"Been here the whole time. You see me now?"
- The entire opening of the movie. It's almost a replica of the original, from the fonts, the summarized history of the Fighter Weapons School,note and then the Fighter-Launching Sequence upon the carrier deck; but with modern equipment, the scene now can be filmed with better lighting and more intense action from the crew and the planes. In short, it's the old sequence but improved by a thousand times. Oh, and did we mention that "Top Gun Anthem" and "Danger Zone" are still blasting back-to-back just like the original?
- Maverick pulling off an unauthorized test flight for a hypersonic aircraft in order to save his job and that of his team at the beginning. He reaches Mach 10 (i.e., a little over 2 miles per second) and then some while he only planned to reach Mach 9 that day, becoming "the fastest man in the world."
- The Darkstar flies right over Admiral Cain and the guard shack. It rips the roof off the shack. Cain doesn't even flinch. He just turns around and glares at the departing plane, with a sour look on his face.
- A subtle one when Mav pulls the old "reception dropped" trick; in the time it takes Admiral Cain to go from the gatehouse to the mission control, Maverick has almost reached the Colorado state line. Two states away. And the plane isn't even at top speed yet.
- Even better; The roof wasn't supposed to fly off, but they only had one chance to get the shot.
- Although his unhealthy "need for speed" causes him to blow the plane up by pushing it beyond the Mach 10 goal, he does manage to safely eject from the plane with what appears to be no serious injuries. When he comes to back on the ground, he just walks over to a nearby diner in his flight gear, and only asks for water and where he is. (A wide-eyed little boy answers: "Earth")
- This exchange:Admiral Cain: The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is heading for extinction.Maverick: Maybe so, sir. But not today.
- Warlock's opening address to the mission candidates and introduction of Maverick:Warlock: You're all TOPGUN graduates. The elite. The best of the best. That was yesterday. The enemy's new fifth-generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box. Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader. The other half will remain in reserve. Your instructor is a TOPGUN graduate with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary. And he's considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death. I give you Captain Pete Mitchell. Call sign: Maverick.
- Maverick demonstrating that he Still Got It to the whole bunch of TOPGUN pilots he has to train, by beating them at the dogfight exercises repeatedly.
- It should also be stated that they aren't just TOPGUN graduates, they are winners of the Top Gun Trophy for their classes, as Iceman was and Maverick himself wasn't. Maverick still flies circles around them.
- The mission Maverick has to train pilots for (and eventually take part to himself) is the very definition of Airstrike Impossible given the odds, basically a terrestrial version of the attack on the Death Star, as noted at the main page. And yet, he pulls it off. He gets shot down saving Rooster after it, but still.
- When Maverick is called off from his coaching post (effectively retiring him), he proceeds to jack a F/A-18, demonstrating an unauthorized run at the course with even less time limit than normal, and complete it (even destroying the target all by himself when everyone else has to leave the aiming to their partners) to show that the attack run can actually be achieved.
- Props to Rooster for hitting the target without the laser guidance on the real mission.
- The team should also be commended, as they grow from being unable to reach the target on time early in their training, to be able to complete the mission with all those high-G maneuvers. And technically they make it out without casualties when everyone else (including Maverick) think it's impossible to not lose at least one of them.
- After getting shot down, Maverick seems done for when an enemy gunship spots him and shoots at him, then Rooster (who defies the retreat order) destroys it, saving his life.
- Maverick and Rooster find themselves stealing and piloting a good old F-14 Tomcat to go back home. Problem is, they got two 5th-Gen Fighters, which are two generations after his "museum piece," patrolling in the skies above. And yet Mav proves that "it's the man, not the machine" by shooting both down, becoming an Ace Pilot in the traditional sense of the term (with five aircraft downed across this movie and the first one). The whole escape run is one CMoA, really.
- The first hurdle is to take off using a battered taxiway as a makeshift airstrip, meaning they have to do it with increased difficulty. Maverick just does it without problem, only losing the nose gear.
- He takes down one of the two aforementioned fighters by complete surprisenote , thus leveling the playing field. He even uses the damaged bandit as a flare to shield themselves from the other's missile attack and splash the bandit! Which actual fighter pilots have said is possibly the most epic stunt one can pull in a dogfight.
- The surviving bandit manages to momentarily steal the spotlight by evading the Tomcat's missile with a "Blinchik" supermaneuver, showing that the 5th-Gens are really that advanced and almost impossible to defeat with anything older.Rooster: Holy shit. What the fuck was that?!
- Mav lures the bandit into the canyon they just went through a while ago, cancelling its radar advantage and, after a teeth-pulling gun-blazing Old-School Dogfight, the "museum piece" emerges the victor.
- When Maverick and Rooster seem done for after a third "Felon" shows up after the above dogfight and has dead aim on them, Hangman suddenly arrives and saves the day by destroying it.Hangman: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, this is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, return the tray tables to their locked and upright positions and prepare for landing.
- And to cap it off, Maverick lands the Tomcat on an aircraft carrier. While landing on a carrier is a somewhat important skill to master for a Naval aviator, Mav does this with one engine shutting down on approach, no front landing gear, and no ejection capability, all of which mean he can't simply bolter and come around for another pass. He has exactly one chance to put the bird down safely, and - albeit with some help from the flight deck - he nails it.
- A subtly awesome moment for Maverick is his restoration of a P-51 Mustang.
- Rooster's nickname is wisely chosen. Goose, the nickname of his late father, is also the animal name which is a high flyer. On the other hand, Rooster is a bird that cannot fly. When you think about Maverick, being a problem between Brad and his only dream of continuing to be a pilot, it makes much sense.
