The Navy Stopped Tom Cruise from Flying an Actual Jet in Top Gun: Maverick

He pilots a p-51 propeller-driven fighter plane and various other aircraft in the sequel..

Adele Ankers-Range Avatar

Tom Cruise was barred by the Navy from flying an actual F-18 Super Hornet jet in Top Gun: Maverick, even though he pilots several other aircraft in the sequel.

According to USA Today , Jerry Bruckheimer, who co-produced the original Top Gun, spoke to Empire Magazine about the long-awaited sequel. He hinted that fans can expect plenty of thrilling action sequences in the movie, as glimpsed in the trailers , with Cruise piloting a P-51 and various other helicopters and aircraft — bar Maverick's F-18 jet.

Apparently, Cruise put in a request to fly the Super Hornet but he was denied clearance by the Navy. Instead, IMAX cameras were installed inside the F-18 cockpits to shoot certain scenes while skilled Navy pilots took care of the actual flying, which Bruckheimer assures will give the experience of "what it's like to be in an F-18 in that cockpit with those pilots."

"When you're pulling heavy Gs, it compresses your spine, your skull. It makes some people delirious. Some people can't handle it," said Cruise, who, as a producer on the film, signed his co-stars up for intense training and aerial boot camp. "So I had to get them up to be able to sustain high Gs. Because they have to act in the plane. I can't have them sick the whole time."

Tron: Legacy and Oblivion's Joseph Kosinski directs the decades-later sequel, which sees Cruise reprising his role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Now a flight instructor, Maverick must head back into the danger zone and confront his past while training a new squad of graduates for a perilous mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice.

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Top Gun: Maverick will finally arrive in cinemas on November 19. Val Kilmer will be returning as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky alongside franchise newcomers Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, and Miles Teller in a lead role . Notably absent from the cast is Kelly McGillis who played Maverick's love interest, Charlie Blackwood, in the original film.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

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Top Gun: Maverick

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Can Tom Cruise fly fighter jets? When he got his pilot’s licence and how much of Top Gun he’s flying for real

Tom cruise is famous for his commitment to realism, and frequently performs his own stunts.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Tom Cruise portraying Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in a scene from "Top Gun: Maverick." (Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures via AP)

The much anticipated Top Gun: Maverick i s about to hit the big screen, and critics are already raving about the quality of the flight scenes.

Tom Cruise is famous for his commitment to realism, frequently performs his own stunts, and even broke his ankle while filming Mission Impossible in London in 2018.

But does the daredevil do his own flying? Here’s everything you need to know.

What can we expect from the new Top Gun ?

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back and is still feeling the need for speed. His bosses have him in their line of fire, but he remains the best navy test pilot around and commands respect from his flying colleagues.

There is a seemingly impossible mission to blow up an Iranian uranium enrichment plant and Maverick is dispatched to train up an elite team of graduates for the task.

Expect some breathtaking aerobatic displays which, judging by the critics and not entirely surprisingly, outstrip those of the original.

Geoffrey Macnab, writing in i , said “the aerial photography is every bit as spectacular as you would expect”.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Tom Cruise portraying Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in a scene from "Top Gun: Maverick." (Paramount Pictures via AP)

The sequel, he adds, “defies cynicism and confirms Tom Cruise’s status as Hollywood’s ‘mission leader’ when it comes to blockbusters ”.

Deadline Hollywood praised the film saying it “tops the original in every way imaginable” adding it is “an example of Hollywood filmmaking at its zenith”.

The original Top Gun was released on 16 May, 1986 and went on to become one of the most famous films of the 80s.

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, deeming it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Is the flying real?

Cruise is well known for doing his own stunts, and he has built that reputation through decades of action films such as the Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher movies.

“People had asked for a sequel for decades,” Cruise told the PA News service. “And the thing I said to the studio from the beginning was: ‘If I’m ever going to entertain this, we’re shooting everything practically. I’m in that F/A-18, period.”

The cast of Maverick underwent serious training in how to cope in the air, meaning the footage you see is in fact real, not CGI.

The course was developed by Cruise, lated three months, and included tuition in underwater evacuation, aerial aviation and flight itself.

They were also prepared for the dynamic pressures of G-force.

They started in single-engined planes, moved on to a Czech-designed jet trainer called the Aero L-39 Albatros, and then the F-18 Super Hornet.

Miles Teller, who plays ‘Rooster’ the son of ‘Goose’ from the original film, explained: “We trained for this for a long time, Tom had us in a flight programme for several months before we ever started filming.

“But it was never something you really ever got, like, super comfortable with, at least for me. It was something that every time I went up, it really tested me and I felt like I wanted to puke pretty much every time.”

The team also learned to operate cameras and about cinematography as they were essentially filming themselves up there.

But were they actually in control of the aircraft?

Despite this training the Navy did insist on having trained officers at the controls of the F-18 Super Hornet, which is worth £56m.

Glen Roberts, the chief of the Pentagon’s entertainment media office, said a regulation bars non-military personnel from controlling a Defence Department asset other than small arms in training scenarios.

Instead, the actors rode behind F/A-18 pilots, and external shots are of trained Navy pilots.

Cruise, who has been a licensed pilot since 1994, did fly a P-51 propeller-driven fighter plane and a few helicopters for the movie.

The planes aircraft carriers and military bases are also real locations.

Who else stars in the Top Gun: Maverick ?

The cast includes:

  • Tom Cruise as Captain Peter “Maverick” Mitchell, a test pilot
  • Miles Teller as Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw
  • Jennifer Connelly as Penelope “Penny” Benjamin
  • Val Kilmer as Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky
  • Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson
  • Ed Harris Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain

It was directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and long-time Cruise collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie.

Top Gun: Maverick is dedicated to the director of the original Top Gun , Tony Scott, who died in 2012.

Lady Gaga has co-written Hold My Hand , the lead song for the sequel’s soundtrack’s.

Those who remember the original Top Gun will recall its big hit song was Berlin’s You Take My Breath Away . It won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

When is Top Gun: Maverick released?

It is set for release in UK cinemas on 27 May.

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ studio paid U.S. Navy more than $11,000 an hour for fighter jet rides—but Tom Cruise wasn’t allowed to touch the controls

The U.S. Navy lent Tom Cruise F/A-18 Super Hornets for the new “Top Gun” movie. The only catches: The studio paid as much as $11,374 an hour to use the advanced fighter planes — and Cruise couldn’t touch the controls.

The “Mission Impossible” star, famous for performing his own stunts, insisted that all the actors portraying pilots on the long-delayed “Top Gun: Maverick” film fly in one of the fighter jets built by Boeing Co. so they could understand what it feels like to be a pilot operating under the strain of immense gravitational forces. Cruise, 59, had also flown in a jet for the original “Top Gun,” a smash hit in 1986.

Cruise ended up flying more than a dozen sorties for the new movie, but a Pentagon regulation bars non-military personnel from controlling a Defense Department asset other than small arms in training scenarios, according to Glen Roberts, the chief of the Pentagon’s entertainment media office. Instead, the actors rode behind F/A-18 pilots after completing required training on how to eject from the plane in an emergency and how to survive at sea.

Roberts said the Navy allowed the production to use planes, aircraft carriers and military bases even though he said the real Top Gun pilots aren’t the cocky rule-benders portrayed in the film, people who “would never exist in naval aviation.” Instead, they’re studious air nerds who toil away for hours in the classroom and participate in intense training flights at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, the site of the actual Top Gun school.

A movie “does not have to be a love letter to the military” to win Pentagon cooperation, Roberts said. But it does “need to uphold the integrity of the military.” Filmmakers need to have funding and distribution for their project and be willing to submit their script for military review. Although the Pentagon can request changes, Roberts said he wasn’t aware of any on “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Paramount Pictures said in production notes for the film that Cruise created his own demanding flight training program for the movie’s young actors so that they could withstand the nausea-inducing rigors of aerial maneuvers and perform their roles with “real Navy pilots taking them on the ride of their lives.”

The movie is being released this week after delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. Scenes were shot aboard the  USS Abraham Lincoln  in August 2018 during a training exercise involving the military’s F-35C Lightning II fighter jet, Roberts said. The production also filmed at Naval Air Station Lemoore in Central California.

The Super Hornet, a jet known as the “Rhino,” gets top billing in the movie over the more advanced F-35C built by Lockheed Martin Corp. because that’s what the movie’s script called for, Roberts said. He also noted that the F-35 is a single-seat plane, so the actors couldn’t ride in them.

Filmmakers reimburse the Pentagon for any aircraft unless they’re already being used in a previously scheduled training exercise or the flight can be counted toward the pilot’s required time at the controls. In 2018, when much of the filming for “Top Gun: Maverick” was conducted, the going rate for the jets was $11,374.

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The Navy refused to let Tom Cruise fly an F/A-18 Super Hornet in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

Tom Cruise can do almost anything, but he absolutely cannot fly a $70 million dollar Navy fighter jet

By Jared Keller | Published Mar 29, 2020 3:02 PM EDT

  • Tech & Tactics

Fighter Aircraft photo

Tom Cruise can do almost anything, but he absolutely cannot fly a $70 million Navy fighter jet.

In a new interview with Empire magazine   ahead of the release of Top Gun: Maverick this summer, film producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that despite Cruise’s piloting prowess, the Navy wasn’t keen on actually putting the superstar actor in the cockpit of an F/A-18 Super Hornet.

“The Navy wouldn’t let [Tom] fly an F-18, but he flies a P-51 in the movie, and he flies helicopters,” Bruckheimer told Empire, per Military.com. “He can do just about anything in an airplane.”

According to Empire, both Cruise and Bruckheimer put a premium on authenticity when it came to the return of Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell for the highly-anticipated sequel.

“We just started talking,” Cruise told the magazine. “And I realised that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically. And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, ‘How do we do it?’ So I said to Jerry, ‘I’ll do it if…’ meaning, I’m not going to do the CGI stuff.”

For a guy who once clung to the side of an Airbus 400 to execute a mind-numbing opening stunt for Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Cruise’s devotion to total realism isn’t surprising. But while that didn’t translate to letting Cruise putter around in a Super Hornet, it did yield some g-force-heavy sequences of Cruise and his co-stars getting rocked around  by naval aviatqors.

“What’s different about this movie is that [in Top Gun ] we put the actors in the F-14s and we couldn’t use one frame of it, except some stuff on Tom, because they all threw up,” Bruckheimer told Empire. “It’s hysterical to see their eyes roll back in their heads. So everything was done on a gimbal. But in this movie, Tom wanted to make sure the actors could actually be in the F-18s.”

You can absolutely watch the Top Gun: Maverick  actors get dizzy AF in the video below:

Directed by Joseph Kosinksi and starring Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer, Top Gun: Maverick  finally hits theaters on June 24, 2020.

Jared Keller

Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. Contact the author here.

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How the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Cast Trained to Fly Fighter Jets

By Jazz Tangcay

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Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Audiences coming out of “ Top Gun: Maverick ” this weekend want to know one thing, are the actors really flying those fighter jets? The answer in short is, yes.

Tom Cruise , who returns as “Maverick,” is renowned for doing his own stunt work, and he wanted his stars Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro and Glen Powell to learn how to fly. That’s where the film’s aerial coordinator, Kevin LaRosa Jr. , stepped in.

LaRosa Jr. worked with Cruise to put together an intense flight program that began with the cast flying in a smaller aircraft. “We started with the Cessna 172 and we took them through basic flying. This allowed them to see what it was like to take off, land and know where to look and put their hands,” LaRosa. Jr. explains. That starter plane also allowed the actors to get a feel of what a small g-force felt like.

And just like in a real training program, once the actors were comfortable with that, they graduated to the next level and it was onto the aerobatic airplane, the Extra 300. “This was similar to what the general public would see at an airshow where those planes do crazy maneuvers. It can pull up to eight g forces. It’s exhilarating,” says LaRosa Jr.

Again, the exercise would build up their G-tolerance. “That to me is almost like muscle memory. If I don’t fly for a long time, I might go up and get sick. But if I fly every day and pull those Gs, it’s almost like brain muscle and you’re going to get used to it, and get better.” He adds, “We built them up to the point where they were mainly not getting sick.”

Next was the L-39 Albatross. “This allowed them to experience a fighter trainer jet. When they graduated from that, we had aviators.” LaRosa Jr. adds some cast members are working on getting their full license. Glen Powell, who plays Hangman, did get his.

By the time the actors were put into F/A-18, LaRosa Jr. says, “They were confident and they felt good. They were used to those G-forces, and then they could focus on working with Joseph and Tom on telling this amazing story.” He continues, “They didn’t have to worry that they were in this high-performance fighter jet flying through canyons.”

As someone who has dedicated his life being an aerial coordinator, flying and teaching, LaRosa Jr. praises the talent of the cast. Barbaro, he says was the most impressive. “She absolutely killed it, and did a good job of adjusting to the physiological effects of everything.”

Equally as impressive was Powell, who got sick while filming the F/A-18 scenes. Says LaRosa Jr., “He would go and take care of his business and then get right back in the game. of the most impressive things was watching how some of the cast were able to process that and recover themselves.”

The training program set the actors up, so when they were ready to fly and film, Cruise’s determination of wanting the best performances possible were delivered.

For the mission training program that the pilots go on, LaRosa Jr. says the jet-to-jet photography allows audiences to go live with the fighter jets while IMAX cameras were mounted to the inside and outside of the F/A-18. “As the audience, it feels like we’re riding in there with them.” LaRosa Jr. adds, “When you mix all of those things together, you end up with the perfect mix of aerial storytelling.  It is a perfect blend of living with our actors who are absolutely in those aircraft, maneuvering and pulling G’s and also letting the audience see where we are to get spatial orientation and to see these aircraft maneuvering down low and in and around the training range.”

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For 'Top Gun: Maverick,' Tom Cruise flew a jet, experienced up to 8 G's: 'You can't act that'

can tom cruise drive a jet

Tom Cruise is no slacker when it comes to doing his own action movie stunts . But does he really need to be flying his own fighter jet as six cameras record his every move inside of the cockpit for a film?

Yes, absolutely he does!

And that's what the star, and some of his cast mates, have done for "Top Gun: Maverick," the highly anticipated sequel that arrives 34 years after the original. 

In a featurette for the movie released Wednesday, Cruise defends his decision to eschew CGI for actually piloting a jet. "You can't act that, the distortion in the face. They’re pulling 7½, 8 G's. That’s 1,600 pounds of force," he says.

So it's no surprise that the video shows actor Danny Ramirez nearly vomiting in the cockpit.

"It is heavy duty," says Cruise. No kidding.

Adds new co-star Miles Teller, who plays Goose's son, "Rooster": "Putting us up in these jets, it's very serious. That's why everybody thought it would be impossible. I think when Tom hears that something's impossible or it can't be done, that’s when he gets to work." 

Trailer: Tom Cruise is training the next generation in new 'Top Gun: Maverick' sequel

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Cruise's character, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, is a test pilot who finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission, "the likes of which no pilot has ever seen," according to a release from Paramount.

But Cruise, 57, seems up for the challenge of acting as the leader for such a mission. Even if it makes him woozy and out of breath, as we see in the new promo clip.

"Top Gun: Maverick" is set for theaters in June.

So How Does One Teach Tom Cruise To Fly Top Gun: Maverick Fighter Planes, Anyway? How The Aerial Coordinator Did It

How did Tom Cruise learn how to fly fighter planes in Top Gun: Maverick?

Tom Cruise flying a jet in Top Gun: Maverick

To be able to get back behind the cockpit for Top Gun : Maverick must have been a real dream for Tom Cruise . He wanted to reprise his role of “Maverick” in the Top Gun sequel for the purpose of being able to fly those jets again. While it would have been too easy to make Tom Cruise be surrounded by a green screen, he’s actually skyrocketing into the air, with those aviation scenes being 100% real. Here is how Top Gun: Maverick ’s aerial coordinator was able to teach Cruise and the rest of the cast how to fly a fighter jet.

In the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise and the other actors were actually in the air on real fighter jets, but it was required for someone else to be piloting the plane. But that was over three decades ago and the cast actually learned to fly fighter jets for Top Gun: Maverick. According to KTLA 75 , the cast was put through an extensive training program to soar through the skies which were run by the film’s aerial coordinator and camera pilot, Kevin LaRosa. He said by the time the cast got into the aircraft, they were “seasoned pros” able to “deliver epic performances.”

Mission: Impossible ’s Tom Cruise can be seen flying in Top Gun: Maverick , but as a civilian, he could not fly the primary fighter jet of the film, the F-18 Hornet. He had to start on certain aircrafts like the entry-level airplane, a Cessna 172, to learn the basics. The next level airplane would be the Extra EA-300 used in air shows for aerobatic stunts. Every plane the cast flew was meant to build up their “G tolerance” in order to look like pros on camera. Afterwards, the cast moved up to maneuverable fighter jet L-39 to finally the F-18. So Tom Cruise was still not allowed to actually fly an F-18 for the movie, but LaRosa gave them the training to help him make it look like he can.

Once the actors were inside of the cockpits, the actors actually had to direct themselves and figure out the camera shots since a director obviously could not be up in the air with them. This meant the filmmakers had to wait until the actors landed to see which footage could be used, and sometimes do-overs were necessary. LaRosa had no problem striving for perfection in wanting the actors to keep going again and again until it was done right. If you’d like some proof if the Top Gun star still has it in him, you can see watch the epic video of Tom Cruise flying planes.

Kevin LaRosa clearly came up with an amazing training program for Top Gun: Maverick , as the aerial sequences were among the things singled out by the critics . Many commented that they loved the exterior airborne shots and being able to hear the realistic roaring of the engines. Various critics also commended the film for not going the CGI route and having the actors actually fly in the airborne cockpits. This proves one again that going the practical route is sometimes better than just using CGI.

You can see Tom Cruise and the rest of his fellow actors in the new movie release of Top Gun: Maverick , which is playing in theaters now. 

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The Navy Stopped Tom Cruise from Flying an Actual Jet in Top Gun: Maverick

He pilots a p-51 propeller-driven fighter plane and various other aircraft in the sequel..

Adele Ankers-Range

Tom Cruise was barred by the Navy from flying an actual F-18 Super Hornet jet in Top Gun: Maverick, even though he pilots several other aircraft in the sequel.

According to USA Today , Jerry Bruckheimer, who co-produced the original Top Gun, spoke to Empire Magazine about the long-awaited sequel. He hinted that fans can expect plenty of thrilling action sequences in the movie, as glimpsed in the trailers , with Cruise piloting a P-51 and various other helicopters and aircraft — bar Maverick's F-18 jet.

Apparently, Cruise put in a request to fly the Super Hornet but he was denied clearance by the Navy. Instead, IMAX cameras were installed inside the F-18 cockpits to shoot certain scenes while skilled Navy pilots took care of the actual flying, which Bruckheimer assures will give the experience of "what it's like to be in an F-18 in that cockpit with those pilots."

"When you're pulling heavy Gs, it compresses your spine, your skull. It makes some people delirious. Some people can't handle it," said Cruise, who, as a producer on the film, signed his co-stars up for intense training and aerial boot camp. "So I had to get them up to be able to sustain high Gs. Because they have to act in the plane. I can't have them sick the whole time."

Tron: Legacy and Oblivion's Joseph Kosinski directs the  decades-later sequel,  which sees Cruise reprising his role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Now a flight instructor, Maverick must head back into the danger zone and confront his past while training a new squad of graduates for a perilous mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice.

Top Gun: Maverick will finally arrive in cinemas on November 19. Val Kilmer will be returning as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky alongside  franchise newcomers Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, and  Miles Teller in a lead role . Notably absent from the cast is Kelly McGillis  who played Maverick's love interest, Charlie Blackwood, in the original film. 

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN.  Follow her on Twitter.

can tom cruise drive a jet

Top Gun: Maverick

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Is Tom Cruise a real pilot? All about his flying dream

  • by Chege Karomo
  •  – on May 26, 2022
  •  in People

Tom Cruise returns for the second installment of  Top Gun , which promises to be an improvement on the first one. However, before the film’s premiere, Cruise teamed up with television host and actor James Corden to promote the movie. In 2018, Tom took James skydiving; in 2022, Tom strapped him into a plane piloted by the  Mission Impossible  star. 

“I’m gonna go up in a 75-year-old plane with someone who isn’t a pilot? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,”  Corden protested . 

If it were another actor, it’d be difficult to believe that they were a pilot. However, given Tom Cruise’s penchant for performing his own stunts, it’s pretty easy to fathom Cruise having a pilot’s license. 

Tom Cruise has held a pilot’s license since 1994

Tom Cruise qualified as a pilot in 1994, nearly three decades ago. Cruise reportedly owns several planes, including a luxury Gulfstream jet and his beloved P-51 Mustang, a WWII fighter that’ll appear in  Top Gun . 

“The P-51 Mustang you see in the movie is actually my plane, so I got to pilot in those sequences,” Cruise told  Hello magazine . “I also got to be in the jet fighter a lot more this time, which was thrilling. It was something I had been working up to.”

Cruise told the outlet that  Top Gun  allowed him to fulfill two dreams: flying and acting. “All I ever wanted to be was a pilot or an actor, so Top Gun was a huge moment in so many respects, including my passion for aviation,” Cruise said. “I got to actually fly in an F-14 jet which was a dream come true, and play a character I loved in Maverick.”

Tom told the PA News Service that he advocated for realism in the new  Top Gun , translating to as little computer trickery as possible. For Cruise, a man with a decades-old flying license, flying would be easy, but the rest of the cast needed intense training. 

For three months, the actors developed skills crafted by Cruise and learned how to film while inside the aircraft. However, few can match Tom Cruise, as Miles Teller admitted that he never got used to the feeling:

“We trained for this for a long time, Tom had us in a flight programme for several months before we ever started filming. But it was never something you really ever got, like, super comfortable with, at least for me. It was something that every time I went up, it really tested me and I felt like I wanted to puke pretty much every time.”

Cruise didn’t get to fly the F-18 Super Hornet in  Top Gun

Cruise may be an experienced pilot, but the military doesn’t hand the keys to one of their most prized assets to anyone with a flying license. 

The military hasn’t given a reason why it didn’t offer Cruise the F-18 Super Hornet, but we think money has a lot to do with it. The jet costs $70 million, nearly half of the film’s $152 budget. Few insurers would accept to insure potential damage of such an aircraft. 

Furthermore, despite having a pilot’s license, Cruise may not have the requisite skill to fly an F-18 safely – placing one in his hands would put lives at risk. The crew and cast filmed using real F-18 jets driven by trained Navy pilots. 

Read Next: Is The Darkstar a real plane? Its real-life inspirations explained

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Simple Flying

What planes does tom cruise own.

Let’s take a look at Tom Cruise’s aircraft collection.

  • Tom Cruise is a licensed pilot with qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and helicopter flying skills.
  • Cruise owns a collection of airplanes, including a vintage P-51 Mustang fighter from World War II and a Gulfstream IV G4 jet.
  • There may be additional aircraft in Cruise's fleet, such as a HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet, according to a travel expert.

It wasn't just a show for 'Top Gun.' Tom Cruise is one of the few actors who genuinely love aviation. He has been a licensed pilot since 1994 and is able to fly several types of aircraft. However, it doesn't stop with a license. The famous Hollywood actor also has a collection of airplanes varying from vintage fighters to business jets.

What kind of license does Cruise have?

In various discussions, Tom Cruise has revealed that his affinity for aviation was crucial to his initial attraction to the original 'Top Gun.' He shared that he holds qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and has continued to enhance his skill set throughout his life. Notably, he acquired helicopter flying skills for the remarkable stunts seen in the 2018 film 'Mission Impossible: Fallout.'

Plane collection

North American P-51 Mustang fighter

During a segment on The Late Late Show, Cruise took host James Corden for a ride in his own vintage P-51 Mustang fighter plane. Tom Cruise acquired this World War II fighter in 2001, which was initially built in 1946.

The P-51 Mustang flying

The P-51 Mustang was an American long-range fighter bomber that served alongside other conflicts during World War II and the Korean War. It was developed by North American Aviation and was retired in 1984. Nevertheless, even today, the fighter is utilized for air racing by civilian pilots. After being donated to an Illinois museum, the plane underwent restoration in 1997.

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Making his recent performance in ' Top Gun: Maverick ,' Tom Cruise takes to the skies in the P-51 Mustang fighter. What adds intrigue to this is the revelation that he wasn't just portraying the pilot on screen – he was actually at the controls of his very own P-51 Mustang fighter.

Gulfstream IV G4 jet

With an estimated price tag of $20 million, this jet boasts the capability to accommodate as many as 19 passengers. Notably, it reportedly comes furnished with luxuries, including a jacuzzi and a dedicated movie-screening room, according to Business Insider.

The Gulfstream G4 jet landing during the evening

The Gulfstream IV G4 is a long-range executive jet designed and built by Gulfstream , a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United States, from 1985 until 2018. Its production spanned from 1985 to 2018, resulting in over 900 G4 units taking to the skies. This jet can cover distances of up to 7,100 kilometers and achieve a top speed of 850 kilometers per hour.

Is there more?

Whether the actor has more aircraft in its fleet has been under speculation as it was never officially confirmed. But according to a Business Insider report, in addition to the vintage fighter jet and the Gulfstream IV G4, Jack Sweeney, who is famous for reporting the travel habits of numerous celebrities, including Elon Musk, said he has been able to identify Cruise's HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet.

Want answers to more key questions in aviation? Check out the rest of our guides here .

Sources: Business Insider , South China Morning Post

Does Tom Cruise Really Know How To Fly Jets?

Tom Cruise smiling

Tom Cruise has made headlines for a lot of unique reasons over the years, from his epic on-set rants to his volatile love life, passionate devotion to Scientology, celebrity feuds, and various disturbing truths that fans tend to ignore . Even his passion for aviation has often gotten folks talking, like when he accepted his 2023 MTV Movie & TV Award from a plane, took James Corden for a flight in a World War II P-51 Mustang, and intensified his weird relationship with the royals with a bizarre fly-by message to King Charles on coronation weekend.

Indeed, fans will know Cruise loves flying, and he's all about doing his own stunts. Remember his climb up Dubai's Burj Khalifa in "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol"? Yes, he really was 1,700 feet in the air, hanging by a thin wire. "The whole thing was one, extended, hair-raising moment," director Brad Bird told the  New York Daily News at the time. How about that scene in "Mission: Impossible Fall Out" where he's dangling off a helicopter? Yes, he did that too. "It's all Tom flying, 100% of it," stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times . Most impressive, however, are all of the scenes in which Cruise appears to be piloting various fighter jets, which has left many wondering whether the actor can really fly. We can explain.

Yes, Tom Cruise does really know how to fly

Tom Cruise doesn't just talk the talk — he loves flying, and he really does know how to fly. As he told Conan O'Brien in 2019, "As a little kid, I wanted to fly airplanes, and I wanted to make movies." With his work, he's found a way to combine the two, and many of his films, like "Top Gun: Maverick," are an ode to his beloved hobby. "I'm a pilot myself," he enthused. "I love flying, and I love aviation, so this is also just a love letter to aviation." This is why he demanded that he be allowed to fly an F-14 himself, and the studio agreed. "I went through all the pilot training, and then I filmed three flights in the F-14 in one day — it was a dream of mine," he said.

However, Cruise was flying long before then. He originally got his license in 1994, and as he told WIRED in 2017, he can indeed fly airplanes. "I'm a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot," he explained. What's more, he can also pilot a helicopter and got his license so he could film his dream helicopter sequence for "Mission: Impossible – Fallout." Not too shabby! "I fly aerobatics in that," he shared . "I'm a commercially-rated helicopter pilot also." As the movie's stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, told Thrillist , Cruise also underwent stunt training and totally crushed it. "Tom is a great pilot," he applauded.

The military refused to give Tom Cruise access to one special plane

Tom Cruise's flight skills may garner plenty of confidence from his crew, but the US Navy didn't fully share that sentiment. In 2020, Cruise told Empire that when he and producer Jerry Bruckheimer started planning "Top Gun: Maverick," he wholeheartedly opposed the use of special effects and demanded that he be allowed to fly an actual F-18. However, despite being allowed to helm an F-14, Bruckheimer told Empire (via USA Today ), "The Navy wouldn't let him fly an F-18." Even so, his skills as a pilot are on full display in the flick. "He flies a P-51 in the movie and he flies helicopters," the producer shared. "He can do just about anything in an airplane."

As for those F-18 sequences, they had to get creative. They agreed to use two-seater F/A-18 Fs instead, so a professional could pilot the plane, the actor could be in the back, and CGI could take care of the rest. As "Maverick" stunt coordinator Kevin LaRosa II told GQ , it was the next best thing. "The beauty is that really is a shot of Tom in the back seat of that F-18, so he is there, being piloted by a genuine naval aviator," he enthused. What's more, Cruise told Channel 4 Sport , he was sort of allowed to fly the plane. "They let me have a stick in the back and a throttle, so there were times where they let me fly in fly formation," he said.

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Winning the Skies Without Losing Your Lunch: Filming ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

The makers of the “Top Gun” sequel discuss the challenges of filming practical aerial stunts.

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can tom cruise drive a jet

By Amy Nicholson

Before Tom Cruise signed on to star in the original “Top Gun,” he asked to take a test flight in a jet. Cruise wasn’t yet world famous, so when he arrived at the hangar, his long hair still in a ponytail left over from “Legend,” the pilots, according to one of the film’s producers, Jerry Bruckheimer, decided to give this Hollywood hippie the ride of his life. Zipping at 6.5 G’s — more than twice the G-forces some astronauts endure during rocket launches — Cruise felt the blood drain from his head. He vomited in his fighter-pilot mask.

He agreed to make the film.

Cruise continued to fly so fast, and so frequently, that he learned to squeeze his thighs and abs to stay conscious. His stomach adjusted to the speed. When the director Tony Scott put a camera in the cockpit, Cruise could smile for his close-ups. His castmates weren’t as prepared.

“They all threw up and their eyes rolled back in their heads,” Bruckheimer said in a phone interview. The original footage “was just a mess,” he admitted. “We couldn’t use any of it.”

“Top Gun” made Cruise a superstar — and the experience of shooting it stuck with him so much, he was convinced he needed to lead a three-month flight course for the cast of “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel, now in theaters, that has had 35 years to build up suspense. In the new movie, Cruise’s Capt. Pete Mitchell (known as Maverick) readies a dozen young pilots for a dangerous mission to destroy an underground uranium plant in an enemy land. Behind the scenes, Cruise did roughly the same thing, gradually raising the actors’ aerial tolerance, and confidence, from small prop planes to F-18 fighter jets. “He’s got every kind of pilot’s license that you could possibly imagine — helicopters, jets, whatever,” Bruckheimer said.

In essence, “Top Gun: Maverick” is a 450 mile-an-hour flying-heist caper. The mission leaders devise a difficult set of challenges for the pilots: zoom low and quick, vault a steep mountain, spin upside-down, plummet into a basin and survive a near-vertical climb at 9 G’s while dodging missiles.

Cruise, a contender for the most daredevil actor since Buster Keaton, was adamant that every stunt be accomplished with practical effects. Each jet had a U.S. Navy pilot at the controls, while its actor spun like a leaf in a windstorm. The deserts and snow-capped peaks in the background are real, and so are many of the performers’ grimaces, squints, gasps and moans.

“You can’t fake the forces that are put on your body during combat,” the director Joseph Kosinski said by phone. “You can’t do it on a sound stage, you can’t do it on a blue screen. You can’t do it with visual effects.”

From the safety of theater seats, the audience faces its own challenge: unlearning the computer-generated complacency that’s turned modern blockbusters into bedazzled bores. The imagery of the sky and ground spiraling behind the actors’ heads in “Top Gun: Maverick” looks like it must be digital wizardry. It isn’t.

The movie’s aerial coordinator, Kevin LaRosa II, and its aerial unit director of photography, Michael FitzMaurice, filmed from above using three aircraft: two types of jets with exterior cameras mounted on wind-resistant gimbals, and a helicopter, which proved best at capturing the speed of actors whizzing by. One specialized jet could film the same scene using two different lens focal lengths to double the footage captured on a single flight. Once LaRosa heard that the long-anticipated sequel was finally going to become a reality, he also developed his own aircraft, a shiny black plane with cameras that can withstand up to 3 G’s.

“That had never been done before,” LaRosa said in a video interview. As he flew next to the cast, LaRosa dodged trees while keeping an eye on the monitors to make sure FitzMaurice, controlling the cameras from the back of the plane, had gotten the shot.

Kosinski, the director, also spent 15 months working with the Navy to develop and install six cameras in each F-18 cockpit, which meant passing rigorous safety tests and securing the military’s all-clear to remove its own equipment. Luckily, Kosinski said, there were “Top Gun” fans among the commanding officers. “All the admirals that are in charge right now were 21 in 1986, or around there when they signed up,” he said. “They supported us and let us do all this crazy stuff.”

Usually, the Navy forbids pilots from flying below 200 feet during training. One of the film’s most staggering images is of Cruise in an F-18 whooshing just 50 feet above the ground, a height roughly equal to its wingspan. The plane flew so close to the earth that it kicked up dust and made the ground cameras shake. The pilot landed, turned to Cruise, and told the superstar that he’d never do that again.

The actor Monica Barbaro didn’t know how nervous she should be when she agreed to play the pilot Natasha Trace (nickname: Phoenix).

“When I met Joe in my callback, first thing he had me sign a waiver saying that I didn’t have a fear of flying,” Barbaro said by phone. “I just got goose bumps. I was so excited.”

Each flight day kicked off with a two-hour briefing for the pilots and film crew to go over every upcoming shot, movement and line of dialogue. Next, that sequence’s actors and pilots would rehearse the maneuvers in a wooden mock-up of the jet cockpit until the motions were ingrained. Then, they took to the sky to film as many takes as possible before the jet, or the performers, ran out of fuel. In the afternoon, they did it again.

Soaring above the crew, Barbaro and the rest of the cast took on a Swiss Army knife of skills. Instead of hitting her mark on the ground, she had to hit it in the air. The sun was her spotlight. A pilot’s kneeboard on her lap displayed her script, her movements and her necessary coordinates, plus reminders to check her parachute and shoulder straps, fix her hair and makeup, adjust her flight visor, flip on the bright red switch that controlled the cameras, and note down the time codes. Finally, Barbaro had to do her actual job: act.

“Tom just really encouraged everybody, if you are going to throw up, just learn how to do it and move past,” Barbaro said. “We would applaud when anyone threw up, so it became celebrated.” Glen Powell (he plays the hot shot Lt. Jake Seresin, who is called Hangman) even brandished his barf bag while gliding upside-down and flashing a thumbs up.

Barbaro held onto her lunch. But after her first dailies, she said, her face appeared so calm, it gave the impression that the clouds whooshing behind her were simply a green screen. Cruise’s training had prepared her too well.

She was sent back into the sky for a retake.

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Tom Cruise Talks Filming ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Jet Scenes: ‘You Can’t Act That’

  • By Jon Blistein

Jon Blistein

Tom Cruise guides a behind-the-scenes look at how the fighter jet theatrics came together for his new film, Top Gun: Maverick , out June 26th, 2020.

The film finds Cruise reprising his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the ace pilot from 1986’s Top Gun , although a lot has changed in both aviation and film technology since then. In the new documentary featurette, producer Jerry Bruckheimer explains that the goal of the film was to show audiences “what it’s really like to be a Top Gun pilot.”

In order to do that, the cast of Top Gun worked with some of the best fighter pilots in the world, while director Joseph Kosinski explained that they were able to film the fighter jet scenes with a new kind of rig that allowed them to fit six IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit.

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Warning: Real flying. Real g-forces. May make you puke. #TopGun pic.twitter.com/CRjROgOvwd — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 18, 2019

Cruise, who obviously has some experience in this realm, played a crucial role in helping the younger actors get used to the insane experience of flying a fighter jet. “It is aggressive, you can’t act that — the distortion in the face,” Cruise said. “They’re pulling seven-and-a-half, eight Gs. That’s 1,600 pounds of force. I’m so proud of them and what they’ve done; it is heavy duty.”

Top Gun: Maverick picks up over 30 years after the events of the original film, with Maverick training a new group of Top Gun graduates for an unusual and difficult specialized mission. Among his charges is Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller), who’s the son of Maverick’s late friend, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (played in the original film by Anthony Edwards).

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  • Can Tom Cruise Really Fly a Jet? An Expert's Perspective

Tom Cruise is an expert pilot who can fly airplanes and helicopters with ease. He created his own demanding flight training program for other actors to withstand aerial maneuvers and play their roles with “real Navy pilots”.

Can Tom Cruise Really Fly a Jet? An Expert's Perspective

Tom Cruise has been a licensed pilot since 1994, and he has proven his skills in the air by flying a P-51 propeller-powered fighter jet and some helicopters for the new film. Cinemablend has the support of its audience, and when you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The Navy allowed the production to use airplanes, aircraft carriers and military bases , even though the real Top Gun pilots are not the arrogant rule-breakers portrayed in the film. Instead, they are nerdy air scholars who work for hours in the classroom and participate in intense training flights at Fallon Naval Air Base in Nevada, the headquarters of the real Top Gun school.

Paramount Pictures said in the film's production notes that Cruise created his own demanding flight training program for the film's young actors, so that they could withstand the rigors caused by the nausea of aerial maneuvers and play their roles with “real Navy pilots who wear them”. on the journey of their lives. The Super Hornet, a jet known as the “Rhino”, is the most popular in the movie than the more advanced F-35C built by Lockheed Martin Corp. Because that's what the screenplay for the film called for, Roberts said.

He also noted that the F-35 is a single-seat aircraft, so the actors could not travel in it. If you want some proof of whether Tom Cruise still has it, you can watch the epic video of his flying planes. In the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise and other actors were in the air on real fighter jets, but it was necessary for someone else to fly the plane. While it would have been too easy to get Tom Cruise surrounded by a green screen, he's actually flying through the clouds, and those aviation scenes are 100% real. Tom Cruise has been a licensed pilot since 1994 and has proven his skills in aviation by flying a P-51 propeller-powered fighter jet and some helicopters for his new movie. He also created his own demanding flight training program for other actors to withstand aerial maneuvers and play their roles with “real Navy pilots”.

The Super Hornet jet was used more than Lockheed Martin's F-35C because that's what was called for in the screenplay. The video of Tom Cruise flying planes is proof that he still has what it takes to be an expert pilot. He flew real fighter jets in Top Gun and those aviation scenes were 100% real. The Navy allowed production to use airplanes, aircraft carriers and military bases for filming. Tom Cruise is an expert pilot who has been licensed since 1994 and has flown a P-51 propeller-powered fighter jet and some helicopters for his new movie.

The Super Hornet jet was used more than Lockheed Martin's F-35C because that's what was called for in the screenplay. The video of Tom Cruise flying planes is proof that he still has what it takes to be an expert pilot. The Navy allowed production to use airplanes, aircraft carriers and military bases for filming. Tom Cruise is an expert pilot who can fly airplanes and helicopters with ease. He created his own demanding flight training program for other actors to withstand aerial maneuvers and play their roles with “real Navy pilots”. The Super Hornet jet was used more than Lockheed Martin's F-35C because that's what was called for in the screenplay. The video of Tom Cruise flying planes is proof that he still has what it takes to be an expert pilot.

The Navy allowed production to use airplanes, aircraft carriers and military bases for filming.

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Tom Cruise Takes James Corden to the Danger Zone with Frightening Flight in 'Top Gun' Fighter Jet

Monday's Late Late Show with James Corden featured the host going on a pair of flights with Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise

Dave Quinn is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. He has been working at the brand since 2016, and is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It.

can tom cruise drive a jet

James Corden feels the need — the need for a speedy landing.

The Late Late Show host, 43, had an adventurous two days with Tom Cruise on Monday night's show, joining the Top Gun: Maverick actor for a terrifying trip in the air on a pair of fighter jets.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime getaway that Corden wasn't necessarily excited about. In a package of the high-flying experience, he played as an unwilling participant in Cruise's plan — admitting, "When Tom Cruise calls, you sort of have to say yes."

Cruise, for his part, was thrilled to be palling around with Corden again, as the 59-year-old actor previously jumped out of an airplane with Corden while promoting 2018's Mission: Impossible — Fallout .

"I'm very excited that James is doing this," Cruise said, before piloting Corden in both planes. "Was he the first late night show that I asked? Hell no. He was just the first one, the only one , to say yes."

To kick things off, Cruise took Corden for a ride in a 1944 fighter airplane, Corden quickly putting up a sign in the window that said "Help Me."

Things got serious when a dueling plane popped up to challenge them. "We're in a dog fight," Cruise said, as Corden screamed, "I don't give a s---."

For more on Tom Cruise and James Corden flying on fighter jets, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"You did good," Cruise assured Corden after they landed, the comedian teasing, "The fact that this is your idea of a fun day out tells me how different we are as human beings."

Just when Corden thought he'd survived, Cruise informed him the two would be going up again, this time in a jet fit for modern aerial warfare.

Amid Corden's "I don't want to do it" objections, Cruise told the host, "You are my Goose," a reference to his Top Gun character's best friend in the original 1986 movie.

"When you said I'm your Goose it makes me feel excited and then I realize that Goose dies in the film," Corden explained in response. "You're the first half of the film Goose," Cruise insisted. "That 'You've Lost that Loving Feeling' Goose."

"That's the Goose I want to be," Corden quipped. "I want to be in a bar, singing..."

From there, Cruise and Corden followed through with some additional Top Gun experiences (like a game of volleyball and a camping getaway) before heading up in their flight.

"You look like a fighter pilot, I look like a hamster," Corden said, as they suited up for the flight.

Corden loosened up for his second flight, even channeling his "Carpool Karaoke" segment by singing Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" and Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's "Old Time Rock and Roll" — two tunes famously featured in Cruise's movies.

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But when Cruise started stunting, even flipping the plane upside down, Corden got scared. "Oh my God," he screamed. "This is absolutely ludicrous. This is the craziest thing... this is the stupidest thing I have ever done."

"You absolute bastard," he told Cruise. "I've got an idea, why don't we fly straight for a bit?"

"Okay, we'll fly straight," Cruise said, before flipping them over again.

Back on the ground, Cruise praised Corden for how he handled it all. "You can be my wingman anytime," he said.

"You know what, I think I'm good," joked Corden.

Top Gun: Maverick opens in theaters on Friday. The long-awaited sequel sees Cruise making his triumphant return as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, this time returning as an instructor for the elite fliers three decades after his graduation from the TOPGUN Naval aviation program.

Among his young charges is Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Goose ( Anthony Edwards in the first movie). Miles Teller , who plays Rooster, is among the actors cast as new class of pilots. Also joining are Glen Powell , Greg Tarzan Davis and Lewis Pullman .

Aside from the hands-on skills required for the film, Cruise still had more to share with his costars, when the training was over and the cameras turned off.

"There were times after we were wrapped for the day, we would spend an hour circled around him, listening to the stories that he's been through," Davis, 28, told PEOPLE in a new all- Top Gun special edition .

Added Pullman, 29, "Every one of the pilots has a story of him talking about what he thinks is great about them, what they can do with that quality. He teaches you, basically, how Tom Cruise became Tom Cruise ."

The Late Late Show with James Corden airs weeknights (12:30 p.m. ET) on CBS.

Screen Rant

Tom cruise flew his own p-51 mustang in top gun: maverick.

Tom Cruise shares a lot with his Top Gun: Maverick character, including owning the vintage P-51 WW2 fighter plane from the final scene of Top Gun 2.

  • Tom Cruise's flying sequences in Top Gun: Maverick add to the excitement of the long-awaited sequel, as he actually flew in the film.
  • The movie's ending, where Maverick and Rooster restore and fly a vintage P-51 Mustang, has a special meaning, as Cruise owns the same plane in real life.
  • Cruise's dedication to doing his own stunts, both in Top Gun: Maverick and in other movies like the Mission: Impossible series, showcases his commitment to realism and adds to his reputation as a Hollywood movie star.

Top Gun: Maverick 's flying sequences are part of what made the long-awaited sequel so exciting and that was further added to by the fact that Tom Cruise did fly in Top Gun 2 . The movie follows Maverick training a new group of young pilots which includes Miles Teller as Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick's deceased best friend Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Their tense relationship leads to a touching ending that relates to a plane that Tom Cruise flies in real life as well as in Top Gun 2 .

After surviving the mission together and proving the value of actual skilled pilots in the cockpit rather than just drones, Maverick and Goose form a bond that is similar to the one he shared with Goose. In Top Gun: Maverick 's ending , Rooster helps restore Maverick's vintage P-51 Mustang, which Maverick then flies Penny (Jennifer Connelly) out in. It's a fitting way to end Top Gun: Maverick , but there is a detail that many would have missed that makes the Tom Cruise P-51 Mustang scene even better.

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Tom Cruise Owns The Top Gun Maverick P-51

The original top gun inspired cruise's love of flying.

Tom Cruise smiling as he speaks to the Top Gun officers in Top Gun: Maverick

The P-51 Mustang plane that Maverick and Rooster work on in that final scene of Top Gun: Maverick is owned by Tom Cruise in real life. His passion for aviation was sparked while filming the original 1986 Top Gun movie and in 1994, Cruise became a licensed pilot .

The P-51 Mustang used in Top Gun: Maverick was built in 1946 and Cruise has owned the plane, which has an estimated value of $4 million, since 2001. Cruise originally branded the aircraft "Kiss Me Kate" after his ex-wife Katie Holmes, but he has since removed the name from the P-51 following their separation.

Top Gun Maverick's Tom Cruise P-51 Scene Was Real

The p-51 mustang is not the only plane cruise owns.

Maverick and Penny flying in the P51 at the end of Top Gun: Maverick

Although Cruise didn't fly the F-18 while shooting Top Gun: Maverick due to Navy restrictions, he was piloting in the P-51 Mustang during the scene in which Maverick flies with Penny. It's not surprising he was flying the plane, given how well-known Tom Cruise is for doing his own stunts . As well as the P-51 Mustang used in Top Gun: Maverick , Cruise owns two more aircraft.

His most luxurious is the Gulfstream IV jet valued at $20 million , which includes a Jacuzzi and a screening room, but it did not feature in Maverick . Tom Cruise and Captain "Maverick" Mitchell are both thrill-seeking daredevils, and the subtle inclusion of Cruise's own P-51 Mustang in Maverick 's ending made the link between the two even deeper.

Why The Navy Wouldn't Let Tom Cruise Fly Maverick's F-18

Cruise wanted limited cgi in top gun 2.

While known for doing most of his own stunts, the P-51 Mustang scene in Top Gun: Maverick highlights how some feats are too dangerous even for him . One of the biggest stipulations the actor had going into Maverick is that CGI would not play a major role in the film. Cruise got his wish, as most of the aerial footage depicted in Maverick is done with real planes. Being the man of ambition that he is, Cruise initially wanted to fly the Boeing F-18 fighter jet that's featured heavily throughout the movie. However, this turned out to be impossible.

Despite being a certified pilot, the U.S. Navy denied Cruise's request to fly the F-18, which itself holds a $70 million price tag. While no definitive answer has been given as to why Cruise couldn't fly the F-18 in Top Gun 2 , despite piloting other planes and helicopters in Maverick , it probably has to do with insurance reasons.

The F-18 alone would take up half of Maverick 's budget , and insurance for having Cruise in the pilot seat would have meant an even more expensive gambit. Considering how expensive the jet is on its own, it's probably best that the actor wasn't allowed to pilot it on his own. Rather, Navy pilots assisted in filming the F-18 scenes for Top Gun: Maverick .

Paramount Used Tom Cruise's P51 Mustang For The Top Gun 2 Marketing

Cruise's dedication to the sequel was a big narrative surrounding the movie.

Tom Cruise as Maverick wearing white shirt and standing by plane in Top Gun: Maverick

It's no secret that Tom Cruise is an aviation enthusiast. The actor has spoken openly about his love of planes and all things flying throughout his career, and it's something he's both known and admired for among Top Gun fans. Paramount was clearly aware of this, as they leaned heavily into the fact that Cruise flew his own P51 Mustang in Top Gun: Maverick when promoting the movie. Of particular note is the featurette Paramount released on YouTube in 2022, simply titled "Tom's P51 Mustang."

The short promotional featurette is summed up perfectly by its title and is multiple interviews with Top Gun: Maverick 's cast members and technical professionals from the set . They all recount their experiences working with Cruise flying his P51 Mustang, some interesting facts about the plane itself, featuring great behind-the-scenes footage. Paramount putting this out there as part of the Top Gun 2 marketing both shows how astute the studio is at knowing its target audience, and how integral Cruise is as a personality for the Top Gun franchise beyond his acting talent.

Tom Cruise Isn't The Only Famous Plane Enthusiast

Various actors, filmmakers and musicians all have their own planes for travel.

Tom Cruise sitting in a cockpit and giving a thumbs up in Top Gun

Tom Cruise's P-51 Mustang and collection of other planes is impressive, but he's not the only celebrity who's made a hobby out of owning a plane. A long list of celebrities also owns their own jets for their personal travel needs. The most common jets owned by celebrities are the Gulfstream G650, Dassault Falcon, and the Bombardier, with each jet costing over $50 million and then some.

Mark Wahlberg ( The Departed ) owns a Bombardier BD-700, with which he takes frequent trips overseas, and across the U.S. Harrison Ford ( Indiana Jones ) himself owns a Cessna 680 Citation that jets him quickly all over the U.S. Steven Spielberg has a Gulfstream G-650, visiting various locations overseas. Star Wars creator George Lucas also owns a Gulfstream, with which he flies overseas relatively frequently.

Movie stars aren't the only celebrities who own their own aircraft, as plenty of famous singers also like to travel in style as well. Country superstar Blake Shelton purchased a Gulfstream 4 and takes summer trips across the U.S. Country musician Kenny Chesney also owns a jet, a Dassault Falcon 900 to be exact, and also tours the U.S. Jay-Z owns a Gulfstream 5, taking frequent trips all over. Finally, Taylor Swift herself is the proud owner of a Dassault Falcon 7X, which she uses to travel the globe.

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Top Gun 2: All 6 Jet Fighter Planes That Appear In Maverick

Top gun wasn't the only movie where tom cruise actually flew, the mission: impossible movies best showcase cruise's commitment to stunts.

The P-51 stunts in Top Gun: Maverick were certainly impressive and such stunts have become typical for Tom Cruise's movie roles as of late. His commitment to realism has been a common theme in Cruise's career and Top Gun: Maverick isn't the only time he has piloted an aircraft on camera. For Mission: Impossible - Fallout , rather than relying on CGI or stunt doubles, Cruise took helicopter flying lessons so that he could perform the movie's biggest action sequence.

Cruise's Mission: Impossible stunts have become the stuff of legends, including his much-talked-about motorcycle jump in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 . However, the skill and training involved in learning to not only fly a helicopter but also pull off the stunts required in that sequence is especially impressive. It is yet another reason Cruise has earned a reputation as one of the last movie stars in Hollywood as he is willing to put everything he has into his roles, from Mission: Impossible to Top Gun: Maverick .

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IMAGES

  1. A Look At Tom Cruise $20 Million Luxurious Private Jet Gulfstream IV

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  2. Discover the private jet Tom Cruise travels in

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  3. Watch Tom Cruise Pilot Fighter Jets in Spectacular Top Gun Maverick

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  4. Top Gun 2: All 6 Jet Fighter Planes Appearing In Maverick

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  5. Watch Tom Cruise fly James Corden in multiple fighter jets

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  6. Tom Cruise purchases a new 2019 HondaJet

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COMMENTS

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  12. What Planes Does Tom Cruise Own?

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