Top Gun is a Method, Not a Movie

With all due respect to Paramount and Tom Cruise, the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (aka Top Gun) is the world's premier center for adult learning and excellence in performance.  The Navy knows the value of education and the risk of ignorance.  They would never strap a twenty-something year old kid into an aircraft costing $50+ million, arm them with nuclear weapons, push them off the deck of a aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean and say, "Hey, good luck with that!  Don't screw that up!"  No, instead they practice the principles of adult learning in its highest form.  The US Navy spends on average over $4 million dollars on training during a fighter pilots career. 

Good news!  We cost a lot less than that!