#2: Disrupting the Great Ziggurat

Our small stand against the established pilot hierarchy.

“Ritual is what you get when you forget why a rule exists.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

In The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe describes a pilot’s career ascent as taking steps The Great Ziggurat towards ultimate glory, being an astronaut. Though technology has changed since 1957, a similar hierarchy has endured in the US Air Force. Some uncertainty exists defining intermediate steps, but one thing is clear: fighter pilots are the top and drone pilots are the bottom. But what if a jet is both a fighter and a drone?

Motivated, positioned to make a difference and understanding the stakes at hand, I promptly made the worst series of intrapersonal mistakes in my career. Because I was medically disqualified from manned flight, I saw test pilot school as my first chance to compete head-to-head in the big leagues, live the victorious underdog narrative and sow the seeds of what I called the “drone mafia.”

After six months, it was clear that my “if you can’t join them beat them” mindset needed to die. Fast forward three years. The commander asks me “how did you thrive where others couldn’t get past the door?” I’ll borrow phrases from two friends, one drone pilot and one fighter pilot. First is that relationships formed is the secret sauce, not the tech. Second is that air dominance requires an AND solution, not an OR.

Every community has a hierarchy, either conscious or unconscious, what’s yours?