Continuity mistake: After Maverick and Rooster are shot down, they go to steal an F14 from the enemy. After the crash Rooster has a wound on the right side of his neck - in several scenes afterwards the wound moves back and forth, from right to left.
Continuity mistake: The scene in the hanger where Maverick is introduced. When Admiral says "be seated" there are only 2 rows of chairs. When Hangman looks over to Rooster he is in a new 3rd row.
Revealing mistake: When Maverick is chasing the 5th Gen fighter in the canyon, it cuts to a shot above his left shoulder. You can see a Gold, Red, and White Flag patch reflected in the canopy. Neither Maverick nor Rooster are wearing flag patches during the mission.
Continuity mistake: Before the first training scene, in the ready room Hangman has a model of an F-18 Hornet in his hand, a few seconds later, he has an F-14 tomcat.
Factual error: Fanboy's squadron patch is for VFA-143, the "World Famous Pukin' Dogs." However, this is an "Echo" squadron, flying the single seat F/A-18E model. Being a WSO, at his apparent age/rank, he is probably not pilot-rated and therefore could not have been assigned to that squadron. Unlike "Bob", he isn't wearing glasses, so he could not have been previously disqualified and even so, he would be wearing his current squadron's badge.
Factual error: The SPY-1 array on the CG the Tomahawks are launched from is on the wrong side of the superstructure.
Continuity mistake: In the first training session, Maverick eliminates both Hangman and Rooster, meaning they should return and do their push-ups and we are shown this, meaning once you have done your PT, that is it for you. However, later in the sequence, both Hangman and Rooster are shown still in the air where Hangman is talking to Rooster about his relationship to Maverick, who has been observing them the whole time.
Suggested correction: Rooster does his pushups after the first sortie, flying with Payback and Fanboy (who made up the rules). Next up are Fritz, Harvard, and Yale, followed by Hangman, Phoenix, and Bob. Omaha, Halo, and Coyote lose next. Then Rooster goes out again but this time with Hangman. Because of their beef, that sortie ends when Maverick tells them to knock it off. Hangman technically didn't get shot down, so Rooster does the last set of pushups by himself. Nowhere is it said the day ends with one set.
Speaking as someone who has worked on pre and post-production on over five hundred films, I must respectfully disagree with this. My point is that the editing has been screwed up, as all the people who were shot down by Maverick stayed down and did not go back up again. We do not see Rooster go up again, so I have to take issue with this.
The film has simplified the script, which explains why more people do the push-ups than agreed in the wager, and the final flight with Rooster and Hangman. 1. In the film, Hangman asks Maverick for permission to go on after Maverick killed Phoenix and Bob. After Hangman loses, of course, he also needs to do the push-ups (presumably the same for other teams). 2. After the first round, Maverick focused on Rooster and Hangman as candidates for mission leader, so he invites them for a second round.
Visible crew/equipment: In the final flight sequence in the F-14, the reflection of the camera equipment is in the visor of Rooster, but not Maverick. The reflections are not that of the pilot's seat or the RIO control screens in front of the RIO, ie, Rooster.
Continuity mistake: At the end Hondo is getting the harness out to catch Maverick when he lands, Hondo is wearing his flight deck uniform helmet, flak jacket etc but when he greets Maverick seconds later when he lands his helmet and flak jacket are gone, and he's wearing his camouflage uniform he had on underneath.
