The Coolest Starfighter Pilots Of All Time

 

As a huge fan of Sci-fi TV shows and film, I've had a long standing love with Starfighters and the men and women who pilot them.  I'm not talking about the big bulk cruiser's, mind you.  The USS Enterprise is an awesome ship, but it's not a Starfighter.  Starfighter's are the single person tiny fighting crafts that fly through space for the sole purpose of looking cool and blowing shit up.  The brave souls who fly them are fighter pilots.  They're like interstellar versions of Maverick and Iceman from Top Gun, except way cooler because they're in frickin' space.

 

After much deliberating, we here at Geek-tastic have decided to bring you our list of who we think are the Five Coolest Starfighter Pilots Of All Time. 

 

Now, there are some ground rules to be on this list.  First, you have to pilot small, one man crafts.  This eliminates people like Mr. Sulu or Han Solo (he flew a cargo ship).  Also, no one with superpowers of any kind are allowed.  Anakin Skywalker may have very well been the best star pilot in the galaxy according to Obi-Wan, but he had the force on his side and was flying against people who didn't.  That's cheating as far as I'm concerned.  That's like saying I'm the greatest blogger of all time while forcing every other blogger on earth to type their articles using only the wingdings font.  It's just not fair.  And Finally, to be considered for this list, the pilot had to come from a Videogame, TV show or Movie.  No comic books or novels only characters, and definitely no expanded universe crap. 

 

These people are the real deal.  They're normal people, just like you and me, except they just happen to be the best damn pilots the universe has ever seen.

 

#5.  Fox McCloud From Star Fox

 



 

Fox McCloud is the leader of a special fighting squad known as the Star Fox Team.  Their job is to portect the Lylat star system and the planet Corneria specifically from the threat of the forces of the diabolical Andross, an evil scientist who is determined to destroy it.  Equiped with the high tech Ar-Wing spacecraft, the Star Fox team (which consists of only four members) is the best, last and only line of defense against uncounted hordes of enemies. 

 

What makes Fox McCloud so noteworthy though isn't his ability to overcome the odds again and again in the defense of his homeworld.  It's his ability to do so while being saddled down with a team of complete losers that makes his accomplishments so amazing.  How Fox doesn't go mad with frustration and shoot down his own teammates is something I'll never quite understand.  Fox is forced to go into battle with only three teammates.  One is an admirable but aging rabbit whose best combat days are obviously behind him.  Another is a constantly pissed off and bitchy falcon whose own piloting abilities are far greater in his own mind than they actually are in reality.  And then there's the completely inept toad whom Fox has to repeatedly save from certain death over and over again.  The fact that Fox can still find the time to fly successful combat missions while putting up with distractions like these is nothin short of a miracle.  If I was Fox, I would have let the toad die a long time ago and would have shot down the falcon myself.  The rabbit is ok though.  He just needs to retire.

 

#4.  Alex Rogan from The Last Starfighter

 



 

Let's be honest here people, at the beginning of this film our main character is basically trailer park trash.  He lives in a crappy trailer park and works as a handyman.  He applies for a college loan and is denied because it's pretty obvious he's a loser.  The only thing he seems to be good at in his whole life is playing video games.  He obviously has pretty good hand-eye coordination and he dominates the top scores of the local Starfighter arcade game.  After he finally beats the game (the only one to do so on all of planet Earth apparently), it's revealed to him by an actual alien that the game was a test and Alex has passed with flying colors.

 

Before he knows how to respond, he's taken into space and is given his own starfighter to pilot in a brutal interstellar war.  At first, he turns down the offer to become an intergalactic hero and instead chooses to go back to the trailer park (as mentioned before, this guy is an idiot).  However, after a sneak attack by the evil Xur kills all of the other Starfighters left that can fight him, Alex is quickly pressed into service.  Once involved with the actual fighting, Alex proves himself to be an incredibly capable starfighter pilot and with minimal help manages to defeat a horde of enemy ships and brings down Xur and pretty much his entire army.  And all of this was done on his first official mission.

 

Not bad for a guy who only had video games as his form of training.

 

#3.  Kara Thrace (aka Starbuck) from Battlestar Galactica

 



 

Kara Thrace is a very complicated character.  She's a hard drinking, hard partying gambler who loves cigars, sex and killing Cylons.  She's also half crazy and has a serious issue with authority.  She;s known for occasionally punching her superior officers in the face.  Most people would wonder why the Colonial Fleet would even waste their time with an unbalanced, insubordinate risk taker like Kara in the first place.  I'll tell you why.  She just so happens to be the single best pilot in the entire frakking fleet, that's why.  And that's before the Cylons show up and destroy 99% of the fleet along with the rest of Humanity.

 

Before the Cylon attack, Kara had been working for the Colonial fleet as a flight instructor.  After the Cylon's show up, Kara's special skills as a pilot are desperately in need and Commander Adama wastes no time at all putting them to good use.  Faster than you can say, "Robot Genocide" Kara has already launched in her Viper and is killing every frakking toaster she can set her sights on.  She takes part in more missions than I can count and racks up far more kills than anyone else on board the Galactica.  This is especially impressive considering she was probably either drunk, hopped up on stimulants or both for most of those missions too.

 

She also proves herself as a capable squadron leader and eventually takes over planning tactical assualts on Cylon bases and other targets.  She is promoted to lead the Galactica's Vipers and even trains new recruits in her own special, hard nosed way.  She's so dedicated to helping her fellow survivors get to Earth that she doesn't even let a little thing like Death stop her from flying and fighting alongside the good men and women of the Colonial Fleet.

 

I don't know about you, but that is what I call hardcore.

 

#2:  Wedge Antilles from Star Wars

 



 

Wedge Antilles has the distinction of being the greatest non-jedi power assisted pilot in the entire Star Wars Universe.  In fact, he's so good that I wouldn't doubt his ability to kill fully trained Jedi masters in a dogfight if he were ever forced to.  He's the only man to ever go up against two (count 'em . . . two) Death Stars and live to tell the tale.  Hell, his attack on the first Death Star was so easy for Wedge that for the second time around he decided to make it more exciting by flying through the entire space station first, and then race the explosion out the other side.  If that isn't bonafide badass, I don't know what is.

 

Also, he was the only effective pilot the rebels had during the Battle of Hoth.  While others around him were getting shot down left and right (including a young pilot named Luke Skywalker), Wedge managed to not only avoid enemy fire but was actually able to cripple and destroy one of the Empire's almost invincable AT-AT walkers.  Sure, Luke may have taken one out while on foot, but that's only because he had to after getting shot down first.  Wedge's flight suit never touched a single snowflake.  He spent the entire battle comfortable and safe in his cockpit.  That's just how good he is.

 

#1:  Maximillian Sterling from Robotech

 



 

Max Sterling proved himself to be an aviation prodigy very early on in his career.  When the Zentraedi forces showed up and attacked Macross City, Max managed to rack up nine confirmed kills in his very first combat mission.  He's immediately promoted into the best squadron in the whole Robotech Defense Force (RDF).  During the war with the Zentraedi, Max proves himself to be an incredibly gifted pilot.  He has the highest kill count of anyone in the RDF and even manages to survive an almost suicidal recon mission where he is forced to disguise his fighter craft/giant robot as a member of the enemy species.  Yeah, he has the ability to disguise a 100 foot tall robot/fighter plane as a member of an alien species.  That's what I call talent.

 

His impressive combat abilities are quickly noticed by the enemy though.  After defeating the Zentraedi's best ace pilot (the beautiful Miriya Parina) in combat, she swears to kill him and even shrinks herself down to human size to hunt him down.  Not knowing what Max looks like, Miriya wanders around looking for this amazing pilot and happens to randomly run across him in an arcade while he's playing a flight simulator game.  It is only after he defeats her in the game (because Max kicks ass at video games too) that she realizes who he is.  He asks her out on a date and she agrees to meet him later as it will give her the perfect opportunity to kill him.  During the date, a wicked knife fight ensues in which Max once again defeats Miriya (because Max kicks ass at knife fights too, seriously, there's nothing this guy can't do).  After the knife fight, Miriya pleads for Max to kill her, he refuses though and insted heproposes marriage to Miriya.  She accepts and they get married that same day.  They even use the knives from the earlier fight to cut the cake. 

 

Having successfully converted the Zentraedi's best pilot to the RDF's side with his awesome piloting/gaming/knife fighting abilities, the two lovers become an unbeatable team of Zentraedi destruction.  With Miriya's help, the RDF learn an effective new way to eliminate Zentraedi fighter craft without killing their pilots.  This tactic proves to be incredibly effective and after suffering repeated losses at the hands of the RDF fleet led by Max and Miriya, the Zentraedi forces are forced to call a truce with RDF forces. 

 

So basically, Max's amazing piloting skills and his willingness to spare the life of a defeated foe eventually leads to the end of hostilities between two warring species.  I think that it can then be argued that his actions almost single handedly brought about the end of the first Robotech war. 

 

This is what makes him the coolest starfighter pilot of all time.  While the actions of most starfighter pilots may win battles, the actions of Max Sterling wins wars.