It is summer in Cold Lake, Alberta and the temperature on the tarmac hits 100 degrees. Up higher, under the transparent canopy of the F-18 Hornet, a pilot can feel like a bug pinned under a magnifying glass. The students are about to enter one of the most intense and terrifying stages of the course - formation flying. The art of sticking together. Meanwhile, the Progress Review Board is meeting about one of the trainees whose future as a fighter pilot now hangs in the balance. After eight days, the final verdict is delivered.

• Kavan Smith