MovieChat Forums > Top Gun (1986) Discussion > What does it mean to call "no joy"?

What does it mean to call "no joy"?

posted 4 years ago by MovieChatUser497 (18943)
8 replies | jump to latest

That scene has always confused me where Viper is chewing out Maverick and Goose because they went below the hard deck yet Jester did it first. Since 10,000 feet was considered to be the ground for their training purposes wouldn't Jester have crashed as per the rules of the exercise? Secondly how can an instructor chew out two students for breaking a rule when another instructor broke the rule first? Finally what exactly is "no joy" and why would that mean that Maverick and Goose couldn't follow him below 10,000 feet yet Jester could?

FYI: I realize this movie is unrealistic as hell but I'm just talking about within the context of the film.

[–] Sandman81 (1503) 4 years ago

When a pilot calls "No Joy" during a simulated dog fight, that is basically like calling time out for fear of a safety issue. Maverick had just done a crazy/stupid maneuver, and Jester had lost both visual of him as well as radio contact. Jester called no-joy (not shown in the movie, but mentioned by Viper) and went below the hard deck to verify that Maverick was ok. Maverick ignored the time out call as well as the hard deck rule and engaged Jester.

Some might be suspicious of Jesters timing of the no joy call. Consider he had the advantage for almost the entire fight, but had just suddenly lost it to a crazy stupid move and was about to be beaten by this reckless, and cocky pilot. But then again, he may have actually been worried for Mavericks safety.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Got it that makes sense. So they never confirmed this but did Maverick get credit for defeating Jester? (Ice: Below the hard deck doesn't count, Maverick: Hard deck my ass, we nailed that son of a bitch).

[–] Sandman81 (1503) 4 years ago

No way they would get the points for beating Jester. They intentionally broke the hard deck rule and didn't put themselves in anybodies good graces with the high speed fly by.

But he did gain some respect from Viper, though he never would have admitted it to Maverick.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

And yes I'm very suspicious of Jester's no joy call. He may have said he was concerned for Mavericks' safety but I fully believe that the reason was he was afraid of losing. (although can they really blame Maverick for pulling the hit the breaks move? In real life if he didn't do anything he would have died)

[–] Etherdave (166) 4 years ago

A pilot reports "no joy" when an attempt to establish visual or radio contact with another aircraft is unsuccessful; or when an attempt to acquire a target-either visually or on tactical radar-is unsuccessful.

[–] DarkHorse (297) 3 years ago

"No Joy" means no luck or no success. It is used by soldiers, hunters, Police usually.

I always saw the hard deck as a border of sorts, in real life, the enemy might retreat back to their own borders. In the game they were playing that border was vertical instead. Jester retreated and Maverick was stupid enough to follow him. What if Jester was leading him into an ambush or a barrage of anti aircraft fire?

[–] DrRed (526) 2 years ago

Ive been watching a lot of documentaries on Porn Hub and it turns out that instructors do go down on their students for breaking the rules. It happens alot more than the navy likes to admit to.

[–] aavfreak (2949) 2 years ago

I must check this out, you know, for science. Link?