Deviation Approved 007: Dave "Bio" Baranek Former f-14 RIO and Topgun Instructor
In December of 1981, Dave “Bio” Baranek, former f-14 RIO and Topgun Instructor, had his most memorable flight of his entire career. Of the 3,000 hours of flying in his career, his first deployment gave him his first and only ejection. This week on Deviation Approved, Bio talks with host Mehrdad about his time in the navy, being a Topgun Instructor, and the filming of Hollywood's iconic movie: Topgun.
Bio and his skipper were not supposed to be flying that day but due to unseen circumstances, they found themselves up in the air over the Indian Ocean. After completing the landing checklist, Bio and his skipper were prepared for another routine landing. When they went to catch the cable, Bio suddenly found himself sitting in the upright position and knew immediately something was wrong. Before his skipper could even finish the word, Bio had ejected themselves from the plane. His next memory was then coming to consciousness and realizing he was in the middle of the ocean surrounded by his parachute. Bio says that his training saved him that day and encourages every pilot to take their safety training seriously.
After a few years as a RIO, Bio found himself training to become a Topgun Instructor, something he never imagined for himself. Bio thought since he had already completed Topgun school, he would be able to write his murder board with ease. He soon realized that teaching both pilots and RIOs is vastly different and in order to be successful, he had to humble himself. Bio says that the Topgun school taught him that “anyone who is committed and is willing to put in the time can do this.”
Bio shares a few stories with Mehrdad about the filming of the Topgun movie. While it is great for entertainment, Bio says that the real RIOs and pilots hated the initial scripts. They had to put in a lot of time and effort to help the producers write the movie in a way that would depict their job more accurately. Even with their help, Bio says that it still is nothing in comparison to the real job.
Tune in to this week’s episode of Deviation Approved for a detailed conversation about all things Topgun. Bio will share with listeners points of views as a student, teacher, and actor at the Topgun school.
Quotes
“Take your training seriously because people hope that in a crisis they will perform, and they will rise to the level needed. But the reality is you will perform at the level of your training. So make sure your training is good” (23:21-23:45)
“ I dont hide the mistakes and the faults. Because I've seen books and people say ‘he's a natural pilot’ and whatever. And yes ,there are people who through their training experiences start off strong and they continue to do well, but for a lot of people it takes work. And you stumble, you get corrected, you make mistakes. And depending on the nature of the mistake, you can learn from it and recover from it and come back.” (47:53- 48:29)
“Basically anyone who is committed and is willing to put in the time can do this. And that is what Topgun teaches you. And that's what they create. I mean you have to have some talent, you have to have some ability, but they will work with you and make you a Topgun Instructor. (1:08:21- 1:08:48)
“Cause I had the feeling at Topgun, yeah you're working, you’re in Topgun but all your work walks out the door. I wanted to go back to a squadron where you work for your squadron.. You know your squadron reputation, readiness etc. So I returned to an F-14 squadron.” (102:47- 103:05).
Links
https://www.instagram.com/topgunbio/
https://www.deviationapproved.com