The real pilots in Top Gun: Maverick were dozens of active-duty U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators, including stunt pilot Commander Frank "Walleye" Weisser (USN, Ret.), who flew Tom Cruise in low-altitude sequences, and Captain Brian Ferguson (USNR), the film's Air Boss, along with civilian stunt pilots like Randy Howell, who trained the actors and flew the F-14 scenes. These professional aviators flew the F/A-18 Super Hornets and other jets during filming, while actors trained in these jets to handle the G-forces, making the in-cockpit shots feel authentic.
Meet the Retired Navy Pilot Who Flew Tom Cruise's Jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick' Cmdr. Frank “Walleye” Weisser, USN (Ret), transformed himself from a teenage aspiring SEAL at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., into a world-class stunt pilot who flew Tom Cruise's fighter jet in the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.
So, while the stunts and aircraft used in Top Gun: Maverick are indeed real, the actors did not pilot the planes themselves.
Snodgrass was the "highest time Tomcat pilot," after having accumulated more than 4,800 hours in the F-14 and more than 1,200 arrested carrier landings, both more than any other pilot. He was called "The Real Top Gun" or the real "Maverick" in reference to Tom Cruise's character in the movie, Top Gun.
And that is your lot for today. While the “Darkstar” featured in “Top Gun: Maverick” is not a real aircraft, its real-life inspiration, the SR-72, certainly appears to be. Still under development and shrouded in secrecy, there is little if anything definitive known about it publically.
Spoiler Alert: While Tom Cruise is an accomplished pilot, he did 𝘯𝘰𝘵 fly an F-14.
After 1988's The Accused, she appeared in Cat Chaser with Peter Weller, a film she despised and which discouraged her from pursuing an acting career. McGillis appeared in dozens of television and film roles throughout the 1990s before taking a break from acting for a few years.
Her tour with the Blue Angels lasted two years through the end of the 2024 season. She returned to the fleet in late 2024 to serve as a department head at VFA-87, where she was working on the squadron's 2025 deployment aboard the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R.
Erich Alfred Hartmann (1922–1993), nicknamed "The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries and "Bubi" by his comrades, was a German Luftwaffe pilot and is widely regarded as the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare.
"Top Gun: Maverick" serves as a sequel and callback to the original, so using the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which has been the primary naval strike fighter for the U.S. Navy since the 1990s, helps maintain continuity with the earlier film while still being a modern aircraft.
So we all knew Tom Cruise hung off a biplane for real in Mission: Impossible – the Final Reckoning, which is highly impressive on its own. But you probably assumed that what happened next in the film involved some CG trickery (spoilers follow).
Skyhawks were well loved by their crews for being tough and agile. These attributes, along with their low purchase and operating cost as well as easy maintenance, have contributed to the popularity of the A-4 with American and international armed forces.
The MiG-29 was designed in response to a new generation of American fighters, which included the F-15 and F-16. Designed as an air defense fighter, this dual-purpose aircraft also possessed a ground attack capability.
TOPGUN, or as its official title goes, the "Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor" program, or SFTI (pronounced 'siff-tee'), is not actually a school, per se, but rather it is an instructional course loaded with schooling, training and tactics development, and it's held at the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development ...
Because the F-16 is faster due to a higher thrust-to-weight ratio, the Thunderbirds put on faster shows. However, the Blue Angels team tends to fly in tighter formations.
The JAGMAN investigation found that the primary cause of the mishap was pilot error with weather and fatigue as contributing causal factors. The mishap was not the result of any material failure of the F/A-18C. Based on the investigation, Kuss was found to have perished in the line of duty and not due to misconduct.
How much does a Blue Angel Pilot make? As of Jan 3, 2026, the average annual pay for a Blue Angel Pilot in the United States is $130,916 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $62.94 an hour. This is the equivalent of $2,517/week or $10,909/month.
(From To Catch a Thief, 1955)
“The most extraordinary actress ever.” That's how Cary Grant described his friend and co-star, our beloved Grace Kelly. It's easy to feel that love and admiration when watching the two on film together.
In recent years, McGillis has shifted her focus to raising her daughters, committing to her sobriety, and teaching acting at the New York Studio for Stage and Screen, while also managing her genetic condition, alpha one antitrypsin disorder.
Real Reason Tom Cruise's Top Gun 2 Ditched Meg Ryan When She Needed it the Most: 'We didn't want to be looking back' - IMDb. Few films have managed to do what Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick did.
His collection includes a World War II-era P51 Mustang, a HondaJet Elite, a Gulfstream IV, a Bombardier Challenger 300, and an Airbus H125 helicopter. Together, these aircraft are worth over 35 million dollars today and reflect Cruise's obsession with doing things himself, even in the sky.