>>>TOP GUN<<<

[jackryan172]

OK just one comment and Ill go back into my shell:

Fighter pukes make movies,

Attack pilots make history!

Jackryan172

[jackryan172]

Btw Callisto, besides the maximum height then there's the matter that TOm Cruise is 2" too short to be a naval aviator

Frank

D'OH!!! 

So Merlin is too tall, Goose picks his nose while playing Volleyball and now Maverick is too short... that's it I hate TG now!  Ok I'm kidding... it's still the best movie ever, about Naval Aviators. Although Flight of the Intruder (not to be confused with Flight of the Navigator ) wasn't bad for some SAM killing action!

I fly iron hand... it's kinda my thing. 

Close your eyes......and Shoot!!!!!

Gotta love the shrike!

[Gulfstream Driver]

Never heard of Cloud Dancer.  What's it about?

[kkrummy1]

David Carridine plays an unlimited aerobatic pilot flying at competitions around the country.  The late Charlie Hilliard and the rest of the well known aerobatic pilots of the time had bit parts.  The most interesting parts of the movies are the aerobatic shots were Carridine (being himself a pilot) was actually filmed during actual aerobatic maneuvers.  You can even see him looking a little green around the gills after a particularly hard snap roll sequence.  The plot kind of sucked, but the plane stuff was more than worth watching.  Keep in mind this was made in 1980 so most of the aerobatics are in Pitts bipes with a brief glimpse of the late great Leo Looudenslager in his original Laser 200. Art Scholl did the air to air work with Charlie, Gene and Tommy.  If you get a chance to see it don't miss it.

KK

[Mike]

I remember that movie. I've seen it long long time ago and when you explained it....
Great! Another movie I gotta go out and get now.
Thanks!

[Callisto]

This morning I was running late to work, so I text messaged my boss letting him know I would be a few minutes late. And after I stopped at 7-11 for a coffee (yes even when I run late I GOTTA stop for coffee!) I sent another text... "Maverick is supersonic. I'll be there in 30sec!" When he saw me, he started cracking up. 

[Frank N. O.]

Jack Ryan, reminds me of the car-quote: Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races, I think that was Carroll Shelby that said that, and it's true, torque is a lot more useful in traffic than hp let me tell you!

Speaking of Top Gun, while searching for flight helmets a long time ago I found a site that selled helmets of various kinds and they had a display of custom paintjobs including all the main ones from Top Gun, was that the company that made them, or are they replicas? And when does one really need a helmet, they also had twin-visor helicopter helmets.

Frank

[Mike]

This morning I was running late to work, so I text messaged my boss letting him know I would be a few minutes late. And after I stopped at 7-11 for a coffee (yes even when I run late I GOTTA stop for coffee!) I sent another text... "Maverick is supersonic. I'll be there in 30sec!" When he saw me, he started cracking up. 

Awesome! You're the kind of aviation nerd we're looking for for the forum. Well done Callisto!!

[Mike]

There are tons of mistakes in that movie for real, like the fact that the nut-job known as Tom Cruise is way too short to be a navy pilot, that Goose would never have been killed by the canopy due to the seat-back, the Tomcat can't fly inverted for so long as shown with the non-existant Mig-28s due to fuel-starvation and that it can't go Mach-20 or how fast he'd needed to fly to close in to the carrier as fast as told in the final part of the movie and then there are tons of small things as well.

Frank

You know what's interesting?
 I always thought that Goose dying was an unrealistic part but I was watching "the making of Top Gun" yesterday (well, since we were talking about it all week and I am an aviation nerd) and this part could actually happen!
 The writers wanted a mid-air collision but the NAVY said "hell-no we're not gonna have two NAVY planes run into eachother!". So they consulted one of the technical advisors for the show telling him "the RIO has to die" and he went back through the files to find a plausible death in form of an accident and saw an incident where the plane went into a flat-spin after one engine flamed out because it they flew through somebody elses jet-wash.
Procedure is to fire off the canopy first and then wait before ejecting because they found that the F-14 did build up a low pressure on top of the plane in a flat spin which would actually have the canopy float there for a little while before it flies away. Nobody got killed that way but it COULD happen if you fire the canopy and the ejection seat at the same time. Plus they said it's a myth that you would fire through the canopy if it doesn't come off because they canopies of the newer jets are really strong.

They also said that Maverick not being able to reach the ejection handles and Goose having to do it for him is realistic because the pilot sits further away from the center of the flat-spinning plane and has therefore higher centrifugal forces acting on him than the RIO who sits closer to the center.

Well, maybe you guys knew all that already but I learned something last night!

[fireflyr]

DARN!!!!
Thanks for the wonderful explanation Mike-----however, I was willing to take their word for it the first time just on the S**T HAPPENS principle.   (Murphy's law too)

Jim

[MO]

Wow! Mike, you actually have been doing your homework, haven't you? Thanx for taking the time!!!

Years ago, I saw something very similar: a guy (a photographer if my memory serves me right) while getting out of the cockpit of a Cessna OA-37B ejected accidentally when his feet entangled with the ejector's handles. Anyhow, he went trough the canopy's plexiglass, breaking his neck and getting killed instantly in spite of having a helmet on.

Saludos!

[Gulfstream Driver]

That's fascinating, Mike.  Thanks.

[Frank N. O.]

Yes I've heard that the F-14 is prone to flat-spins as well, and that it did indeed happend several times, however there's one thing I heard about the Goose-strike, namely that the seat would hit first, not the pilotes head, therefore it wouldn't be possible to be killed, and where do the seats go in the next shot?

Frank

[Sleek-Jet]

Goose drowned... knocked unconsious by the strike on the canopy.   

That's why we see Mav pulling him to the surface by his parachute lines. 

It isn't explained in the movie, but makes much more sence that him dieing from hitting the canopy.

Also note that they are very low when they finally punch out, so it doesn't take him long to get to the water.  Of course, the Pacific ocean is a long way from Fallon Nevada, maybe it's Lake Tahoe. 

[Frank N. O.]

Oh so that's what happend, I thought it was a broken neck, still the seat according to the info I had should've shielded him nonetheless.

Btw, look in the humour-thread for Val Kilmer's second Ice Man performance.

I read that Top Gun 2 was supposed to have Maverick be a Top Gun instructor and there was supposed to be a female fighter pilot that acted like a young version of himself. I would seriously love to have seen that, if portrayed in a realistic maner, I'm a sucker for a strong capable woman. To heck with flight attendants, give me a woman pilot!

Frank