A reminder for those that can get it, that Episode 4 of Combat Pilot airs tonight on Sky Channel 961. This is how the BBC website describes the episode:
Combat Pilot 4
The pilots' training reaches a crucial stage and the tough reality of the path they have taken sinks in.
It's just another six flights before three of the trainee pilots at RAF Valley complete their crucial first stage of training. But these final sorties will prove to be the toughest yet for Squadron Leader Dave McBryde, Flying Officer Richard Fawkes and Flight Lieutenant Mark Baker, with every challenge captured on film.
The six months of continuous testing and training in 208 Squadron are beginning to take their toll on the pilots who take viewers on an extraordinary pilot's eye view of low flying in the valleys of Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia and the surrounding area.
The politics of war demands enormous skill from today's pilots since precision low flying is an essential skill in reducing collateral damage. But there's one particularly hazardous factor at low level that even the most skilled fast jet pilots can't control the wildlife.
Bird strikes cost the RAF more than £20 million a year in repair costs, and they're a particular danger at RAF Valley, which is sandwiched between a beach and a bird sanctuary.
Recent footage televised in Combat Pilot (this episode) shows how a large bird of prey hitting a jet windscreen at 500mph punches a hole straight through the Hawk jet's thick perspex canopy. In another recent incident, a pigeon managed to pierce the aluminium casing of a Hawk.
As the crunch day of final flight arrives, 38-year-old Dave McBryde - who's waited 18 years for this chance has technical troubles with his jet and has to spend a frustrating 45 minutes on the tarmac before take-off.
The road ahead for the pilots is long and hard and not all of them will make it. And even if they pass the first stage, they face between another nine and 12 months of constant stress, continuous testing and the realisation that ultimately they are being trained as killing machines.