The “catapults are not functional” is complete B.S. Will never happen in a “real world” scenario. The whole movie, dialogue, storyline, and acting, are totally cringeworthy.
For the start of the fight, after losing Hollywood (if the start of the film was anything to go by, they weren't allowed to fire unless fired upon). Iceman had to defend himself against six MiGs. He did try to engage them at one point but was completely defensive and was just trying to survive until Maverick showed up. Iceman did get a kill but was blindsided by a MiG that shot up his right engine which removed a great deal of power and agility. Sometimes circumstances don't play in your favour.
@@WaterCrane The orders for this mission were, "If you _witness a hostile act, you will return fire."_ Since Hollywood and Wolfman had been shot down, I _THINK_ that qualified as a 'hostile act.'
Flares only. This close, they are using thermal guidance weapons like the Sidewinder. Radar is nice, but the angles in question would have been a pain. Against thermal targeting, it is flares and try and make yourself cooler, which a Tomcat will not do. So, not really much countermeasure beyond being a better pilot.
Well, to be fair, he was outnumbered SIX to one, as he said over the radio, he was completely defensive despite trying to engage them a few times. The fact he survived at all is a testament to his skill. Maverick was the one who was panicking or rather being overly cautious because of the death of Goose and getting caught in the MiG's jetwash only served to make him re-live that moment. Granted, once he overcame it and re-engaged, he helped level the playing field, which allowed Iceman to score a kill of his own before his F-14 got damaged and he lost some of his agility.
