#this man hoarded every scrap of declassified info about navy fighters and memorized it

[1001aus]

There was a guy I was in high school band with who got his pilot's license before his driver's license and I think Maverick should be that guy

It's the late 70s and teenagers having jobs is relatively normal. I think if he's been saving up whatever he could scrounge doing chores for people and then got a part time job in high school he could afford lessons to get himself a private piloting license before graduating. After enlisting he's one of the few guys who knows very specifically what he wants to do and is already working toward it. Most of what he needs to learn is vocabulary and the rest is a matter of practice