Revealing mistake: 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 mistake: In the opening scene, we know Maverick and Goose are flying in the morning because the CAG is greeted with a "Good morning, sir" before he asks who is flying. As the scene plays out, it is certainly taking place during the day. However, by the time Maverick is escorting Cougar back to the ship, the sun is setting - by the time Cougar's plane lands on the ship, it is quite dark. First, it seems highly unlikely that the encounter with the MiGs would have taken that long, and the F-14's certainly wouldn't have been able to stay airborne that long without refuelling - which we never see.
Continuity mistake: In the first dogfight there are several shots where the planes are very close to the ground - especially one flying over a flat desert where you can see the planes' shadows. In those shots they are definitely below 10,000 feet. However it is only later said that they are going below the hard deck.
Continuity mistake: In the scene at the beginning of the movie when the Commander walks into the flight control room on the aircraft carrier and asks "Who's up there. Great Maverick and Goose"; he is only wearing pilot wings on his uniform. As the scene progresses when Maverick and Cougar tangle with the Migs, he is in the control room and his uniform changes to being completely decorated.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Kelly McGillis hands Tom Cruise the note saying "meet me at my house 5:30 sharp" or something like that, if you look carefully you can see when she hands Cruise the note that there is a lot of print on the sheet, but when he looks at it in a close up the sheet is totally white blank except for her writing.
Character mistake: In the scene where Maverick flies into Iceman's jetwash, as they are descending, Maverick calls out the altitude as 6,000 however the metre is displaying between 2,000 and 3,000. (01:04:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Maverick and Slider are studying and Charlie slips Maverick the piece of paper with her address on it, Slider changes seats. First he is at one end of the table near the wall, then at the end of the scene he, and all of his stuff, is at the opposite end of the table. (00:40:30)
Continuity mistake: While Maverick is dogfighting Viper in Top Gun school he is in a F-14, and Viper is in A-4. Viper gets on Maverick's back, but in one scene you see the A-4 flies through the view before the F-14, although he should be behind him...
Continuity mistake: Count the doors opening and closing - Mav walks through a closed elevator door.
Continuity mistake: When Maverick goes to land while Cougar is in fuel trouble, the tailhook is down. He decides Cougar needs help and launches back off the carrier, the tailhook is up. The next view as he flies away from the carrier the tailhook is once again down.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, the squadron commander enters CATTC with a chest full of ribbons, next shot, all ribbons are gone. There is no smoking in CATTC (for the equipment) and the radar in CATTC cannot be used to monitor air combat movement as they did in the film. The Combat Centre or CIC is used for that.
Revealing mistake: The aircraft the American pilots are fighting against at the end are described as being "MiGs", but they are American F-5 jets, called Tigers, which the Navy is still using for the training of young pilots.
Factual error: In the final dogfight, it is declared that the MIG-28s carry the "Exocet" anti-ship missile. This missile is around 1,500lbs and would be visible on the enemy fighters. That additional wing loading would have made them ineffective in a dogfight and they would have been easily overwhelmed by the F-14s in a dogfighting (no external tanks or heavy ordinance) configuration. Not to mention that Exocet is a French-made missile and would not be carried by a Soviet fighter.
Suggested correction: The USS Stark was hit by Exocets. Wasn't flown by the French. The Exocet was/is used by dozens of nations (albeit nearly all Western-leaning). The adversary's nationality isn't specifically mentioned, intentionally, I'd bet. The aircraft markings suggest Soviet/Communist, but again, not mentioned.
Suggested correction: While it's mentioned they carry them, it doesn't mean they had to have them, but implies they could have them.
Continuity mistake: In the last dogfight, Ice says "two MiGs passing between us." It then shows the two passing between either Ice or Maverick and a single tail jet. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a twin tail.
Visible crew/equipment: When they return to Enterprise after their successful mission, Iceman points and shouts, "You!" at Maverick. In the shot facing Maverick as he turns his head, the reflections of the camera and large reflector screen are visible on Maverick's sunglasses. Also, note the lack of a crowd of people behind Ice in the reflection. (01:40:45)
Factual error: The navy won't just allow anyone to pick their assignment, just for doing their job. Maybe if he had saved the president's life or something. He was not qualified to go back to be a top gun instructor. He barely graduated, he didn't win the trophy. He had tons of issues, and there there was not even an opening since neither of the current instructors retired. You can't just add a new instructor, they can only be replaced.
Suggested correction: Take, for instance, the scene where Maverick goes into the flat spin; there are more than 2 A4s. Who is to say one of those instructors didn't leave, as they were never featured in the movie?
Continuity mistake: The scene where Cruise is holding Goose's dog tags before he speaks to Meg, his thumbnails are tightly groomed, but the next shot his hand is open and the thumbnail is different. (22:36:00)
Continuity mistake: When the F14 lands in the opening scene, it is number 205. When it comes to a full stop, the number has changed to 114. (00:03:30)
Continuity mistake: In the volleyball scene, Tom Cruise is shown oiled up, tanned, and with clear muscle definition. He then walks off the volleyball court in a new camera angle. He now does not have the muscle definition or neck area tan he had during the volleyball game seconds earlier. Additionally, the configuration and number of people in the stands is different from the previous camera angle.
Continuity mistake: Mav flies aircraft number 114 throughout the movie, then loses it in the flat spin. However when he is flying with Sundowner where he won't engage them in the final battle he is back in 114 again.
