"FLAT HATTING" "Most solo flights are inclined to be dull and tedious." "Consequently many flyers try to relieve the monotony." "On an area familiarization flight, for example, pilots have been known to become" "– too familiar with the area." "Now this young man isn't psychopathic." "So why does he act that way?" "Let's go back a few years and see what makes him tick." "As a child, Murphy was just an ordinary, fun-loving youngster, no indications of present or potential neuroses." "His behavior pattern was perfectly normal, with the usual tendencies toward exhibitionism." "While he possessed a natural desire for preeminence, like most children, he made no attempt to restrain his impulses." "He evidenced manifestations of a drive toward self-destruction, also an assertion of ego, which by inversion led him to destroy other things;" "simply a matter of ambivalence." "But as he grew older, the society in which he lived imposed upon him its control through convention." "He learned to restrain his impulses." "Not that society curtailed his animal spirits;" "it simply directed them into more acceptable channels." "So that when he joined the Navy, he was able to comply generally with regulations set down for a Navy flyer." "And now, an officer and a gentleman, he accepts the totems and taboos of civilization." "He wouldn't think of doing this." "Or this." "Or this." "He behaves himself." "Of course, when he's completely alone, he has his moments like the rest of us." "But he isn't alone most of the time." "In the group he's a fine formation flyer;" "he knows radio discipline." "He's an owl at night flying." "In fact, whenever an operation involves group responsibility," "Murph gets a big bang out of sharing the burden." "But when he's alone," "all alone, he feels free from the restrictions of the group." "And, on a monotonous assignment, his feeling of release is aggravated by boredom." "Soon that old black magic is massaging his spine;" "that drive towards self-assertion..." "Now what do you suppose" "Murphy's reward will be for this display of virtuosity?" "This?" "This?" "This?" "No." "Murphy's a big boy now." "That was his last flight." "...and R.X. Murphy to deviate from such course, therein and thereby endangering the lives and property of the inhabitants in the area." "The specification proved, and with the said evidence Murphy is to be charged guilty," "and the court therefore sentences him to be dismissed from the US Naval Service."