Thoughts from the General: Thoughts about Top Gun: Maverick

First of all, Top Gun: Maverick is a great movie and will remain a classic for many decades in the future. Like the first movie, it will be a great recruiting tool for anyone interested in military aviation in the United States and nations throughout the world.

The first Top Gun movie was first-rate but Top Gun: Maverick is better. Here are some areas of accuracy, some questionable areas, and some areas of total nonsense.

Accuracies 

• Pulling 9 Gs will cause most pilots to black out.
• The air-to-air film in the middle of the film is highly accurate.
• Hot shot fighter pilots in good physical shape and full of fun.
• Top Gun school for only the very best fighter pilots in Navy and Marine squadrons.
• Women fighter pilots (since the 1990’s).
• Using laser guidance to hit a target with great accuracy.
• Ringing bell at the bar meaning free drinks for all.
• Fighter pilots have personal call signs.

Questionable

• Taking off on a taxiway (not unusual) covered with debris (questionable).
• Taking so long to recover from blacking out – recovery within a few seconds is the norm, as soon as strong back pressure on the stick is released.
• Throwing Maverick out of the bar area (the tradition is tossing someone over the bar).

Dead wrong

• Navy Captain at age 59 still on active duty and still flying fighters.
• Surviving after ejecting from an aircraft after it disintegrated at Mach 10 (10 times the speed of sound).
• Flying safely through a twisting narrow valley at 660 knots and 100 feet.
• Going into enemy territory in close formation.
• Stealing an enemy F-14, getting it started, and finding it fully loaded with fuel, missiles, and bullets.
• Dozens of cruise missiles 1) flying in formation, 2) at high speed and 3) to crater enemy runway(all three wrong).

One final point: The reviews have been favorable. “Tom Cruise has rescued American cinema” is my favorite.

Major General Perry Smith USAF (ret.) flew fighter aircraft for 25 years (F-84s, F-100s, F-4s, and F-15s). He flew 180 missions in F-4D aircraft during the Vietnam War.