Top Gun
Top Gun mistake picture

Other mistake: In the opening scene is a paragraph describing why the Top Gun school was started. The word "insure" is used when the word should have been "ensure". They wanted to guarantee the U.S. had superior pilots, not take out an insurance policy.

imshiffman

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

David Mercier

Other mistake: When Maverick is doing the fly-by at the end of the movie, you can notice the crew watching for the F-14's to fly by the carrier. It's obvious the fly-by was set up, otherwise the crew wouldn't be waiting to watch them fly by.

Ken Hogan

Other mistake: During the dog fight at the end the officer questions the status of Willard and Simpkin, previously designated the pilots on alert on catapults 3 & 4. The reply was "both catapults are broken". But carriers have four catapults - nobody even considers using nos. 1 or 2.

Other mistake: The guy in the tower drinking coffee works at both Mirimar and the Enterprise? It is the same guy. Identical looking, hair color, wearing the same exact style of sun glasses, etc. The second scene, the air boss seems to refer to the first scene as well, making a statement of "g** d*** that guy!" and laughs after having spilled the coffee, as though this has happened before. Seems to me they are making it pretty clear its the same guy. I would think the air boss on a land based training facility would be a different person that the one assigned to the Enterprise.

oldbaldyone

Other mistake: When they go into the flat spin, Maverick is unable to pull the ejection handle due to high Gs. But in the F-14, there is an alternate ejection handle between the legs of the pilot.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He is pinned forward, which is a peculiarity of the F14 as the pilot sits more aft than say an F/A18. Doesn't matter where the ejection handle is, he physically can't reach it.

stiiggy

Other mistake: Maverick and Goose were reprimanded at the beginning of the film and told, "you are number 2, Cougar is number 1. Cougar lost it and turned in his wings. You guys are number 1." This implies that Cougar and Merlin were going to Topgun. However, during their assisted carrier landing led by Maverick, their canopy is shown, and those inside are already wearing Topgun patches. This contradicts the statement given during the reprimand in the CAG's office previously mentioned.

Visible crew/equipment: When Charlie walks down to the front of the class in the hanger, Jester is the only one at the front. Look at the reflection of Maverick's glasses, and the reflection shows lots of people standing in front of him, likely film crew. (00:26:20)

More mistakes in Top Gun

Iceman: You can be my wingman any time.
Maverick: Bullshit! You can be mine.

More quotes from Top Gun

Trivia: Charlie's date in her first bar scene is the real Viper from the actual Top Gun school, called Pete Pettigrew. He was the consultant on the film.

More trivia for Top Gun

Question: I would like to know from a real Navy pilot if the scene is correct where Maverick's F-14 is right on Iceman's tail and he tells him to fly hard right to get out of his way. This leaves jet wash in his flight path and the jet goes down. Wouldn't a real pilot be trained to avoid this kind of danger from happening with the jet wash?

jcmann01

Answer: The original F-14A used the TF30 engine which was prone to compressor stall. This problem was fixed in later aircraft. https://theaviationist.com/2014/12/12/f-14b-engine-goose/.

Chosen answer: Probably not a lot of Navy fighter jocks on this site. Of course he'd be trained to avoid it, but Maverick is hyper-aggressive and is following Iceman way too closely. Had he been farther back he'd have avoided it.

Grumpy Scot

More questions & answers from Top Gun

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