Tom Cruise is a successful amateur pilot who can fly a Mustang fighter plane from World War II and operate a private jet. The Hollywood actor, who is a trained pilot, pilots a combat aircraft powered by a P-51 propeller and a pair of helicopters in the film. However, the Navy denied him permission to fly an F-18 fighter jet, as veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed. The highly anticipated sequel to the original 1986 film Top Gun that made Tom Cruise the Hollywood superstar he is today, had a lot riding on it, especially the 59-year-old actor's stardom.
This meant that Tom Cruise only agreed to work on the project if producer Jerry Bruckheimer agreed that the film's effects would not be based on cheesy CGI.
