’d be a fairly calm procedure and the plane could fly into range of the ship for easy retrieval after ejection.
Low Fuel (Barricade Landing) - Bad weather at night combined with air traffic personnel being too occupied with diverting tons of airplanes, launching tankers, etc. can cause an aircraft to get low on fuel. There was a situation covered in the F-14 Tomcast episode called "F-14 Barricade" where they were unable to refuel using a tanker and were forced to do a barricade landing for their safety. They were almost forced to pull up alongside the carrier and eject. After the landing, one of the crew calculated based on the amount of fuel left that they only had about 90 seconds of flying left. This is literally the only F-14 barricade landing ever I am pretty sure (in real life Maverick's doesn't count lol). I like it because the pilot and RIO had to tell the aircrew straight up "You have to take us now" because the pilot could no longer see the tape on the fuel gage. The crew tells their story really well and it’s really funny to listen to, especially considering the fact that they had to keep sending them around because they fucked up setting up the barrier.
Hitting the Canopy (During Ejection) - Goose's story is based on a real story in which a RIO hit the canopy during ejection and broke his spine. The reason the pilot does not also hit the canopy is because the ejection sends the RIO out first and then the pilot a certain amount of time after, maybe 5-10 seconds or something like that. The ejection seats also launch them in different trajectories so the pilot and the RIO do not collide in the air, meaning they may or may not end up in the same area. The solution would be to wait for the canopy to clear before ejecting but sometimes your don’t have that luxury.
Front Landing Gear Failure During Takeoff- While launching off of the catapult of the aircraft carrier, the nose gear attached to the shuttle broke. The landing gear and shuttle proceeded to the end of the runway without the jet, hitting the end of the ship at 305 knots and damaging the front of the carrier. The jet went off the ship with far less speed than necessary (at barely 60-70 knots) and began falling into the water as it was not enough to get the Tomcat in the air. They ejected to barely 50 feet high and were in serious danger of getting run over by the aircraft carrier. In the accident covered on the Fighter Pilot Podcast FPP004 - Ejection Seats, the RIO tells the story of his survival and the tragic loss of the pilot.
Radome (Nose Cone) Detachment - An F-14 Tomcat lost its radome during a flight due to the failure of the latching mechanism. The radome crashed into the canopy, shattering te glass of the windscreen. The pilot could only see out of a 3 inch hole in the windscreen due to the cracked windshield. He couldn't hear anything due to the noise of the wind in the cockpit, so he was unsure of the state of his RIO but assumed he was unconscious because he hadn't ejected them. The pilot was able to land the plane, despite having glass in both eyes and a broken collarbone. The pilot was medevaced for eye surgery and then returned to the US.
Midair Collision - F-14A BUNo 159832 was a midair collision between two F-14 Tomcat. In this particular situation, one of the airplanes was able to divert to a nearby airport due to losing part of the right wing whereas the other crew was forced to eject. Obviously you could probably imagine a situation where both jets went down.
Landng with Damage - Tomcats are a very sturdy aircraft, often described as being a tank both due to how much fuel they were able to carry and the sheer size of the aircraft. The following video shows an aircraft landing aboard an aircraft carrier with significant damage on its right right side.
F110 Afterburner Failure - The new engines installed were great, but they initially had a problem with the afterburner. In one recorded accident, the pilot lit the afterburner, damaging the afterburner can's lining and leading to an explosion. The Navy prohibited use of the afterburner below 10,000 ft on the F-14+/B/D until the problem could get solved but it took nearly a year to remedy.
"Thump Bang" - The easiest way to incorporate any sort of accident is to call it what the Naval Aviators call a "thump bang". A "thump bang" refers to a series of events that occur when an aircraft experiences some sort of issue they described as a "thump" and then an explosion. It's kind of hard to describe what is like in the cockpit during this sort of accident as it could have happened quickly or could have been a delayed explosion, and it could have been caused by any number of reasons. If they don't know what actually happened, they'll call it a "thump bang" and can only hypothesize what occurred. The likely scenario would have been an issue with the TF30 engines.
TF30 - The "Turd in the punch bowl, " the F30s had two specific issues that were kind of intertwined.
Throwing Fan Blades - One of the largest issues with the TF30s was that they were known to throw fan blades. When the fan blades become eroded or damaged over time, they no longer compress the airflow efficiently, potentially leading to an engine stall (see Compressor Stall below). Additionally, the T30 was known for "throwing" fan blades. This is when the fan blade becomes detached and is shot out to the side into the interior of the aircraft. Not good. Pretty bad actually. They didn't initially know they were throwing fan blades until after a couple of accidents. when they started to be more common they would retrieve the aircraft from the water (if in large enough pieces and then investigate the cause.
Compressor Stall - The actual biggest issue with the F-14 Tomcat and its T30 engines is the compressor stalling. They literally happened all the time from a variety of different causes. Generally speaking, the compressor stalls were the result of disruption to the airflow into the compressor of the engine. The compressor has fan blades that require the airflow to be undisturbed for maximum efficiency. It was theorized to be the result of foreign object debris (FOD) ingestion into the engines. They check religiously for loose objects on the airplanes as a result, oftentimes having a crew member dive into the intake ducts to check for loose bolts. Additionally, compressor stalls could be caused by operating the aircraft outside of its limits, improper handling, etc.
The F-14 had a gated afterburner, meaning it had 5 “gates” inside of the afterburner and each one lit up a flame rack. There was no variable thrust, so it had to be either on or off. Each of the five racks was labeled as a zone. Zone 3 is what they were allowed to take off with. Coming in or out of afterburner with any angle or attack would cause the compressor to immediately stall. This was mostly due to poor design of the intake.
In general, approximately 30% of F-14A losses were attributed to high-altitude compressor stalls. When one engine stalls, more often than not it will induce the other engine to stall as well. There is a procedure to counteract the compressor stall, the specific protocol was to ease the amount of Gs, slow down, the T.I.T. would go crazy and you shut it down. Or in fighter pilot slang, “ease, slow cook it, shut it down.”
icemav wip wednesday because i'll forget tmrw lol
Like most things, Pete avoids thinking about it. Because when he does, he always comes back to the same question: if he had just listened to Wood and Wolf’s concerns and accepted earlier that there may have been a problem, would he be better off?
Would groceries scare him?
Would his chest feel tight at night?
Would he feel so unloveable?
----
Hollywood panics, he stares at Pete wide eyed and the air of someone not knowing what to do or say. “Mav, it’s fine. It’s all cool–”
“No it’s not–”
“Is everything alright?”
All three heads whip towards Tom who stands a metre away, rucksack slung over one shoulder. He wears a defensive look as he stares Hollywood down.
Older Brother!Slider with Baby Brother!Ice
Okay, so another contribution rant to the Top Gun Fandom:
Big Brother Slider, but ONLY, ONLY to Ice. And not the generic sibling relationship, no, but Ice is his Baby Brother.
For any who don't have that 'Baby' Sibling, as an eldest child, let me explain: A sibling is a younger, less better, version of yourself because your parents were a bit delusional and now there is Another™.
HOWEVER, a Baby Sibling, a BABY Sibling? No, they are essentially your own child, typically the youngest, they are your pride and joy, and when I tell you that with a Baby Sibling you become so protective over them you would commit horrible crimes for them- literally becoming an attack dog on a leash held by said Baby Sibling, that is a true Baby Sibling/Older Sibling relationship. The minute they are born they're just, your child, like so what the birth certificate says that their parents are my parents, that's obviously a lie. They legitimately become your child in more ways than one, whose only role in life is to be happy and loved. And this is SO the relationship between Slider and Ice.
Ice is the Baby Sibling™, with Slider as the protective older brother. Slider makes sure that Ice is happy, and cared for/loved, protected, everything for the Baby™. I cannot explain enough how much I love this head-cannon, and all the proof I'll ever need to explain it is this one GIF;
Look at Slider, the protective arm around the shoulder, the glare, the judgement in his very being, the way his jaw tenses-, compared to Ice, who is just sitting there, not even noticing, focusing on something else all happy like (Or as happy as Ice can get while in Ice-man mode (Or as happy as one can get when translating languages, if you saw my other post about Russian!Ice ;D)).
- Slider nearly getting kicked out of the Top Gun program due to beating a fellow pilot unconscious because he DARED shit talk Ice
- So they never gave Slider a DOB/specified age in Top Gun, but his actor, Rick Rossovich is 2 years older than Val Kilmer, so that only furthers the point of Slider's Older Brother Agenda
- One time Goose was showing Ice how to cartwheel after Ice was interested in how he did it on the deck of the ship they were stationed on and Slider refused to allow Ice to do it because "What if he falls and cracks his skull open on the tarmac Goose!"
- When reassured that Ice cracking his skull open isn't going to happen, and Goose was only going to demonstrate, Slider still wont budge on it. Ice never learned how to do a cartwheel to this day
- Ice's foot getting caught in the track and wheels of a stationary, not turned on/working tank on accident and one singular, quiet, whispered "ow" after pulling it out of said track/wheel, was all it took to have Slider screaming his head off carrying Ice into medical absolutely positive that Ice just "Broke his own god-damn ankle, GET A MEDIC-"
- Someone shoving past Ice on their way to the mess hall in a rush, causing Ice to stumble back literally 2 steps, and Slider getting in their face, slamming them into a wall with a "I swear you put your hands on Ice one more time, your not gonna have hands AT ALL"
- He then slings his arm around Ice's shoulder and directs him to the mess hall, glaring at any poor soul who dared look in Ice's direction
- They were at the bar and a woman started to approach Ice, who, of course was not noticing (he only has eyes for a 5'7" gremlin named Mav), and Slider shuts that down REAL QUICK. Like, no, not today Lilith, pick a different naval guy-
- Give Mav The Talk when he notices Mav giving eyes to Ice, and Goose because Slider can never be too sure, and everyone observing this is sitting there like 'what the actual fuck' after Slider threatens to, and I quote, "French braid your fuckin' nervous system you shitty dwarf" towards Maverick amongst other colorful threats
- It gets to the point where Slider is so protective over Ice, people don't ask Ice anything without looking to Slider for some kind of acceptance or denial, like;
Hollywood: Hey Ice do you wanna- Slider, the coldest look ever seen, actively dropping the temperature in the room while promising a slow and tortuous death: Hollywood: -help me figure out this trajectory angle equation for this [classified] mission? Ice, absolutely oblivious to the entire situation: Sure? I guess?
- Its single-handedly the funniest and most terrifying thing to ever happen in Top Gun history, aside from whoever decided to put Maverick Mitchell in a plane
- And the cherry on top is that Ice DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE at the entire situation
- When someone tries saying how terrifying Slider is to Ice he just brushes it off, like, "Oh Slider? No he's very nice, he even walks with me wherever I have to go in the day. He's all bark and no bite"
- And everyone in the immediate vicinity just looking at Ice either with pity or like he's stupid because he doesn't know
- He never figures it out either
- (This overprotectiveness doubles, if not triples when he meets baby Bradley Bradshaw, and Slider just cant compute because now there is another person who has my undying love and protection-)
- (Goose once lost Bradley on a very important, very large Naval destroyer and the entirety of the Top Gun Class of '86 is frantically searching the entire ship before Viper finds out and one of them just stumbling into Slider sitting on a couch with Ice and Bradley just absolutely passed out, sleeping like a brick, essentially using him as human furniture, and the look Slider gives them promises a 100 years of death if they wake either of them up-)
- (After Goose's death when baby Bradley lives with IceMav, he just clings onto Slider whenever he's over because "I feel safest with Pops, but Pops feels safest with Uncle Sli', so I'm safest-est with Uncle Sli'")
- (Mav doesn't know whether to cry because that is so cute- or be annoyed that Slider is preferred over himself)
- (After Bradley reconciles with Mav, he's caught sleeping(read absolutely dead to the world) on Slider's chest like when he was as a child and no one knowing what to do because "Rooster that is a 2-STAR ADMIRAL OF THE US NAVY-" Slider is just like "I'm safest-est", and Bradley sleepily chiming in with a "safest-est" and deciding to just go back to sleep like nothing happened)
- When Slider first sees Bradley, he doesnt make the connection that he is Goose's son, and instead thinks he is Ice's son.
- Then comes the realization that he shovel-talked Mav for no reason
- "Toma Mikhailovich Kazansky you tell me right now why you never told me you had a child-"
- Slider doesnt realize/accepts that Bradley is Goose's son until Carole physically comes and confirms it, with birth certificate and everything, "Because its easy to have some sort of extra-marital affair Goose, you should talk to her about that, not to tear you apart but Bradley and Ice look exactly alike-", and she thinks its the funniest shit-
- Also because as a child Bradley looks EXACTLY like Carole Bradshaw, who is also a (bleached?) platinum/light blonde ("and the blonde has to come in SOMEWHERE Goose-"), in all honesty you couldn't fault Slider for not making the proper connections
- "YOUR son? Yeah right Goose, I wasnt born 2 minutes ago, Im not stupid, you and Baby Ice look nothing alike"
- " Baby ICE?? IT SHOULD BE BABY GOOSE-"
- Goose thought it was funny to begin with but now 3 different squadrons and several of the higherups, INCLUDING VIPER OF ALL PEOPLE, believe that Bradley is Ice's son
- ("Kazansky"
- "Yes sir?"
- "You be sure to bring that boy of yours around more often, clear?"
- ".. Yes sir")
- It doesn't help that Bradley absolutely ADORES Ice, and where Ice is, Slider is surely to follow with his Baby Ice Agenda-
- "Listen, unlike you, Goose, there are only 2 platinum blondes I have ever known that have some sort of connection in the Navy, Bradley and Ice, its a logical explanation okay-"
- Adding onto the entire situation, Bradley misheard Ice's callsign, and thinks his callsign is IcePOP, instead of IceMAN, and just starts calling him Pop/Pops
- Maverick finds the entire situation hilarious, until he realizes that his throne of Favourite might be taken by Ice and starts going absolutely feral over trying to "win" Bradley back
- Bradley just loves being around everyone, and has no favourites (unless bribed to say otherwise)
- Bradley is just happy to see his Dad, and Pops, and Uncle Mav, and Uncle Sli, and Uncle Wood, and Uncle Wolf, and Grandpa Viper-
Big Brother Slider, the true Mom Friend™
So we all have that friend, who is 100% the mom friend. And listen, are both Slider and Ice little shits of their own devices? Yes, but i'd say that Ice can be a solid Mom friend, when needed. BUT, when with Slider it just goes out of the window, and pair that with Big Brother!Slider, and you have one hell of a head cannon there.
- Every time that they go to the bar, Slider doesn't even leave Ice's side, guards his drink like a feral dog, and rounds Ice up when it's time to go home
- Stops Ice from
having funrecklessly endangering himself - Once at the bar Ice was on his 5th Whiskey sour before a table sent over 3 shots of tequila, Ice smiled and brought one up to toast, and using his
mom sensescommon sense, Slider abandons his chat with Goose and is at Ice's side in about 3.5 seconds saying "no no no no" takes the shots and whiskey sours out of his hand and drags Ice home - Nearly had an aneurism when he found out Ice let someone else (Goose) drive him somewhere
"YOU LET SOMEONE DRIVE YOU? WHAT IF THEY WERE TRYING TO KIDNAP YOU? KIDNAP THEN KILL YOU!? YOU KNOW PEOPLE HAVE A THING FOR YOUNG BLONDES" "WE WERE BOTH GOING BACK TO BASE, AND IM 24" "SO?? YOU'RE PRACTICALLY A BABY" "IT WAS GOOSE! AND YOU'RE ONLY A COUPLE YEARS OLDER THAN ME" "AND?? HE HAS A MUSTACHE! YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU'D TRUST SOMEONE WITH A MUSTACHE??" "YOU WERE IN THE CAR WITH ME!" "SO??"
- Slider always, ALWAYS has snacks and Capri-Suns on his person incase Ice gets hungry
- It's like clockwork, every time Ice starts to get hungry, hangry, cranky etc. Slider is there handing over a Capri-Sun and some carrot sticks or apple slices
"Well maybe if you didn-" Ice starts before being interrupted by Slider shoving an apple slice into his mouth mid sentence, and stopping what seems to be the next arguing match between him and Maverick in it's tracks. Ice just glowers at Slider with a pout and starts chewing on his apple slice. "I told you not to skip breakfast, now you're gonna be cranky" "Bite m-" and once more Ice is silenced with an apple slice, as Goose and Mav along with the rest of the flyboys watch on in fascinated horror as Ice's temper is swiftly and expertly derailed by Slider and his apple slices. When they're finished Slider promptly procured a Capri-Sun from somewhere and quickly shoved it within Ice's hands before he had a chance to protest. "No" Ice said looking at Slider "Drink it" "No" "Ice" "I don't want to, so im not" "Toma Mikhailovich so help me god" Slider starts, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Ice just huffs and starts to drink. The flyboys never recovered from this.
- Once when filing paperwork Ice got a paper cut, as people do, and the cut is small but the tiniest, tiniest, itty bitty drop of blood wells forward and Slider already has a portable First Aid kit spread out on the desk, Neosporin on a bandaid before being wrapped around Ice's finger and Ice doesn't even blink
- It's a whole 10 second ordeal and they just continue on with their lives like nothing happened
- Ice coughed once after accidentally being caught out in the rain and Slider straight up commandeers the kitchen to make more soup than Ice could ever possibly consume fully convinced Ice is coming down with something
- Admittedly, Ice did in fact get the flu, but Slider was too concerned to say "I told you so"
- Despite everything, Slider and Ice (platonically) love each other, and Slider is 100% the mom friend between the two of them
- If I forgot anything feel free to tell me!
I want an au where the Dagger Squad - execpt Bradley - doesn't know Mav is married to Admiral Kazasky and they see them kissing once and only once and, because of the alcohol and the euphoria, the immediately perceive the whole thing as in Admiral Kazansky is cheating on his wife with Maverick and they have to stop it. Mav deserves better. They make a presentation and the whole material for a serious and fair intervention while Bradley dies inside because he cannot laugh out loud. The day they finally decide to talk with their captain, they drive to his house, Omaha has even cooked Mav's favourite cake, and they're ready to spend all day to let the man see reason.
The whole things lasts exactly two minutes because the moment Mav opens the door and asks what they're going there, Bradley breaks down and cries for how much he's laughing.
"The think Admiral Kazansky is cheating on his wife with you" is what he tries to say after having regained enough air to breathe. When it's Mav's turn to laugh everybody is so confused because that's not a laughing matter!
"Tom, babe, you should come in the living room! We're about to experience Merlin and Slider's intervention 2.0, but this time isn't going to be about us not fucking on the kitchen table!"
(And so, all twelve Daggers spend the afternoon explaining to their married captain why he shouldn't be kissing his Admiral husband and why he deserved better. That only conclude in Mav and Ice giving point on how to make the presentation better and randomly interupring one and other to make sneaky comments and innuendos that are as subtle as a brick. It's a funny afternoon!)
Maverick: hmmm I have a great idea but this is going to get me in trouble *remembers that his husband is COMPACFLT* fuck it we ball
*1 hour later and 3 planes crashed, everything is on fire, but the plan worked*
Iceman: *to the dagger squad* and this is the perfect example of “fuck around and find the fuck out” it’s also an example of what not to do
Dagger squad: *ignoring iceman and taking notes on what their mavdad did*
let’s talk about mav’s photo wall.
we all know this picture. the very beautiful one of carole, goose and bradley on the wall in mav’s hangar.
but that’s not the full photo. this is:
when putting the photo up, pete mitchell cut himself out of it because he no longer felt he deserved to be in the bradshaw family photos.
sigh.
true that
2 cats watching the sunset
HC that after the mission and the dagger squad gets closer, Mav ramps up his petnames game as he showers his adopted children with affection. He doesn't even notice he does it. The first few times everyone was embarassed, but leaned to it. However, they realized that Hangman seemed to be affected the most. Constantly blushing or looking down or shutting up whenever Mav gave him a particularly affectionate pet name.
Most commonly used by Mav/Ice to everyone: Buddy, Kiddo, Kid, Son, Baby
Some of the most used petnames for the squad (although he uses the same nicknames for the others, some nicknames stuck more to certain people):
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The dagger squad stayed over for the night after movie night went on for far too long. Most of them still sprawled around the living room, some on the couch, air mattress, or straight up on the floor. Bob woke up the earliest that day and started up the coffee.
Mav clambered down a moment after, drawn by the scent and Bob handed him a mug.
Mav smiled at him and reached out to ruffle his hair, "Thank you, sunshine."
Mav clambered out the kitchen saying something about ordering breakfast for them, as Bob stood there blinking mouth wide open.
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