Goofs

Continuity: Stinger’s ribbons on his chest.

Continuity: The shot of the inverted F-14 cockpit (close to the cockpit of the MiG-28) is flipped, (lettering is reversed).

Factual errors: In the final dogfight scene, when Iceman’s plane is hit, they claim they are hit in the right engine; however, when they show the closeup of the bullet holes the “Rescue” point arrow is clearly visible. There is no rescue point on the engine nacelle of an F-14. Why would there be? These points are located on the front fuselage close to the cockpit.

Revealing mistakes: The F-14 crews were filmed in a discarded Navy cockpit that was not attached to the rest of the plane. This is why you can never see the wings or vertical stabilizers in the background when they show the actors “flying” in this cockpit.

Factual errors: There is no plane called the MiG-28 – all Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft have odd-number designations. The planes used in the film to simulate the MiGs are Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Navy rules state on tactical jets, oxygen shall be worn from takeoff until landing, a rule broken throughout the movie. Real Navy/Marine Corps pilots break this rule all the time as well.

Continuity: In the elevator, Charlie’s ear alternates between being tucked under her cap and being untucked between shots.

Continuity: The distance between the aircraft after Goose takes the picture.

Factual errors: During most flight sequences, safety pins and star wheels on left top head box of MBU GRU-8 ejection seat are installed. Thus the seat is not armed and in any inverted maneuvers, seats would slide off ejection gun rails.

Continuity: The squadron markings on both Iceman and Maverick’s Tomcats change a few times. Both of the original markings are not real Tomcats squadron markings.

Continuity: Maverick’s wristwatch changes several times during the training flight.

Continuity: During the final dogfight, we several shot of Goose in the co-pilot seat when obviously he is dead and Merlin is Maverick’s “RIO”.

Factual errors: During both the training missions and dogfight scenes, the sound effects for the targeting system and the radar/missile warning are nearly identical. In reality, those two sounds would be completely different so as to give the pilot no doubt as to what’s going on (as evidenced when Maverick appears confused when he hears a “lock on” tone when Jester “kills” him while Maverick’s chasing Viper).

Continuity: In hop 19, Hollywood and Maverick are chasing Jester while Viper gets away. Hollywood’s plane is in front of Maverick’s but when Maverick breaks away to go after Viper, it is the F-14 in front that pulls away.

Revealing mistakes: In many scenes with aircraft on the ground, missiles are shown loaded onto aircraft with blue stripes painted on them. Blue is the color code for inert ordnance. These missiles are for practice and cannot be fired at targets.

Continuity: Maverick’s watch before and after the training flight.

Continuity: Maverick’s tailhook retracts too quickly when he decides to rescue Cougar. Additionally, it is visible in a later shot.

Continuity: Charlie gains her folder when she exits the ladies room.

Continuity: Iceman suddenly appears next to Wolfman in the locker.

Continuity: Maverick’s hair during the elevator scene.

Continuity: When Maverick is cruising on his motorcycle right after arriving at Miramar, it is high noon. In the very next shot, the sun is setting.

Continuity: Before Maverick and Goose depart for Miramar, Stinger tells them that the Top Gun school lasts five weeks. Later in the film, Charlie tells Maverick (during their hallway conversation) the school last eight weeks.

Continuity: In the elevator scene, Maverick walks through a “closed” elevator door.

Continuity: Maverick’s arms alternate between on his cheek, in his lap and folded between shots during Viper’s lecture at the beginning of the picture.

Continuity: First date between Charlie and Maverick, level of wine in bottle goes down then up and down then up and then some before the first drop is poured.

Continuity: During the initial flight scenes with the MiG-28′s, when Maverick is visible on the screen, Sundown’s helmet (orange and white stripes) is reflected on the cockpit canopy. This is noticeable above and behind Maverick on the upper left side of the canopy.

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After Iceman says the alternate trophy for the runners-up is in the ladies room, Goose starts to laugh. In one shot, his hand isn’t on Maverick’s shoulder, but when he finishes laughing, it is.

Continuity: Numerous positional inconsistencies during the volleyball game.

Continuity: Through most of the first class at Top Gun, Slider has his arm behind Iceman, but right before he says, “The plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies room,” Slider suddenly disappears.

Continuity: Maverick Leaves the volleyball game with no belt on. He arrives at Charlie’s house with one on

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: While all Navy pilots must have NOMEX flight gloves with them, they are not required to (and in fact, do not always) wear them.

Continuity: Amount of ice in Maverick’s glass in the airport bar.

Continuity: Viper’s sunglasses after Maverick’s first landing after the accident.

Revealing mistakes: When Maverick is riding his motorcycle along the runway, you can see the tie-down straps that hold him onto the trailer, visible on his front fender.

Continuity: Supposedly the final dogfight happens over water, yet a mountain is visible in the corner of one shot.

Continuity: Maverick fires the same missile from the same wing station at least three times.

Continuity: The lettering on the front of Sundown’s helmet disappears once he and Maverick are back on the ground after their first flight together.

Revealing mistakes: The signal that Maverick is given before he takes off for the final fight scene is not the launch signal, but rather the “remove power” signal. This signal is given early in F-14 launch procedures, not right before launch.

Continuity: Maverick’s sunglasses are (not) on when Slider picks him up after they return to the carrier.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: “Ladies Room” sign on the window of the toilets isn’t inverted when Maverick goes inside. That’s because we’re looking in a mirror.

Revealing mistakes: In the bar scene when Goose is playing “Great Balls of Fire, ” the movement of his hands does not match the music.

Continuity: Position of the wine bottle at Charlie’s place.

Continuity: Toward the end of the movie, when Maverick is waiting on “Alert Five, ” the camera cuts between Maverick in the cockpit and outside, where carrier crew are working on “his” plane. The plane they are working on is actually an A-6 Intruder, not an F-14.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Goose is depicted as a Lt (jg) and wears the proper insignia: on a white uniform, shoulder boards with one thick gold bar and one thin, and in khakis, a single silver bar (a full lieutenant wears double silver bars). (Some thought he was wearing full lieutenant insignia; they are similar.)

Continuity: In stairwell Iceman puts on watch twice.

Continuity: When Maverick is riding his motorcycle alongside the runway, after the F-14 takes off and turns to the left the shot changes and shows Maverick riding past lighting standards heading toward the runway as indicated by the strobe lights.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The insignia for a Navy Lieutenant happen to be the same as for Army and Air Force Captains. Thus, Maverick and Iceman are correctly wearing Lieutenant insignia.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Charlotte Blackwood is supposed to be an “astrophysicist” training Navy pilots. While this specific discipline isn’t relevant to flight training, her general math/science background surely is.

Crew or equipment visible: When Maverick is driving his motorcycle along the runway with the planes taking off, you can see the bed of the truck he’s atop at the bottom of the screen.

Revealing mistakes: After Iceman is hit for the first time in the final dogfight, the smoke maker on the back of his Tomcat is clearly visible, emitting smoke.

Continuity: When the F-14 engines flame out before the flat spin, Goose says, “Engine one is out,” and the next shot shows the number two (right) engine “flaming out”. When Goose says, “Engine two is out,” we see the number one (left) engine “flaming out”. (The flame outs are actually the engines being normally brought out of afterburner.)

Continuity: After diner at Charlie’s, Maverick and Charlie have a talk and in the background there’s a parrot eating a peanut (sitting on one leg). The peanut disappears and reappears between shots.

Continuity: Navy pilots fly with the oxygen mask designated MBU-14/p, which in the movie is correctly depicted. But, after Goose ejects and is shown dead and bleeding in the water, he is wearing an MS220001 oxygen mask which was used in the ’50s, ’60s and very early ’70s. It is not in use today.

Factual errors: The term “bogey” is misused throughout the movie. A bogey is an unidentified aircraft. Once identified, it is referred to as a “friendly” (for friendly aircraft), “bandit” (for non-friendly aircraft) or “hostile” (for non-friendly aircraft that may be fired at). In USN terminology, a non-friendly surface radar contact is a “skunk”.

Continuity: When Maverick leaves Charlie’s house after he has dinner with her, there is a For Rent sign in her yard (as there is when he drives by her house later in the movie), but there wasn’t one when he arrived.

Factual errors: Many errors are made when describing maneuvers that various aircraft have made. This is especially noticeable during the briefing before the first hop.

Continuity: When Charlie gives Maverick a dinner invitation, she clearly writes it on a form, but on close up of the invitation, it is written on a blank sheet of paper.

Revealing mistakes: When Maverick is launching from the carrier before the final battle, he goes directly into a roll when leaving ship. An F-14 taking off with full tanks of fuel wouldn’t have gained enough speed to do this so soon. You can see while filming this (rear mounted camera), the plane that does the roll comes from a low-level flyby over side of the carrier. Also, the catapult Maverick supposedly launched from is “stacked” with parked aircraft.

Factual errors: When Charlie chases down Maverick on his motorcycle her car has a blue DOD decal on its windshield. Blue decals are used for officers, red decals, for enlisted. As a civilian employee she would have had a green DOD decal for her car.

Continuity: After Charlie hands out the dinner invitation to Maverick, Slider tells him “Crash and burn, huh, Mav?” while holding a plane model in front of his face. In the very next shot the plane disappears.

Continuity: Maverick and Iceman seem to change planes during the final fight scene. Maverick launches in an F-14 bearing a 104 on the nose. Once he lands he exits an F-14 with 114 on the nose while Iceman exits an F-14 with 114 on the nose.

Continuity: During the first hop, the sky is clear with minimal cloud cover most of the time, but in the shot near the end of the hop where we see the F-14 chasing the A-4 from above, the sky is extremely cloudy.

Continuity: On hop 31, the planes clearly take off early in the morning, but once they’re off the ground, it’s high noon.

Factual errors: In the opening scene when all planes take off, it is sunrise. As they intercept the “bogeys” it is high noon. Towards the end of flying time it is nighttime.

Continuity: When Maverick has dinner with Charlie, he discusses how much his “folks love this music” while “Dock of the Bay” is playing. His father went missing in 1965 but this song was only recorded in December 1967 and not released till the new year.

Continuity: In the opening sequence, where Maverick and Cougar engage the two MiGs, there’s a mountain range in the background of some shots, but the action is set in the middle of the ocean.

Continuity: In the initial scenes, where “Stinger”, the Admiral is on the radar deck, he has no service insignias on his uniform. Then, in the second scene, he has an enormous number of service insignias on his uniform and they continue to be evident throughout.

Factual errors: During the final dogfight, the F-14′s are shown launching AIM-9 Sidewinders as well as AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at the “Migs”. The AIM-7′s would have been worthless at the close ranges shown as the targeting aircraft has to maintain constant radar “lock” on its target. In addition, both the AIM-9 and the AIM-7 have minimum ranges of nearly a mile, making the likelihood of a kill in a close range dogfight very slim. The F-14 is armed with a 20mm cannon for this very reason and a Top Gun-trained pilot would probably have used it when battling more maneuverable aircraft at short range.