Continuity mistake: Towards the beginning of the movie Goose loses a bet to Maverick and must pay up. He extends his hand out with a bill folded. The camera switches back and forth and the bill changes from being folded in half to being folded in quarters.
Continuity mistake: While in the opening air scene, the names of the pilot and his RIO are backwards.
Continuity mistake: In the elevator scene Kelly McGillis's hair is a different colour (I think a shade of red) than earlier or later in the film. Apparently this scene was filmed months after Top Gun filming was complete while McGillis was shooting another film. This explains the baseball cap and ponytail.
Continuity mistake: When Charlie is briefing the pilots on what a MiG can do, Slider and the guy behind Maverick have their sunglasses on in one shot, then off in another and then on again in another.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Charlie picked up Maverick from the hospital, you can see the rear view mirror of her car is low, between the actors' faces. The camera zooms in and the mirror can be seen raised slightly above the top of the windshield. The camera zooms out and the mirror is low again.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning scene of the movie, Maverick and Cougar encounter 2 Soviet Migs. When one of the MIgs is first shown from the camera angle on its right side, it is a delta winged aircraft. The next scene that shows the Migs, they have standard wings. The wings change at least twice during the opening air encounter.
Continuity mistake: In the final dogfight, Hollywood and Iceman are up against 5, count them, 5 Migs. Hollywood is shot down and Maverick is launched. Maverick takes out one Mig, Iceman takes out the next. That is two. Maverick takes out a third. For the finale, Maverick hits the brakes and lets him fly right by for a total of FOUR kills. Then the remaining Migs bug out. Two Migs are shown leaving. That adds up to 6 Migs, not 5. [Initially 5 Migs do show up on radar. But just after Maverick launches, Slider tells Iceman "We've got four on our tail. That makes 6 of them". So there isn't actually a continuity error when the remaining two Migs "bug out".]
Continuity mistake: When Maverick and Goose land in the sea by parachute, they are virtually on top of each other. But on the way down they are quite far apart, and would definitely not have landed in exactly the same spot.
Continuity mistake: In the bar scene near the beginning, when Iceman is talking to Maverick about Cougar, the camera is facing Mav and he has the beer bottle up to his mouth. It switches views in the next shot with the camera behind Mav, and he is not drinking. Then the view switches back to facing Mav, and the beer bottle is back up to his mouth and he's drinking from it.
Continuity mistake: In the scene in the airport after Maverick quits, Charlie tells him, "you've got that maneuver down real well," and it cuts to a close-up of Maverick. Movement is seen in the shiny wall behind him, which is a reflection of Charlie standing up. It cuts to a wide shot of both of them seated. Then she stands up to say, "So long, Pete Mitchell."
Continuity mistake: While having dinner with Charlie Mav puts his left hand next to his chin, but it disappears a shot later.
Continuity mistake: When the guys stop singing you've lost, check the waiter behind Charlotte. He turns around, gives his back to her and smokes. A shot later he's turned 180° and is now facing her.
Continuity mistake: At the bar during the 'You've lost that loving feeling' part someone has his hand on Goose's shoulder or not depending on the shot. No continuity.
Continuity mistake: At the bar, when Goose and Ron are talking Goose's beer is held down, but a shot later he's drinking from it.
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/.