Summary
- Wesley Crusher, despite not initially showing interest in becoming a pilot, joined the elite pilot group Nova Squadron due to his experience piloting the Enterprise-D.
- The tragic accident that resulted in the death of a fellow cadet had already occurred when "The First Duty" checked in on Wesley and his squadmates.
- Wesley returns to the Enterprise a few episodes after the death of Sito Jaxa, but surprisingly, he never mentions her death or his squadmates' deaths as a reason for his decision to leave Starfleet.
On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) was a member of Nova Squadron while at Starfleet Academy despite the fact that he never seemed interested in becoming a pilot. Before attending the Academy, Wesley lived on the USS Enterprise-D with his mother, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). Despite not actually being a member of Starfleet at this time, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) named Wesley an acting ensign. With this status, Wes often sat at the helm on the bridge of the Enterprise.
With his intelligence and passion for science, Wesley proved to be an asset to the Enterprise crew, often coming up with out-of-the-box solutions. Wesley left the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4 to attend Starfleet Academy, but he would return for a couple of appearances in later seasons. In TNG season 5, episode 19, "The First Duty," the Enterprise returns to Earth to find that Wesley and the other members of the flight team known as Nova Squadron have been involved in an accident while performing a dangerous flight maneuver. This accident resulted in the tragic death of fellow Starfleet cadet Joshua Albert.
