DM1ST(^24) DAILY MIRROR MONDAY 19.08.2019
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Brita
“Growing up, Top Gun was one of my
favourite films. But no, I think Maverick
would actually be in jail in real life or at
the very least, he wouldn’t be flying fast
jets any more. Maverick is not what we’re
after in real fighter jet pilots!”
Do the real top guns sit around
quoting the film to one another?
“No we actually do not,” he says
defiantly. “I think there’s an unwritten
rule that you’ll be fined a crate of beers
if you quote it to anyone!”
It was during a walking holiday in the
Lake District when he was a lad that
Bally, who grew up in Scotland, realised
he wanted to become a fighter pilot.
“I’m one of those lucky people that is
really following a dream doing this job. I
remember walking through the Lakes
and on the hills I’d hear that roar of a jet.
“One time a Harrier flew over my
head
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EXCLUSIVE
BY RHIAN LUBIN
B
EING a fighter pilot isn’t all
dog fights and riding off into the
sunset on a motorbike. These
days, far from flying by the seat
of their pants as their predecessors did,
it is a hi-tech profession.
But even with the RAF’s new
£100million F-35B Lightning stealth
fighters – the most advanced and
expensive weapons system in military
history – if there is a problem, incredibly,
the solution is the same as with your
phone... just turn it off and on again.
Flight Lieutenant Bally is the star of
new ITV documentary Fighter Pilot: The
Real Top Gun, which goes inside the
cockpit to reveal the intense training
these brave men and women undergo to
fly the new jewel in the RAF’s crown.
However, his first encounter with the
plane at a training base in South
Carolina in the US did not go to plan –
he couldn’t start the plane.
The jet has a sophisticated security
system to keep out the enemy with its
radar-evading stealth technology, but it’s
so secure that sometimes its own pilot
cannot log in.
Bally’s instructor, a US Marine by the
name of Chandler, explains: “It’s a
process we call ‘cold iron’.
“Essentially it’s like pressing ‘control,
alt, delete’ for a computer. Because the
jet is a big computer, we shut it down
and restart it. Hopefully that clears up
any hiccups, and we can go from there.”
Raring to go, Bally – his nickname –
has to wait for Chandler to fix the
problem before he can fly the jet for the
first time.
“I was thinking, ‘this is absolutely
typical’,” he says. “But we’re talking about
something which is the cutting edge of
military technology.
“Everything’s got to be set up
in the right order for it to
work and one of those
beeps or squeaks might not
happen in the right order and
you might have to
restart it again.
“Switching it off and
on fixes most things!”
And then he’s away at
speeds of up to
1,200mph, which would
terrify the rest of us.
“There’s certainly no
fear, some nervousness,
which heightens the
senses a little,” he says.
“One of the first
things you do on that
first trip is to go
supersonic. When you break the
sound barrier, which you can do in
a climb at 35,000ft, all the aircraft
does is wallow a little from left
to right and then everything
s tabilises again.
“And that’s it – it’s
smooth as anything. I t ’ s a n
incredible experience.
T
he manoeuvrability and
performance is eye-watering. It
is phenomenal: the climb rate,
the speed, the performance in
the turn; it is fantastic.”
Bally serves in the RAF’s legendary 617
Squadron – the Dambusters – and was
a Tornado jet pilot for four years before
qualifying to the fly the Lightning.
So, how much of a Maverick – the
character Tom Cruise plays in 1986 hit
film Top Gun – is the dad of two?
“I didn’t want to upset Tom Cruise, but
I think the only thing we have in
common is height! Certainly not money
or good looks,” the 32-year-old laughs.
Fearless Bally flies at 1,20 0
THE PILOT
I’m one of
those lucky
people who
is following
a dream
with this job
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT
BALLY ON BEING PILOT