*Top Gun* was a TOP Movie!!❤️ | First Time Watching! 

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Fun Fact: The “older guy” with Charlie at the bar was the real life basis for the character of Viper.

OMG PLEASE DO THE SEQUEL IMMEDIATELY!!! I know that’s a big ask and in all caps, but I swear you will not regret it. It’s probably the only sequel that is AS good or better than the OG. Only movie in the last 3 years I was happy to pay for

VKunia: I know planes. Also VKunia: I have never heard of a MiG before.

My favorite movie logic moment in this movie is when Maverick broke the hard deck. The hard deck is a safety protocol to keep aircraft from getting too low during training missions. And it's meant to simulate the ground. When maverick says he was below it for no more than a few seconds. He's saying "I crashed into the ground for no more than a few seconds."

Val Kilmer didn't want to play Iceman, but he was contractually attached to the studio. But he invented an entire backstory to draw inspiration from to make the role way more interesting than it was on the page. I recommend the movie Val, a documentary about his life that uses a lot of camcorder footage he used to document much of his life. I don't know if it would make a good reaction video, but definitely a good thing to watch.

Carriers are in fact too short for most aircraft (fighters included) but they use a catapult to get the aircraft up to speed on takeoff (you can see them hooking the front wheel into the catapult at the start) and then use a hook attached to the plane to catch a cable to help slow down on the landing (which you can see when the cougar is landing)

She isn't the first reactor to completely miss the part where Goose slams into the canopy... probably because they're reacting and even if they're looking right at the scene, they end up missing things because they're talking over it. The movie even makes a clear point of showing us that moment... lol.

Crazy fact: According to the US Navy, the box office success of Top Gun saw their recruitment rates balloon by a massive 500% in the year following the original movie’s release. That’s one of the reasons why the Navy was so cooperative in the filming of Top Gun: Maverick - they are hoping that they will see a similar spike in enlistments as they are struggling to recruit.

I agree that it's great to make that antagonist (Iceman) someone who is actually a good person, doing his job well, and does care about his fellow pilots.

Lots of good comments here, not sure if it’s been mentioned yet but Maverick tossing the dog tags off the ship was both him symbolically letting go of Goose, and also a symbolic burial at sea for Goose.

This movie was so huge that the Navy and Air Force had recruiters in the lobby of the the theater I saw it in, and guys were actually signing up.

#1. the F-14 is an absolute BEAST of a plane, love it, #2. from here on out, whenever you hear the words "danger" and "zone" in a sentence you'll instantly smile and the song will be in your head for a week

Tim Robbins played Merlin. Call signs like Viper & Maverick aren't usually that cool, they are usually given to you because of something memorable or stupid you did, Goose for example is a good example of a typical call sign. The black "Russian" Mig 28s at the end are actually Top Gun School F-5s used as adversary practice for real Top Gun pilots, all the explosions were models. The dog tags that he threw at the end is probably one of many sets Goose had, his wife likely has several sets laying around.

Great reaction! Your WTF reaction to finding out Goose was actually dead is one of the funniest things I've seen on the internet this year.

As several others have said, I definitely suggest the sequel that came out recently Top Gun: Maverick. It is a great movie, and I think maybe better than the original. Glad you are already considering it. I alos loved fighter jets, and considered applying to the Air Force Academy. See you soon. Thanks for the reactions!

This came out on my 17th birthday. Tom was 24 and Kelly was 29. Goose's wife was a 25 year old Meg Ryan. This was made in close coordination with the Navy and essentially was a recruitment film. A very successful one at that.

If you’re wondering about how the aircraft carrier is long enough for the jets, they launch them off the runway using a catapult. The planes have a thing called the launch bar (located on the front landing gear) that hooks into the catapult, and then it launches them off the end of the ship at speeds between 130-150 knots :) then when they land, they have a tail hook which catches a steel cable on the carrier, (there’s 4 cables) and it brings the jet to a stop pretty damn fast. It’s like a controlled crash

They were in a flat spin so there wasn't enough air speed to blow the canopy out of the way. Goose's ejection seat shot him into the canopy. This happened a couple of times during my deployment in S. Viet. on F-4's. One happened while rolling out on take off.

Fun Fact: Remember the orange cat in Captain Marvel named Goose. That Goose was named after this Goose, and neither of them are geese.

As an ex Navy vet. You are correct about the rules of conduct and keeping with good order and discipline. That being said, at that time the Navy was a little more laxed with young people that had potential to be good sailors and if the rules were broken rather than just kicking them out your section leader or someone above you could call it a training exercise and save you, no harm no foul. If you were liked or well respected enough people in your chain of command would cover for you. A person like Maverick could have existed after all there were a real Maverick and Goose and the story is loosely based on them. Some such people could have gotten away with a lot if their chain of command decided to deal with him by way of NJP or non judicial punishment "The CO's comment about having Maverick flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog crap or of Hong Kong was a good example" which was very common back in the day. Fun fact the Navy signed off on this movie and they did have a lot of influence on the writing and few objection as to how the Navy seen and even how the day to day operations were portrayed; still they felt that Maverick and all the other character were very much in the spirit true Naval pilot.

It's like no one ever gets the "You've got to let him go" symbolism of Maverick throwing those dog tags at the end.

RIP, Tony Scott. I was 2 years old when this movie came out.

80's movies sure knew how to soundtrack.

Great reaction. Looking forward to seeing your reaction to Top Gun: Maverick (which many, especially those of us who caught the original in theaters in 1986, consider it to be one of the best legacy sequels ever made).

Great reaction. I can't wait for you to watch the sequel. The first one was already amazing, but top gun Maverick is on a completely different level. If you're interested, there's behind-the-scenes footage from the sequel showing how they did that shoot and the training the actors underwent to be able to stay inside the F-18s.

If you liked this one, you absolutely have to watch the second one. You'll have goosebumps! I saw the first one when I was a little kid, so it's heartwarming that younger generations can still like and love this masterpiece.

Vkunia, you are absolutely correct that the ship's runway is TOO SHORT. That is, it would be without 2 important features. 1. Hydraulic launch system. There is a launcher that pushes the front wheel faster that the plane can accelerate alone. Alone the plane doesn't have enough acceleration. The hydraulic launch yeets the plane into the air. 2. Hook/cable system. The planes need to maintain enough speed, even when landing, to be able to fly. Why? On the back of the plane in the center is a hook that is dragged on the runway when the plane touches. There is a large cable that the hook grabs and it stops the plane before falling off the front. Why land at a flyable speed? Because they don't always catch the hook on the cable the first time. So if they miss, they have to be able to take off and try again. If you watch the movie again, they briefly show both items.

You're right that the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is too small for those planes to takeoff. They use a machine called a catapult to increase the velocity of the jet while on deck, so that it has enough lift to not immediately crash into the water.

You must watch "Top Gun: Maverick". It exceeded all my expectations.

The bar where Goose and Mav sang with the piano is called Kansas City BBQ, and it’s across the street from where Comic-Con is held every year in San Diego.

VKunia talking about planes and then saying she wanted to go Air Force? Be still my beating heart. Now this is just torture.

When they shot the movie they did a screening and everyone pretty much said there was no love story. The original movie didn't have the elevator scene or the end scene but when they added those two scenes they nailed it.

Cruise's replacement radar operator is the same actor who was the 'tech' guy from Die Hard.

Their nicknames are "call signs" that are easy to use, "colorful" for some fun amidst the danger of combat (or even training), and unique to avoid confusion on the radio (albeit during combat they will usually be addressed with a code word for the team and a number, like how Luke Skywalker was "Red 5" and in _Top Gun: Maverick_ Maverick was "Dagger 1").

Didn't know you liked planes, Vicky! Those are indeed real F-14A Tomcats. They were already retired by the Navy when Top Gun came out (as were the A-4 Skyhawks that show up in the training and the F-5s dressed up as "MiGs" that make up the enemies), but they are still magnificent planes. Relics of a golden age.

Legal Eagle did an analysis of this movie a while back. He and his JAG guest came to the conclusion that if all this happened in peacetime, Maverick would have been dishonorably discharged the second he disobeyed orders and risked a 20 million dollar fighter to give his buddy moral support in the first scene. The rest of his antics would probably have tacked a couple of years at Fort Leavenworth onto that. And that's in peacetime. If there was a war, he would have been shot.

I think it’s funny how she said in the beginning that Maverick is gonna go through the entire movie doing whatever he wants with no consequences when there’s consequences throughout the entire movie.

4:15 during the Cold War, both sides would engage in what is basically stick poking, to see if the other side would flinch first and fire the opening shot, which would likely start WW3. 9:38 OMG 😂😂😂 I’ve seen this film easily a thousand times, and I’ve seen at least a dozen reactions to it, and I never once thought or heard that 😂 11:54 ❤️ YES! 12:38 he didn’t get the callsign “Maverick” because he does what he’s told 😂 13:42 “we weren’t below ten thousand for more than a few seconds”… the ‘hard deck’ is simulated ground level, so “we weren’t below the ground for more than a few seconds” 😂 that’s a few seconds too long for an aircraft. 21:43 yep… and that’s why the next scene hurts so much. 24:13 yep… when they ejected, he smashed into the canopy - broken neck, instantaneous death 😢 It’s something that had happened in real life, an F-14 in a flat spin that the pilot couldn’t save, the crew ejected but due to lack of forward motion, the canopy suspended over the cockpit, so when the RIO ejected, he hit the canopy and died. It led to the development of an emergency canopy jettison control separate from the ejection sequence to allow clear path for the crew to eject safely in a flat spin scenario. Sadly, loss of a life was how they discovered the existence of such a flaw. 28:30 that’s why they have the catapult system. It’s a steam piston that propels a ‘shuttle’ that the plane’s nosewheel hooks onto, taking the plane from 0-175mph in 2 seconds on a 200yrd runway. That’s some rollercoaster ride! 29:08 I do not know how Hollywood and Wolfman graduated… the first training ‘hop’ they said “we got our butts kicked, 30 seconds”. The one where they were with Mav and Goose, they were on Jester’s tail, yet Jester managed to get away from them and get a lock on Mav. Now, they are shot down in the opening moments of the engagement… I’m sorry but Hollywood is not a good fighter pilot and I kinda feel bad for Wolfman stuck in that cockpit with him 😂 31:39 TOP GUN: MAVERICK IS A MUST! 32:17 😂 everyone says this. Don’t worry, military personnel have more than one set of dogtags, his family already would have received a set. 32:31 TOP GUN: MAVERICK IS A MUST!! You asked for fun facts… here’s a few for you: The opening scene was shot on board the USS Enterprise, which at the time was on operational duty and was following a chartered course. The scene is backlit by the sunrise, but the course took that lighting away. Director Tony Scott ask the commander for the Enterprise to be turned to keep the lighting, he was told it would cost $25k. Scott promptly pulled out his personal chequebook and wrote one out on the spot. In a later interview he claimed he made sure that cheque bounced 😂 The climactic dogfight scene was filmed with both live action and miniatures. The Department of Defense granted permission for a single missile to be fired (they aren’t cheap). That firing was filmed with multiple camera angles, and the final edit makes it appear that more than one missile is fired, which led to a full investigation by the DoD to find out if only the one permitted missile was fired, or if it was more than one. The flat spin scene that led to the onscreen death of a beloved character, Goose, sadly also led to the offscreen death of stunt cameraman Art Scholl. Scholl lost control of his camera plane, which plunged into the Pacific Ocean… neither his body or his plane were recovered. There is a message at the end of the credits “dedicated to the memory of Art Scholl”. It is well known that Tom Cruise is one of the shorter actors in Hollywood at 5ft 7in, and often there are camera tricks, positioning tricks etc to make Cruise appear taller next to his co-stars. This is quite possibly the best one - the final scene in the bar where Mav and Charlie reunite, actress Kelly McGillis, who measures 5ft 10in, stood in a shallow trench that was dug into the floor of the bar so that she would appear similar height to Cruise!

The planes blown up in the dogfight were models. The father of my BFF in middle school and high school did model-making for movies and tv commercials. He had one of the wing tips of the "bad guy" planes. Based on it's size, I think the models were probably 12' to 16' long, mostly thin wood and paint. They filmed the explosions in a parking lot behind the model-making studio.

I also grew up going to airshows. I loved all the flying scenes in this movie. It has to be a classic movie for anyone who loves aircraft and flying.

The actor who plays "Jester" (the junior instructor), is named Michael Ironside, and he also played a role in the fourth Karate Kid movies with Hillary Swank, but was also the voice of Sam Fisher, the protagonist in the famous Splinter Cell game franchise.

A girl who thinks fighter planes look good is truly special ❤

I know the story feels rushed, but remember, it's a two hour movie.

Usually when you eject the canopy is far behind the plane but because it was a flat spin the canopy was above them so goose hit his head full force against it breaking his neck

You like this one? 'Top Gun - Maverick' is gonna blow you away. One of the movies which proves that a sequel can top the original.

Great reaction to a classic. TOP GUN 2: MAVERICK is a must. IRON EAGLE is a great one ,also. You’re awesome 😎 Happy Christmas 🎄

I loved the original Top Gun. Top Gun Maverick is even better! Definitely react to it. Some info, yes the F-14 was THE top carrier based fighter for decades. Replaced by the F/A-18 (although both were in service 84-2006. Aircraft Carriers are >1000 ft long, using a catapult to launch and a hook against cables to land and come to a stop. Would be mind blowing to experience.

It might not be the best 80's movie, but it's probably the most "80's" 80's movie :) For the record, both "Danger Zone" and "Take my Breath Away" were written for the movie, which is part of the reason they were used so much. As for the sequel, it's well worth seeing. It takes everything from this movie and dials it up to 11, right down to the fact that, unlock this film, all the cockpit sequences were actually shot in the air rather than on sets. The cast all had to learn how to handle real G-forces, but this meant you could see the effects of the speed etc on them in a way you can't duplicate in a mockup on the ground.

The aviation age was amazing for architecture as well, that's something I am into very much. The TWA terminal at JFK remains the premier building for airports, for instance.

You didn't see Goose get injured!??? You JUST saw him smash into the canopy!!

"What just happened? I did not see Goose get injured." He hit his head on the canopy while ejecting @23:26

I watched a video that a former JAG Attorney did about this movie and he says dis-obeying some of the orders that Cruise was doing here would have got him Dis-honorably Discharged for the first or second and all total he would have been facing life incarceration or even capital punishment. (you can't play games with military planes especially when they contradict direct orders)

To me the F-14 Tomcat is the true star of Top Gun! I’m in my 30’s and the Tomcat has been my favorite jet since I was little :) it’s so badass looking and so massive, and yet sleek and sexy at the same time. I got about 20 plastic and diecast models of the thing in different sizes. Gotta love it

i was in the armed forces in the U.K in the early 90's and i was told once by an officer that all though we are to follow orders we should not follow orders blindly but use our judgement while carrying out the orders.

Perfect example of how the charm of this movie works: VKunia: (flyby #1 in beginning) "He's cocky. He shouldn't break the rules" Vkunia: (flyby #2 at end) "Spill it! Hee-Hee!!"

The bar that the piano scene with Goose was filmed at is still in business in San Diego and it has amazing food. Its called Kansas City BBQ

Vicky: "Tom Cruise plays a fighter pilot..." Me: Naval aviator. *I completely agree about the dogtags. He should have given them to Goose's son. Now watch the sequel! It's great.

@VKunia It's funny (and sad) to see you in such denial: they eject and Goose's body is limp: "Oh no, they're not gonna get Top Gun..." Goose had a bloody motionless face: "Oh yeah, good, take up the injured guy first.... He's so knocked out." "WHATT?!" RIP Goose...

You know one day gooses son is gonna come up and ask maverick if he has his dads dog tags and maverick is gonna be like, "nah I threw them into the ocean"

Meg Ryan played Goose's wife. You should watch "Joe Verses the Volcano" with her and Tom Hanks, she's awesome in that.

Love it, glad you enjoyed the movie. Such a great classic even though it’s corny, especially as someone who loves planes. Can’t wait for your video on the TG:Maverick!

Vikyyyyyy!!! Fighter Jet enthusiast here, at one step to go to Aeronautic Academy here in Italy, not happened for a million of causes, but still in love with the air!!! Yes, despite some not realistic scenes, it' s one best of all time movies. and for info, the MIG - 28 (not real) are indeed F-5 tiger (if I recall right the callsign), at the time used with the F-16 as "offender" in the simulation of Dogfight. You can' t imagine of many books and magazines I had talking planes, I' ve built 40 circa of model planes, in my childhood with my Dad (god bless Him forever), and at the same time my dad built WARSHIPS (on scale) With wood, making calculus to reduce the real measure to scale by hand. Awesome times. and still today, seeing our national acrobatic patrol, the "frecce tricolori" (I suggest to go to see the beauty of them), i burst into tears. Love from Italy!

The ejection mishap was modeled on a real event... early F-14's could go into a flat spin if the engines flamed out.... The original incident, the canopy didn't get clear of the aircraft before the ejection seat rocket engines fired... the RIO (back seater), slammed into the canopy, killing him instantly. This movie was a formative part of high school for me. We watched this movie over the summer, then when us NJROTC geeks came back, we met our new NJROTC instructor... A Navy Commander, and F-14 pilot, who drove up in his Porsche convertible, his Khaki uniform, and his leather flight jacket... Oh, good lord did all the boys want to be him! And let's just say that the teenage girl... well.. it's a good thing Commander R. was a fine upstanding family man, 'cause teenage girls were throwing themselves at him. We watched the VHS version of that movie about 300 times in the NJROTC room at lunch times....

You will need to remember a boatload about this film, even the little things, if you decide to watch the sequel. There will be so many callbacks to this. Merry Christmas too. : )

The one unique thing about the F-14 Tomcat was that it was the only plane to carry the Phoenix long range missiles, and it could shoot at 6 targets at once from up to 200 km away. So, it feels like an odd choice to me for such close combat training.

My Dad took me to see this in the theater, when I was in 9th grade. The next day, he woke me up before sunrise, and took me to NAS Oceana, in Virginia Beach. It's a Navy Master Jet Base. Dad dropped me off on the covered patio behind the airt control tower with a couple of disposable camerras, and a pocket full of dollar bills for sodas and snacks. I spent the whole morning taking pics of the jeys flying around the flight line, and even scored a few squadron patches. I still have a few, nearly 40 years later!

One thing to remember... the cat in Captain Marvel is named after Goose from this movie. Of course in the comics the Flerken was named Chewie after Chewbacca, but that's Marvel for ya.

Legal Eagle has a video on how many years of prison Maverick would be in. It is a lot.

I was amazed that you didn't recognize Goose's wife was Meg Ryan. PLEASE react to Top Gun Maverick. It came out this year which means 36 YEARS after the original! 👱‍♀👱‍♀👗👗👠👠💓💓

Iceman is usually what the weapons schools are looking for. He follows the rules and respects the job.

Notice how the first time Maverick doesn’t do anything “dangerous”, he loses Goose. He was only safe for as long as he acted instinctively, which he figures out later.

A lot of the plane shots are miniatures/models in this. In the sequel (which you absolutely must see), the budget is HUGE, and all the flying is real.

I'm surprised you didn't recognize Meg Ryan.

There is an ex-JAG officer who did a video on this film and concludes that Maverick would be in jail in the first ten minutes of the film for numerous violations. The F-14 is one of the best-looking planes ever to take to the skies. The wife is Meg Ryan.

19:16 Fun fact: Tom Cruise forgot his line during the confession. The kiss was improvised and kept in the film because his reaction looked so genuine.

I was 17 when this came out, and very much the target demographic. I loved it then, I love it still, but the sequel is So. Much. Better. You have to watch it as well. And as far as operating the planes off the ships: they have catapults to launch them, and arresting cables to stop them when they land. Because yes, the ships are to short to fly the planes off of and onto them (at least usefully) if the were operating under their own thrust and braking.

Interesting fact: The steam that you see on the flight deck at the beginning is actual steam from the steam powered catapult used to help launch the fighter craft (shorter runway) by getting it up to speed quicker. Starting with the new class of aircraft carriers (Ford class) the USS Gerald R. Ford is the first aircraft carrier to use electromagnetic rails, powered by the on board nuclear reactor, to help launch future aircraft. Bonus: Vicky, when you mentioned the "MiG", it's a class of former Soviet aircraft manufactured by the MIkoyan Gurevich design bureau. One more thing. Vicky, I think you would have made an awesome pilot in the Air Force, but I'm glad you're here reacting for us. 🙂

Fun Fact: The aircraft carrier is indeed too short for normal launches and landings for fighter jets like the F-14 Tomcat, but such carriers as the one in the movie (USS Enterprise CV-65) are equipped with 4 nuclear powered steam catapults. Essentially they clamp the front wheel of the plane into a rail, which accelerates the plane from 0 to 160+ mph in 2 seconds. For landing, the planes, which are a special version made for carrier operations, are equipped with a "tailhook", which is a hook that lowers from the back of the plane. Along the back end of the deck, they have a series of cables stretched across the deck. As the plane lands, the hook catches a line and quickly slows the plane down to nothing. That's why they can get away with the carrier decks being so short.

I was stationed at Miramar when they filmed the movie. I met Meg Ryan and Anthony Edwards and watched them film the piano scene in the bar that was 2 blocks away from my apartment at the time. They were so down to earth and are so much like the characters that they played. Tom Cruise walked around with an entourage and was unaccusable. I was a Jet Engine mechanic and worked on F-14's, and was on USS Ranger and Kitty Hawk.

I highly recommend you watching the sequel to this movie. It is really really good

If you liked this movie, you are gonna love the second one. One of if not the best sequels ever.

This movie was actually a US NAVY recruitment project and It worked too, US NAVY recruitment intake went up 80% after it came out. Everyone jumped at the chance to strap themselves to a 30 million dollar Steel Dragon.

"You're slowin', you're slowin' down". "I'm bringin' him in closer, Merlin". "You're gonna do WHAT!!!:" My favorite part of the movie.

6:43 - both top films (especially the sequel, actually) involve Maverick routinely pulling stunts that in real life would get him not only court-martialled but probably sentenced to death for high treason, when in the film all he gets is a scolding from the brass about how there's REGULATIONS around here at Top Gun and this is his LAST CHANCE and that he really needs to stop being so damn COOL . It's all part of the fun

Everyone likes Goose more than Maverick. He's really the heart of the film, with his sense of humour and his happy little family.

When they were reprimanded for going below the 'hard deck' and he said it was only for a few seconds... well, the hard deck in a training exercise represents the ground. So he only smashed into the ground for a few seconds. Dumb part is, if the instructor went below the hard deck, then that counts as a manoeuvring kill, so Maverick had technically won, but instead of accept the win, he decided to smash into the ground too. I mean anyone who's played War Thunder has probably seen that tactic a thousand times, but maybe not so good in real life.

I used to do Air Traffic Control in my 20's at the airport tower where I live. It was awesome getting to know some of the local pilots and seeing a lot of the aircraft close up. Got to ride in a few cockpits on the larger commercial flights to experience take offs and landings also. (before the post-2000 age of restrictions)

Cant wait for you to see the sequel. Get well soon V!

The ultimate chick flick.

That moment when someone watching Top Gun for the first time says "ok so Goose is injured, but he's gonna be okay." and you know the next line in the movie is "Goose is dead." The uniforms you were trying to identify were "dress whites." I served on the Enterprise, the carrier used in this. The planes are launched with steam powered catapults to get the planes up to flight speed over such a short distance and there is a series of cables the planes hook to help them brake and stop in a short distance. Pilots actually power up as they land so if they miss hooking the cable, the plane is still operating with enough power to fly off and circle around. When they were filming, the captain of the Enterprise ordered the ship to change course and the director, Tony Scott, wanted the angle to stay the same for the lighting they had while filming. Scott asked how much it would cost to change back and the captain told him $25000. Scott wrote a check right there and told the captain to change back. lol

We used to do plane guard while underway. It was so cool to see the F14s, F18s, and S-3s come in for landing in the dark. Our helo was on 5min launch alert for plane guard just in case a bird went down on approach.

If you like those planes in Top Gun, another one of my favorite movies you should react to is The Final Countdown. The U.S.S. Nimitz goes back to December 6th, 1941. It's filmed on the Nimitz. It has those same planes.

Saw this when it came out. Just found out not too long ago that MERLIN is Tim Robbins.

Drives me crazy how almost every single reactor "what happened to Goose?" When it shows on the whole screen, slowed down too, Goose slamming into the canopy. It's not a blink and you'll miss it scene.

For you to seriously suggest that they didn't have special effects in '80s movies means you need to watch more '80s movies. 😂

I really hope you follow this one up with Top Gun: Maverick. It is the perfect sequel.

It really seems like a Reagan-era pilot recruitment video, starring Tom Cruise.

Really respect your takes on this, and can’t wait for you to see the sequel, and see how those themes have developed after all these years between movies.

I served onboard USS Nimitz back in the late 90's, working in Aircraft Launch and Recovery. Fighter Pilots do have that cocky confidence. They're not necessarily assholes (and don't break nearly the rules the guys do in this movie), but there is no question, at all, about their confidence. You HAVE to have that attitude to do the job they do. The "runway" is too short to land. That's why aircraft carriers use Arresting Gear to stop aircraft on landing. The tailhook of the plane catches a wire called the cross-deck pendant. The wire is attached to a system of pistons, with a large center piston that stops the aircraft. This was the equipment I maintained and operated. That 'small' ship is the U.S.S. Enterprise, CVN-65. Although smaller than Nimitz-class carriers, it's plenty 'big' enough.