Star Wars: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Imperial TIE Fighter

Being part of the same organisation as the bumbling Stormtroopers means your reputation is going to take a hit, and quotes like this, "Lemme describe an Imp pilot for ya, Artoo—lotsa guts wrapped up in a little skill with no brain," courtesy of Cade Skywalker, certainly don’t help things. In reality, TIE Pilots are a far more dangerous proposition.

Admittance to an Imperial Academy is conditional upon a rigorous screening and selection process. After this the candidate will spend at least a year in flight school. The training is physically and mentally demanding, involving hundreds of hours of flight drills and harsh psychological conditioning, with pilots being stripped of their names, assigned a number, and indoctrinated to put the mission first even at the cost of their own lives.

To make the challenge tougher, trainee pilots are assigned to actual combat posts. The result is an extremely high rate of attrition with the weak and unsuitable being ruthlessly weeded out. Not surprisingly the pass rate is only around 10%, and even then a graduate must still earn a recommendation in order to enter the Starfighter Corps.

And you thought your exams were tough.