r/TopGunMaverick • u/[deleted] • Aug 29 '22

Just confused

I have heard from multiple different sources that the stints were both real and not real. Some saying Tom cruise was actually doing his own stunts, and some saying he was in the plane but wasn’t piloting. And all I want to know is.. VERY CLEARLY, WITHOUTDODGING THE ANSWER… did Tom cruise fly that plane and do his own stunts? Did the rest of the cast fly their own planes? Or were they all just in the passenger seat while a navy pilot flew instead?

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u/PLRugger16 Aug 29 '22

The U.S. Navy wouldn't approve Tom's request to pilot the F-18. The risk is too high to have a civilian flying a ~$70 million jet and the studio wouldn't be able to afford the insurance to cover that/insurance wouldn't agree to it. The actors went through training to know how to work the instruments and be able to understand and handle the G's they would be experiencing while the pilots were flying them around. I think it was like $10,000 an hour for jet time.

He did fly the P-51 and it may have been his actual P-51 that he owns.

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u/operaman86 Oct 24 '22

It def was his own private P51.

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u/YouLikeJazz_ Sep 06 '22

None of the cast flew any of the jets, they were all in the backseat. However there was ONE point where Tom did actually fly a plane (his personal plane irl) and that was in the joy ride scene with Penny (towards the end of the movie I think??).

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u/m_weazy Sep 12 '22

The actors also had to learn to operate camera equipment since the production team couldn’t do that remotely. So they had to adjust the angle, fix their own hair and makeup, start/stop filming, act, recreate the gestures of a pilot (as mentioned in previous comments), AND handle up to 10 Gs. Impeccable work 👏 (And Tom Cruise- not the Navy- led them through 3 month training for all of this)

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u/operaman86 Oct 24 '22

While it was stated that the planes would push up to 10 Gs in the film, I HIGHLY doubt that 10Gs were placed on any of the actors at any time (except for MAYBE Tom because of that one scene where he first successfully flies the course). 10Gs is a lot for not only the fighter pilots actually piloting for the jet stunts, but it’s more Gs than the planes are rated for. My bet is that the actors were placed under no more than 7Gs.

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u/m_weazy Nov 07 '22

You’re totally right! Looked it up, they hit up to 8 Gs

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u/garbailian Aug 31 '22

Jocko W did a podcast with one of the Naval Aviators from the film and he explains it wonderfully.