Reasons Why Tom Cruise Shouldn't Have Been Permitted to Fly a Fighter Jet
His application was turned down by the Navy.
The Super Hornet aircraft is featured in the follow-up, but Tom Cruise did not pilot them in Top Gun: Maverick because Navy Pilots helped complete those scenes. Producer Bruckheimer claims that Cruise pilots several helicopters and a P-51 fighter plane with a propeller. The action scenes are believable to even the most discriminating eye thanks to deft editing.
What Makes Tom Cruise Enjoy Performing His Own Stunts?
Tom Cruise doesn't utilize stunt doubles too often because he is passionate about making stories.
Tom Cruise really performs his own Stunts because, in all honesty, it's the most effective method to portray the tale at hand. According to the actor, "It has to do with storytelling." It makes it possible for us to install cameras in locations that are otherwise impossible. Indeed, it becomes unnecessary to shoot from odd angles or employ editing techniques to make risky situations feel real if the main actor in an action film is capable of carrying out the character's stunts. In the end, this results in scenes and action sequences that are more fluid and true to the director, stunt coordinator, and writer's concept.
Piloting the F/A-18 Super Hornet Requires Experience
Top Gun: Maverick features some of the most difficult-to-fly planes.
Although Tom Cruise demonstrated his extraordinary flying abilities in Top Gun: Maverick by actually flying a few different planes, the F/A-18 Super Hornets are not a plane that anyone can simply hop into and take off. Because of their extreme power and risk, these aircraft can only be flown by highly qualified Pilots. Impressive features of the aircraft (source: Military.com) include a top speed of 1,190 mph and a top speed of 45,000 feet per minute. This kind of power is required because the Super Hornets weigh 30,500 pounds empty and up to 66,000 pounds when fully armed.
There are other movies with Tom Cruise actually flying a plane besides Top Gun: Maverick.
In American Made and Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Cruise genuinely flew.
Top Gun: Maverick did not give Tom Cruise the opportunity to pilot an F18, but it did give him the opportunity to operate his own P-51 in the Top Gun sequel. Additionally, real video of Cruise in an aircraft cockpit was used in other Top Gun films. For instance, he has piloted several different planes and helicopters in the Mission: Impossible film series. Notably, in order to perform a single stunt in Mission: Impossible: Fallout in 2018, he dedicated hours to mastering the art of helicopter flying. According to Marc Wolff, the aerial coordinator for Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Cruise trained for the sequence in the cockpit for almost two thousand hours (via Quartz):
Tom Cruise's Most Irreverent Act
It's Not His Most Perilous Filming Experience, Even With Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise claims that his daring and riskiest act to date was hanging onto a moving aircraft in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, the fifth installment in the MI film franchise. It should come as no surprise that Tom Cruise considered piloting a Super Hornet to be a less risky stunt because it would have needed the actor to be inside the aircraft.
Even though Cruise was strapped in during Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, no number of safety measures could fully account for the risks associated with a someone wearing almost little protection and clinging to a moving airplane. This merely serves to highlight Cruise's unwavering commitment to his film endeavors.
