Top Gun (1986)

3 character mistakes

★★★★☆

Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, Tom Skerritt, Anthony Edwards, Michael Ironside, Kelly McGillis

Character mistake: In the scene where Maverick flies into Iceman's jetwash, as they are descending, Maverick calls out the altitude as 6,000 however the metre is displaying between 2,000 and 3,000. (01:04:25)

bdabin

Character mistake: The Commanding Officer, CDR Metcalf (Viper), is wearing is CO pin under his ribbons on the left pocket. That means he used to be a CO, but is not currently. He should be wearing it over is right pocket to show that he is currently a commanding officer.

Character mistake: In the elevator scene the elevator stops and a commander steps in wearing his hat. Hats are only to be worn inside unless a person is under arms.

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Mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: When Charlie walks down to the front of the class in the hanger, Jester is the only one at the front. Look at the reflection of Maverick's glasses, and the reflection shows lots of people standing in front of him, likely film crew. (00:26:20)

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Quotes

Goose: It's the bottom of the 9th, the score is tied. It's time for the big one.
Iceman: You up for this one, Maverick?
Maverick: Just a walk in the park, Kazansky.

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Trivia

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.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It could be argued that in the alternate reality of Top Gun the fictional "MiG-28" was an improved reverse-engineered F-5 (VPAF gave the Soviets access to ex-VNAF F-5:s for evaluation after the fall of Saigon) explaining their similarity.

This isn't a valid correction for a trivia entry. There is no mistake being suggested, just letting viewers with limited plane experience know MiG-28 isn't a real plane.

Bishop73

More trivia for Top Gun

Questions

Question: Why does the air traffic controller call Maverick "Ghostrider"? Surely that isn't his call sign?

Macalou

Chosen answer: The term "Ghostrider" refers to the squadron name. There used to be a Tomcat squadron called the Ghostriders. Usually in a radio call, the squadron name is followed by a number. For instance, in the first fight where we see Cougar get into a spot of trouble with the Mig on his tail, he radios "This is Ghostrider 117 this bogey's all over me, he's got missile lock on me, do I have permission to fire?" That is normally the correct term as to who is on the radio.

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