How the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Cast Trained to Fly Fighter Jets
28.05.2022 - 03:07
/ variety.com
Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorAudiences coming out of “Top Gun: Maverick” this weekend want to know one thing, are the actors really flying those fighter jets? The answer in short is, yes.Tom Cruise, who returns as “Maverick,” is renowned for doing his own stunt work, and he wanted his stars Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro and Glen Powell to learn how to fly. That’s where the film’s aerial coordinator, Kevin LaRosa Jr., stepped in.LaRosa Jr. worked with Cruise to put together an intense flight program that began with the cast flying in a smaller aircraft.
“We started with the Cessna 172 and we took them through basic flying. This allowed them to see what it was like to take off, land and know where to look and put their hands,” LaRosa. Jr.
explains. That starter plane also allowed the actors to get a feel of what a small g-force felt like. And just like in a real training program, once the actors were comfortable with that, they graduated to the next level and it was onto the aerobatic airplane, the Extra 300.
“This was similar to what the general public would see at an airshow where those planes do crazy maneuvers. It can pull up to eight g forces. It’s exhilarating,” says LaRosa Jr.Again, the exercise would build up their G-tolerance.
“That to me is almost like muscle memory. If I don’t fly for a long time, I might go up and get sick. But if I fly every day and pull those Gs, it’s almost like brain muscle and you’re going to get used to it, and get better.” He adds, “We built them up to the point where they were mainly not getting sick.”Next was the L-39 Albatross.
“This allowed them to experience a fighter trainer jet. When they graduated from that, we had aviators.” LaRosa Jr. adds some cast members are working on
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