Episode 2: Deep Throat

I apologize to those of you following me that I haven't kept these posts up.  I just didn't quite have the time I had hoped.  I will continue to post though and here is my analysis of the second episode.  I actually noticed that I had already written a bunch of notes on this one but just never got around to typing it up so here goes.

The episode starts with us seeing a SWAT team raiding a house where an air force test pilot has gone cuckoo.  Col Budahaus is found sitting in the fetal position in the corner in his whitey tighties covered with some sort of rash.  No comments are made as to what exactly his condition is other than "he's gonna need a doctor or something" and that the test pilots are apparently aware of the risks of flying "experimental aircraft".

"Col Budahaus"


So let's talk about what are some of the known side effects of the kind of stress that test pilots are exposed to.  Namely, could they cause rashes and psychosis?  Well this is a pretty easy one.  Stress can easily cause skin conditions including rashes and fever blisters.  And frankly, psychotic episodes are pretty common for people under a lot of stress as well.  Test pilots are typically less prone to these symptoms otherwise they wouldn't be able to be test pilots, but its not unheard of.  What kind of stress do typical test pilots have to deal with?  

Wikihow lists 5 easy steps (yeah right).

1. Obtain a Class I medical certificate:  This includes being off most if not all medications, never having a seizure, never having any issues with any internal organs, no history of mental issues involving psychosis, no criminal convictions, no illicit drug use, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  This is probably the hardest part for a lot of people.  You pretty much have to have a perfect medical and criminal history.
2. Become a professional pilot:  Yeah spend all the money to go through flight school and of course actually pass.
3. Have a background and passion for science: You're going to need at least a bachelor's probably in aeronautical engineering which includes lots of math and physics.
4. Good verbal and written communication skills: Lots of oral and written reports.
5. Go to test pilot school or join the military.

You can probably now see why Mulder saw so interested in the fact that multiple test pilots were suffering the same kinds of side effects as Col Budahaus.  These guys aren't supposed to crack under pressure.

Scully's hypothesis is that Budahaus is suffering from stereotypy.

A stereotypy is a repetitive or ritualistic movement, posture, or utterance. Stereotypies may be simple movements such as body rocking, or complex, such as self-caressing, crossing and uncrossing of legs, and marching in place.

 Scully mentions that POWs have been known to suffer from it and it has been studied in zoo animals.  The problem I seem to see with Scully's theory is that the information I can find seems to indicate that stereotypy is brought on as a way to release frustration or tension in captive animals or people in the case of POWs; however, there is nothing that seems to indicate that it could be brought on by extreme stress or anxiety.  The following distinction is mentioned on the wikipedia article however.

Like tics, stereotypies are patterned and periodic, and are made worse by fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Unlike tics, stereotypies usually begin before the age of three, involve more of the body, are more rhythmic and less random, and are associated more with engrossment in another activity rather than premonitory urges. Examples of early tics are things like blinking and throat clearing, while arm flapping is a more common stereotypy. Stereotypies do not have the ever-changing, waxing and waning nature of tics, and can remain constant for years. Tics are usually suppressible for brief periods; in contrast, children rarely consciously attempt to control a stereotypy, although they can be distracted from one.

So while stereotypy can be aggravated by stress, it doesn't appear to be caused by stress.  Scully also mentions something about tetronyl-D but I couldn't find anything online that explained what she was referring to.

"Sonic booms, stealth weaponry, etc"

Throughout the episode, Mulder and Scully hear sonic booms but when they look overhead, the planes are already gone.  This is perfectly normal, as is the existence of airforce bases that test experimental aircraft.  One question I still have though is could a sonic boom produce the kind of force need to bust out a car window?




ChaCha gave me my first answer:

The amount of force it takes to break a car window depends upon so many different factors it's impossible to give an exact number. Most windows are made of tempered glass, which is designed to hold over 200 lbs.

Ok but can a sonic boom break a car window?  The answer is of course yes.

"Lasers on the clouds"

Scully, upon seeing the lights says, "aircraft can't maneuver like that, could be lasers reflecting off the clouds."  Well first of all, its obvious from what we see that no aircraft we know of can maneuver the way the lights do in the episode.  But Scully's statement about them being lasers reflected on the clouds seems like a stretch to me.  I have personally seen lasers reflecting on clouds, but there don't appear to be any clouds in the sky during the episode, and if they were lasers, they wouldn't look like that.

"Ellen's Airbase"

Mulder mentions Ellen's Airbase as a place that has been rumored to have built planes using UFO technology.  I wasn't familiar with what he was referring to so I looked it up.  First of all the Aurora Project that Scully mentions I am somewhat familiar with, but Scully uses that as a possible non-UFO explanation of the events which I find ironic considering I have heard more theories about the Aurora Project involving UFO technology than not.

I found a lot of other stuff about experimental aircraft and top secret testing sites similar to Ellen's Airbase (which appears to be fictional), but instead of listing it all I'm linking a pretty thorough article from another avid phile.

"Immelmann turn that sustained 4Gs"

Mulder asks Col Budahaus a question about a pilot friend who claims he did an immelmann turn that sustained 4Gs and wants to know if that is possible.

What's an Immelmann turn?  Best show than try to explain.

As for the answer to the question... well I couldn't find anything too specific, but I looked up how many Gs the human body can endure and most places seem to agree that the untrained person can sustain around 5Gs of positive force so I'm going to say that the answer to Mulder's question is yes it is possible.  And heck just for fun here's some myth busters.

Col Budahaus can't seem to remember the answer however.  He remembers everything about his life except pretty much everything he ever learned as a pilot.  So now the question is does he suffer from selective amnesia or were his memories extracted.

Lacunar amnesia can occur and is the loss of memory about a specific event.  Usually brought on by severe trauma.  This doesn't seem to explain how memory of a specific skill or training can be extracted however.  As for removal of very specific memories, well this is pure science fiction.

Well that about does it for this episode.  It would seem that the explanation of pilots breaking under stress of top secret experimental aircraft is perfectly valid and everything we see in the episode seems to fit that explanation.  The only holes that can't be explained very well are the lights seen flying around and the very specific and selective memory loss experienced by Budahaus and later by Mulder.  But, just because something isn't publicly known doesn't mean the military isn't keeping it secret.