Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Don't get me wrong, I love the F-14 and yes I did watch TOP GUN 20 million times when it came out, but there are so many things in the movie that leave me puzzled as to why they were done that way.

For instance:

IIRC, in the final battle Maverick leaves the boat when the MiGs are 125 miles away. Next thing he says is, "Maverick's supersonic...I'll be there in 30 seconds." Huh??? 125 miles in 30 seconds is like 15,000 MPH or some impossible speed. Why didn't they just make it more realistic and bring the MiGs in closer?

Jester versus Maverick. Harddeck is 10,000 feet. But, when Jester gets on his tail they are already below 10,000 feet. They wind around chasing each other and stay under 10,000 until Jester goes vertical. Why not make the fight start at 30,000 or so and then gradually descend to below 10,000???

Ice's flyby after the MiGs are gone. If I remember correctly, Ice had an engine shot out. When he and Mav return to the ship, wouldn't he be cleared for an emergency landing instead of a high speed pass?

The coffee dude. The same guy that gets coffee spilled on him at Miramar is suddenly on the ship at the end to get coffee spilled once more. Did Viper give him orders to go out to the Indian Ocean with the others just so he could be Air Boss and get coffee spilled on him again???

A Ph.D. in astrophysics? Wouldn't an astrophysicist study the origins of the Universe or stuff like that? Wouldn't something like "aeronautical engineer" have worked better???

There are more but I can't think of them all at the moment. Guess I should not watch reruns at night. Laughing

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Well gee...I guess I'll take 'em in order*:

1) Keepin' the MiGs at 125 miles might have been a Navy request. Odd..I know. Maybe to show how the Navy can really reach out and touch someone. So the "supersonic...be there in 30 seconds" thing was the Editor trying to time compress the sequence. In real life, at just over the Mach (say 1.2) it would've have taken about 10 minutes to go 125 miles. But ya can't waste film and plot flow watchin' Mav and Merlin fly for 10 minutes. So Mr. Editor was just tryin' to get our intrepid hero into the fight by doin' "some of that pilot $hit". In the excitement of the scene the average audience member isn't gonna care about the math, until maybe later.

2) In the Jester-Hard deck sequence, I'll have to watch it again but I thought Mav was defensive above 10K? It wasn't until after Jester overshot that they went below the hard deck and Viper slid in behind Mav for the kill. But again...for audience attention, snakin' thru valleys and over saddles is a LOT more visually interesting than dukin' it out in the mid 20K's with nothin' but sky and clouds.

3) Ice's shot-up jet: Ordinarily....yeah...emergency landing. But we can't let a silly ol' thing like a shot up jet detract from a way-cool fly-by followed by the all-hands-on-deck victory party at the end of the movie, can we? Wink

I found the whole party thing just really silly. What?....the Toms and the rescue helos were the only things flyin' that day? So I guess the E-2s, Prowlers, Intruders, and whatever else drew a bye during a major engagement? <Dr. Evil voice with pinky to mouth> Riiiiiiight Rolling Eyes

4) Coffee Dude: Blatant Comic Relief, nothin' more.

5) Having a PhD in Astrophysics doesn't exclude one from an aviation career. It's heavy on math and physics just like Aeronautical Engineering is. Maybe she minored in AE, but "Ph.D in Astrophysics" sound more impressive on first intros? And let's face it.....she was HHHHHOTTTTT! And from her perspective, why would she wanna hang around with a buncha dweeby astronomer types when she can get up close and personal with those hunky "Zipper Suited Sun Gods" who go Mach 2 with their hair on fire, even if it meant a pay cut? Wink

*These statments do not represent the views or opinions of f-16.net, its janitors, or anyone else who has a REAL life off the board. Smile

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

2) In the Jester-Hard deck sequence, I'll have to watch it again but I thought Mav was defensive above 10K? It wasn't until after Jester overshot that they went below the hard deck and Viper slid in behind Mav for the kill. But again...for audience attention, snakin' thru valleys and over saddles is a LOT more visually interesting than dukin' it out in the mid 20K's with nothin' but sky and clouds.

Fully understandable, but you've got the sequences mixed up Wink

Mav saw Jester go below the hard deck and call "no joy" before going for the kill. Later in the movie, Mav is trying to get Viper and winds up getting waxed by Jester.

Yes, I agree that there's something wrong with having the whole movie memorized Razz

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 15, 2006 - 12:28 AM Posts: 760

Iceman - The Later Years
http://thetravisty.com/Saturday_Night_L ... _Years.htm

ATFS_Crash wrote:

Iceman - The Later Years
http://thetravisty.com/Saturday_Night_L ... _Years.htm

classic

LOL. Never seen that SNL skit before. Heeeelarious! As for Top Gun..the movie..it's just that...a movie! Can't expect too much realism from Hollywood. The movie would be a bore (from a movie-going standpoint) if they made it all real. And yes, Mav saying .."be there in 30 sec." is time compression. It's used in all movies. Otherwise, we'd be watching Mav and Merlin pick their nose for 20 min.

About Jester going below 10K ft harddeck...isn't that equal to Jester impacting the ground (harddeck simulates ground level, correct?), therefore Mav, by default, gets the credit for "maneuvering" his opponent into the ground? Anyway, Jester should've called "knock it off" if he went below.

But alas, it's a movie. Hey, it's more realistic than an 18 yr old kid stealing an F-16 to go save his dad right? Wink

Anyway, here's a couple Top Gun "recuts":

Quentin Tarantino's take on Top Gun..."sword fight!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHklGtW3rwU

Top Gun: The Love Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekXxi9IKZSA

OK, that SNL skit reminded me of some lines:

Stinger: And if you screw up just this much, you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog sh*t out of Hong Kong!

Iceman: The plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies room.

Best conversation in the movie

Charlie: Listen, can I ask you a personal question?
Maverick: That depends.
Charlie: Are you a good pilot?
Maverick: I can hold my own.
Charlie: Great, then I won't have to worry about you making your living as a singer.

Merlin: You're gonna do WHAT?

Occamsrasr wrote:

A Ph.D. in astrophysics? Wouldn't an astrophysicist study the origins of the Universe or stuff like that? Wouldn't something like "aeronautical engineer" have worked better???

The screen play was taken from an article by Ehud Yonay for California Magazine, read by Jerry Bruckheinmer and, turned into a screen play/movie. The part played by Charley in real life, she was an aerial tactician, worked with the DoD and, did have a PHD in astro-physics. She never dealt with the fighter pilots directly but, did get a chance to fly "once" in an E-2C.
URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gun_%28film%29

Adrian

asiatrails wrote:

Charlie: Listen, can I ask you a personal question?
Maverick: That depends.
Charlie: Are you a good pilot?
Maverick: I can hold my own.
Charlie: Great, then I won't have to worry about you making your living as a singer.

But you forgot the kicker:

"Gonna need a beer to put these flames out....YO!!" Wink

Because of the movie Top Gun, many F-14 scale models were sold. Now all F-14s all retired. Beer

All except for about 6 Code 3 pieces of Sierra that Iran still has.

One of my fav. quotes from the movie: "Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!"

BTW, one noticeable goof was when Charlie says "We will be using F-5s and A-4s as our MiG simulators." They had the A-4s, but the only F-5s were the ones dressed up as "MiG-28s".

I remember when Mav's Tomcat is at the catapult, (Iceman and Wolfman? were in a mix with MiG-28s) the only plane that should be there according to the script, suddenly becomes an A-6E Intruder. Question

When Mav and Goose ejected from their stalled, flat-spinning Tomcat. The canopy was jettisoned before they ejected and suddenly Goose hits it and dies then Mav was fortunate not to hit it. Shouldn't be the canopy be some place else away?

Mav and Goose managed to make a canopy-to-canopy ride with a MiG-28 (or as they say in the movie "inverted dive" with it). It seems the Tomcat lost its tail when the closure distance was only 6 feet (Tomcats had large rudders).

In my opinion, USAF Vipers must have a movie of their own, much better than "Iron Eagle" that is overly fictional and portrays Israeli Vipers. Lot of flops in it too. "Fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make history" according to the Flight of the Intruder. How about strike (or fighter-bomber) pilots? Well, they can do both! Furthermore, why is it that the US Navy has more movie participation (add up the movie The Final Countdown) than the Air Force (I can only recall Red Flag: The Ultimate Game and Afterburner-a story of F-16's deficiency!) ? Beer

rickster25 wrote:

Shouldn't be the canopy be some place else away?

The spin sequence was based on a mishap that occurred in a 1979 flight test. The Pilot and RIO successfully ejected from the Tomcat, but both crewmembers reported that the canopy seemed to float over them as they cleared the aircraft. IIRC, the RIO hit his arm or leg on the canopy, and was injured. Pete "Viper" Pettigrew, the tech advisor for the film talks a little more about the mishap in the "Making of" segment on the DVD, and again, in the audio commentary portion of the film.

rickster25 wrote:

Furthermore, why is it that the US Navy has more movie participation (add up the movie The Final Countdown) than the Air Force

I guess the Hollywood producers think that the audience would be more on the edge of their seats watching a plane land on an aircraft carrier than gently touching down and rolling out on a runway.

Also, carriers are out in the ocean. It brings an element of isolation and vulnerability...the unknown...to a film. Air Force bases are on land, and are fortified. However, an enemy vessel may be out there (or, UNDER there) waiting for a chance to catch a multi-billion dollar Nimitz-class carrier and its crew off guard. How's that for drama?

Fighter PUKES make movies. Bomber pilots make HISTORY! Laughing

Good one Rick! That had to be the quote of that movie.

rickster25 wrote:

Mav and Goose managed to make a canopy-to-canopy ride with a MiG-28 (or as they say in the movie "inverted dive" with it). It seems the Tomcat lost its tail when the closure distance was only 6 feet (Tomcats had large rudders).

Not that the clearances would be correct or anything....but remember that the Cat had twin tails vs. the single tail on the "MiG". Sooooo...just roll inverted, put your rudders on either side of his and let the editors make it look like you're "about 2 meters....maybe more like one and a half" away from his canopy. Wink

I've got a great Polaroid of it, and he's right there! Laughing

One thing I could never understand is why they gave the Tomcat pilots attack and early warning squadron patches to wear, i.e., Mav, Goose, and Merlin wearing an E-2C squadron patch, and Iceman and Slider wearing "Fist of the Fleet" (A-7 at the time) patches.

One would think that if the Navy was cooperating on the film and really wanted to sell the Tomcat right, they'd sport some real Tomcat squadron patches..."The Jolly Rogers", "The Tomcatters", "The Black Lions", "The Pukin' Dogs"...many possible choices, but they didn't go with it for some reason.

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Fun with TOP GUN the movie