system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Top Gun] Why didn’t Viper yell at Jester for going below the hard deck, the way he did to Maverick and Goose?

The hard deck is what they define as ground-level in each exercise. So if the hard deck is 10,000 feet, and you go below that, it essentially means you just crashed into the ground. In real life, you’d be dead, and per the exercise, you’d get in a lot of trouble.

So why didn’t Jester? He’s an instructor who should really know better.
gpt
Because Maverick is a snot-nosed kid who is going around pissing everybody off.  He did a high speed flyby of the control tower, and Viper just got screamed at by *his* boss.

Meanwhile, not only is Jester his buddy, but he's also an instructor, and he's doing what he's supposed to do.

You see, military training exercises aren't about fair play.  They aren't about an honorable duel to see who is better.  They're about making you better.  The instructors are *supposed* to cheat.  Maverick is a more talented pilot than Jester, but that doesn't mean he can't learn something from the engagement.

Jester can dip below the hard deck, get Maverick off his ass, and then re-engage.  Perhaps it represents a second enemy plane that you didn't see before.  It's common that OPFOR (Opposing Force) is given hefty advantages, because you're trying to make them hard to beat.

And anyway, the purpose of the meeting is to curb Maverick's ego.  He's a great pilot, but he just might get somebody killed, if he doesn't get himself kicked out of the Navy first.  Jester, on the other hand, is apparently a model officer.  He doesn't need yelled at.  Even if he wasn't supposed to go below the hard deck in that particular engagement, a simple "watch it next time" will be sufficient.  Maverick doesn't listen unless you scream at him and threaten to kick him out.