Trivia: The "MiG-28s" in the movie are actually all Northrop F-5E Tiger II's, an American plane used for training and sold to other countries. In reality, there is no MiG-28.
Trivia: After the (in)famous scene in which Maverick and Goose sing to Charlie, she leaves the bar (filmed in the rear bar area of the Miramar Naval Air Station Officers' Club) and goes to a restroom some 20 miles away (a men's restroom in the lobby of an administration building at Naval Training Center, San Diego). Maverick follows her, and after their exchange they both head back up I-15 to re-enter the bar at Miramar. The cramped restrooms at the Miramar O-Club were inappropriate for the scene.
Trivia: The scene where Maverick is making love to Charlie was shot in the dark for a reason. When reviewing the movie, the producers and critics felt that the movie needed a love scene after it was originally finished. Unfortunately, Kelly McGillis (Charlie) was doing another movie and had red hair. To shoot the scene, the dark was used to subtly cover the fact her hair isn't blonde, not just for the romantic effect.
Trivia: Val Kilmer did not want to be in the film, but was forced to by contractual obligations.
Trivia: When Maverick tells Charlie that he was flying inverted when flipping the bird to the MiG, Iceman coughs "bullshit" and gets a laugh from the others. That was actually an ad-lib from Val Kilmer.
Trivia: One of the pilots was killed during the filming. At the end of the film there is a reference in the credits to Art Scholl. He was an acrobatic pilot who flew the planes during the filming and was engaged to fly the difficult "flat spin" scene. During this scene, Scholl reported a problem with the plane. All contact was then lost and neither Scholl nor the plane were ever recovered.
Trivia: Ally Sheedy was the first choice for Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood but turned the part down because she thought that no one would want to see a movie with Tom Cruise flying a fighter jet.
Trivia: Matthew Modine was originally selected to play Maverick but he turned the part down because he disagreed with the film's cold-war politics.
Trivia: At the end of the film Maverick throws some dog tags off the ship. We assume these are Goose's (albeit factually this cannot happen). If you look closely there are 2 different sets of tags - Rick Neven (Hollywood) and Mike Metcalf (Viper). Coincidentally these are the only two callsigns that are from the genuine fighter pilots in the credits. Seems a bit macabre!
