Another classic movie ruined, courtesy of Jeremy

Silly Kenny Loggins. F-14s have Afterburners, not Overdrive.


For today's off-base rant, Jeremy will be referring to the lyrics to Kenny Loggins' classic song, "Danger Zone," particularly its use in the soundtrack to "Top Gun". Jeremy, please destroy everyone's appreciation.


Thank you, LIR.

My issue with this song lies in the line, "She got you jumpin' off the deck. Shovin' into overdrive". This line is wrong on multiple levels.


Provided, of course, you're a huge geek...


First of all, the movie is about flying planes...Navy F-14s to be specific. There are a handful of scenes where Tom Cruise is shown riding around on a motorcycle, but that's not the main point of the film...so we'll stick with the planes.

First of all, the use of the word "Overdrive" is troubling when referring to planes. Simply put, planes don't have an Overdrive. In the specific case of an F-14, which uses a pair of turbofan jet engines, the method they use to generate extra power is through the use of Afterburners. This means they're able to spray extra fuel into the hot exhaust gasses of the engine, causing further combustion, more power, and flames to shoot out the back...you've probably seen Pictures Of This. (For the sake of simplicity, I made sure to link to a picture of an F-14 using its afterburners so there's no confusion.)

"Overdrive" is actually a bit of a misnomer with many modern cars. Originally, gear ratios on transmissions were tuned in such a way that the car's engine would achieve maximum power at a final drive ratio that would achieve the car's maximum speed (pushing against the air resistance). One method of conserving fuel is to have the final drive ratio be higher than that of the engine, which also serves to lower the power available, since the engine will be turning at slower speeds. This allows cars to cruise at highway-type speeds with the engine running at its most efficient, rather than at its peak power. A side effect of this is that the car can no longer run at its theoretical top speed, since the force of air resistance would be enough to equal the engine's power output. Since this equilibrium wouldn't happen until well over "Pull Me Over" speed, it turns out not to matter much to the average driver, and the gas savings of having your car cruise at 2000RPM vs 4000RPM helps put your mind at ease.

The advent of this technology came about first in rear-wheel drive cars, in which a second gear box was attached and controlled separately from the main transmission. The popularity of 5 (and later 6)-speed transmissions with a direct drive gear and an overdriven gear made the use of the separate gear box obsolete. Also, the increased popularity of front-wheel drive cars has merged all of this into the single transaxle, eliminating the propeller shaft...thus removing the "overdrive" from the equation. Of course, almost all cars on the road now have a top gear over-tuned than that for maximum speed, so the theory still applies, even if "Overdrive" is a bit antiquated.


And the point of all this?


Well, our boy Kenny Loggins is clearly implying that shovin' the plane into overdrive will result in more power and thus a more substantial experience when jumpin' off the deck. Since we've clearly established that overdrive actually makes a vehicle less powerful, the line makes no sense at all.


Get some help, Jeremy.