Top Gun (1986) - 30 minor mistakes

Other: I don't remember there ever being an Alert 5 aircraft during normal flight operations, like Maverick was at the end of the movie. He should have been up in the air already. The Alert aircraft were normally set up before normal flight operations started in the morning.

Continuity: When Maverick leaves Charlie's house after their first date, there is a For Rent sign in front of her house. It appears to be the same shot of Maverick leaving her house towards the end of the film when she's actually put the For Rent sign up and moved.

Continuity: During the second dogfight, Iceman shuts down one of his engines, but when they fly past the carrier while returning, there are two lines of smoke coming out of his plane.

Factual error: There is no "Top Gun Trophy." Pilots either complete the course or they don't.

Continuity: Maverick is shown wearing a black wristwatch, but on the closeup shots of his hand on the throttle, the watch is silver.

Continuity: When the four pilots are playing volleyball, they have no sand sticking to them even though they are shirtless, sweating, and sometimes diving in the sand.

Continuity: After the final dog fight where everybody is happily back on the aircraft carrier, Iceman exclaims: You can be my wingman anytime, and Maverick replies: Bullshit - you can be mine. Then they hug, and during that hug Iceman in someway manages to put his sunglasses on, from one cut to another

Deliberate "mistake": Charlie is chasing Maverick in her car to tell him how she feels. Maverick races down the road on his motorcycle, then two cars start to move out of an intersecting road and Charlie narrowly misses them. In the next shot, Maverick starts yelling at Charlie about her 'reckless' driving, but behind them, you see the highway, with no traffic lights or signals. Charlie actually had right of way.

Deliberate "mistake": During the final dogfight, the same shots of missiles flying through the air are used several times.

Continuity: During the volleyball match, Maverick's dog-tag disappears.

Continuity: All the scenes with actors in the cockpit were shot in the front cockpit... pay attention to the canopy frame behind the RIO. This would also explain a large gaffe from the movie...Merlin taps on the fuel quantity indicator and exclaims "C'mon Cougar, we gotta land this thing, we are way low on gas"... the fuel quantity indicator is in the front cockpit :-)

Continuity: If you notice Charlie's (Kelly McGillis) car, the DoD base's name sticker is blue (on her car, it is in the lower left corner).  Blue is reserved for Officers. It should be green (for civilian employees).

Factual error: After the dogfight, when CAG meets Maverick in the squadron locker room, Goose is written on the locker next to Maverick's. They would not have left this on there after his death.

Factual error: U.S. Navy regulations forbid hair bleaching, as Iceman's.

Continuity: At Top Gun School, when Maverick does his "hit the brakes and he'll fly right by" move, watch close and you will see part of the canopy moulding fly off the cockpit as the nose comes up.

Continuity: In the final dogfight when Iceman shoots down the MiG, he says "roger, engage" and switches to missiles with his thumb on the flight stick.  He then locks on and switches to missiles again.  The switch was already in the correct position.

Continuity: When Iceman's plane is hit and begins smoking, the camera is placed behind the firing port for the F-14's gun. The smoke we see is actually from the gun firing, which Ice wasn't doing at the time.

Continuity: At the end of the briefing before the final scene, Iceman questions Maverick's capabilities. He's right to do so as Maverick can't make up his mind what aircraft he's supposed to be flying. First we see him climbing into the cockpit of an F-14, then when the aircraft is placed on the catapult, it changes to an A6 Intruder. When the order is given for Alert-5 launch, he's flying an F-14.

Revealing: Maverick and the others are supposedly on the Enterprise (CVN-65), which is a one-of-a-kind ship with a distinctive silhouette, but the movie repeatedly shows the Carl Vinson (CVN-70), a Nimitz-class carrier.

Continuity: Count the doors opening and closing - Mav walks through a closed elevator door.