#75 The Physics of Top Gun 2 Maverick, with Jason Berndt

Learning Bayesian Statistics

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If you’re a nerd like me, you’re always curious about the physics of any situation. So, obviously, when I watched Top Gun 2, I became fascinated by the aerodynamics of fighters jets. And it so happens that one of my friends used to be a fighter pilot for the Canadian army… Immediately, I thought this would make for a cool episode — and here we are!

Actually, Jason Berndt wanted to be a pilot from the age of 3. When he was 6, he went to an air show, and then specifically wanted to become a fighter pilot. In his teens, he learned how to fly saliplanes, small single engine aircrafts. At age 22, he got a bachelor’s in aero engineering from the royal military college, and then — well, he’ll tell you the rest in the episode.

Now in his thirties, he owns real estate and created his own company, My Two Brows, selling temporary eyebrow tattoos — which, weirdly enough, is actually related to his time in the army…

In his free time, Jason plays the guitar, travels around the world (that’s actually how we met), and loves chasing adrenaline however he can (paragliding, scuba diving, you name it!).

Our theme music is « Good Bayesian », by Baba Brinkman (feat MC Lars and Mega Ran). Check out his awesome work at https://bababrinkman.com/ !

Thank you to my Patrons for making this episode possible!

Yusuke Saito, Avi Bryant, Ero Carrera, Giuliano Cruz, Tim Gasser, James Wade, Tradd Salvo, William Benton, James Ahloy, Robin Taylor, Thomas Wiecki, Chad Scherrer, Nathaniel Neitzke, Zwelithini Tunyiswa, Elea McDonnell Feit, Bert≈rand Wilden, James Thompson, Stephen Oates, Gian Luca Di Tanna, Jack Wells, Matthew Maldonado, Ian Costley, Ally Salim, Larry Gill, Joshua Duncan, Ian Moran, Paul Oreto, Colin Caprani, Colin Carroll, Nathaniel Burbank, Michael Osthege, Rémi Louf, Clive Edelsten, Henri Wallen, Hugo Botha, Vinh Nguyen, Raul Maldonado, Marcin Elantkowski, Adam C. Smith, Will Kurt, Andrew Moskowitz, Hector Munoz, Marco Gorelli, Simon Kessell, Bradley Rode, Patrick Kelley, Rick Anderson, Casper de Bruin, Philippe Labonde, Michael Hankin, Cameron Smith, Tomáš Frýda, Ryan Wesslen, Andreas Netti, Riley King, Yoshiyuki Hamajima, Sven De Maeyer, Michael DeCrescenzo, Fergal M, Mason Yahr, Naoya Kanai, Steven Rowland, Aubrey Clayton, Jeannine Sue, Omri Har Shemesh, Scott Anthony Robson, David Haas, Robert Yolken, Or Duek, Pavel Dusek, Paul Cox, Trey Causey, Andreas Kröpelin and Raphaël R.

Visit https://www.patreon.com/learnbayesstats to unlock exclusive Bayesian swag ;)

Links from the show:

• My Two Brows website: https://mytwobrows.com/
• My Two Brows on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/my_two_brows/
• My Two Brows on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6eQgQ4qoGE2RStDJkumUGg
• PyMC Labs Workshop – Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Survey Data with Post-stratification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efID35XUQ3I

Abstract

written by Christoph Bamberg

In this episode of the Learning bayesian statistics podcast we do not talk about Bayesianism, let alone statistics. Instead we dive into the world of fighter jets and Top Gun pilots with Jason Berndt.

Jason is a former fighter jet pilot turned entrepreneur. He looks back at his time as a pilot, how he got there, the challenges and thrills of this job and how it influences him now in his new life.

We also touch upon physics and science related aspects like G-force, centrifugal power, automation in critical environments like flying a fighter jet and human-computer interaction.

Jason discusses the recent movie Top Gun: Maverick and how realistic the flying was as well as the description of the fighter pilots’ lives.