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Top Gun 2

robav8r

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
The most unrealistic portion was the pilots getting med down for a whole 24 hours before jumping back into the jet to go fly a mission.

How many times can one get ejected before flight doc just pulls you aside like:
More so than the whole Iranian F-14, taking off from the taxi way ???
 

gradycat

New Member
So, I just watched the movie. It was fun ride, but I am sure that most of it was fantasy. For example:

1. Would it be possible to eject from a jet in the way it was portrayed in the movie and actually survive? And, if you did survive, wouldn't you have concussions and/or multiple broke bones?

2. Would the navy really allow an officer to hang around and fly for 30 years if he/she/it/they did not make Admiral after all that time?

3. Would an F-14 or F-18 really ever stand a chance against a 5th generation fighter?

4. Would it have not been more realistic to use F-35s for the mission? Does navy actually use these planes on carriers, or they all still F-18s?
 

cfam

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
So, I just watched the movie. It was fun ride, but I am sure that most of it was fantasy. For example:

1. Would it be possible to eject from a jet in the way it was portrayed in the movie and actually survive? And, if you did survive, wouldn't you have concussions and/or multiple broke bones?

2. Would the navy really allow an officer to hang around and fly for 30 years if he/she/it/they did not make Admiral after all that time?

3. Would an F-14 or F-18 really ever stand a chance against a 5th generation fighter?

4. Would it have not been more realistic to use F-35s for the mission? Does navy actually use these planes on carriers, or they all still F-18s?
1. Depends on which jet you were referring to. The super duper mach 10 jet, no, you would likely not survive (at least at that airspeed). The F/A-18, likely yes, but it would depend on the ejection parameters. Ejecting from any ejection seat aircraft could result in injury, but the severity would depend on a myriad of different factors. Concussions and broken bones aren’t necessarily a given.

2) Highly unlikely, considering Navy Captains hit mandatory retirement age at 30 years, and the amount of flying opportunities markedly decrease once you pass Commander. He certainly wouldn’t have flown for the entirety of his Navy career. Continuing to fly even if you make Admiral isn’t necessarily a given either. The only Admirals I’m aware of who semi-regularly fly are either in command of a carrier strike group or NAWDC.

3. F-14? Probably not, but I’m by no means a Tomcat expert. F-18? It would depend on a number of different factors. I know that’s unsatisfying, but there isn’t really a simple answer to the question.

4. Potentially, but it would ultimately depend on the target itself and the weapon being utilized against it. There are at least two carrier air wings that currently have one F-35 squadron assigned to them. The rest of the air wings have only F-18s in their fighter squadrons. The number of air wings with F-35s will gradually increase as more F-18 squadrons transition to the F-35.
 
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Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
4. Would it have not been more realistic to use F-35s for the mission? Does navy actually use these planes on carriers, or they all still F-18s?

I thought the answer they gave about why they couldn't use the F-35 was flimsy; a simpler solution IMO would have been to say they needed 2,000lb LGBs (which is what they showed the Super Hornets employing), and that the F-35 does not carry that munition.

I will admit I thought they were setting up the F-35 to save the day in the final scenes, but the lack of F-35 was most likely based on security considerations / the jet being only single seat which means you couldn't have actors in there even if you got clearance to film in the cockpit. Hey at least we got a couple of glamor shots in there during the opening montage. :D
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Sound of breath. You never really know person until you hear how s/he breath under pressure, this time while following landscape at extremely low, for example. The everlasting but hidden thing mostly absent in first movie and anchoring this second film to a reality, making it live. I easily forgive both fantastic hypersonic and funny Iranian F-14 snatch for Maverick's heavy breath.
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
hey needed 2,000lb LGBs (which is what they showed the Super Hornets employing)

AFAIR in Kevin Miller's book Raven One there was similar situation when GBUs refusing to read either GPS or FLIR targeting forced the VFA CO to drop them in old unguided fashion as simply iron bombs, yet the airplane was old legacy F/A-18C.
 

Max the Mad Russian

Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
But when Mav and Rooster joined in the forest, there would be Ukranian enlisted J-TAC there, dressed as Iranian shepherd who'd lead them to Tomcat screaming Farsi and then escaped safely back to a trees;-)
 

gradycat

New Member
I thought the answer they gave about why they couldn't use the F-35 was flimsy; a simpler solution IMO would have been to say they needed 2,000lb LGBs (which is what they showed the Super Hornets employing), and that the F-35 does not carry that munition.

I will admit I thought they were setting up the F-35 to save the day in the final scenes, but the lack of F-35 was most likely based on security considerations / the jet being only single seat which means you couldn't have actors in there even if you got clearance to film in the cockpit. Hey at least we got a couple of glamor shots in there during the opening montage. :D
What was the movie's reason again for not using F-35s?

And, are there currently F-35s used in navy squadrons on carriers?
 

gradycat

New Member
1. Depends on which jet you were referring to. The super duper mach 10 jet, no, you would likely not survive (at least at that airspeed). The F/A-18, likely yes, but it would depend on the ejection parameters. Ejecting from any ejection seat aircraft could result in injury, but the severity would depend on a myriad of different factors. Concussions and broken bones aren’t necessarily a given.

2) Highly unlikely, considering Navy Captains hit mandatory retirement age at 30 years, and the amount of flying opportunities markedly decrease once you pass Commander. He certainly wouldn’t have flown for the entirety of his Navy career. Continuing to fly even if you make Admiral isn’t necessarily a given either. The only Admirals I’m aware of who semi-regularly fly are either in command of a carrier strike group or NAWDC.

3. F-14? Probably not, but I’m by no means a Tomcat expert. F-18? It would depend on a number of different factors. I know that’s unsatisfying, but there isn’t really a simple answer to the question.

4. Potentially, but it would ultimately depend on the target itself and the weapon being utilized against it. There are at least two carrier air wings that currently have one F-35 squadron assigned to them. The rest of the air wings have only F-18s in their fighter squadrons. The number of air wings with F-35s will gradually increase as more F-18 squadrons transition to the F-35.
Awesome! Thanks for the detailed responses.
 

gradycat

New Member
Other questions about the movie:

1. The movie states that Maverick "pulled" Rooster's application from Annapolis? Would an officer who was not on the admissions committee really have any pull, and to that extent, over an applicant's file, especially if the officer was not an admiral?

2. Why was the F-14 even in the movie? Nostalgia? Would any country keep working F-14s on a base? Where are our F-14s? In the scrap heap? Musuem?

3. How would Rooster know the first thing about NFO duties on an F-14? Could the F-14 fly and fight without an NFO?
 
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