The Iran Contra Arms scandal involved spare parts for the F-14s. Not a fan of Cruise either. That Scientology thing.
No, he's the main character. It's just funny that there's a country which can (1) deploy fifth-gen fighters; (2) has a nascent nuclear program that the US is able to bomb out of existence by striking a single facility, (3) apparently while facing acceptable diplomatic consequences? But that's not the point of the movie. I definitely wouldn't call it cringeworthy--there's no way to have a movie with American pilots engaging in dogfights with fifth-gen fighters in today's world, so they had to come up with something. I'll buy it, and the implausibility of it only makes the movie more awesome, if that's possible. Top Gun Maverick is pure adrenaline. The cinematography is insane. The flight scenes are incredible, they really are. I wish I'd seen it in IMAX. It's definitely one of the coolest lose-your-mind action blockbusters I've seen. It's not my favorite kind of movie, but come on, it's basically perfect. It's just fucking great.
What does the Iran-Contra scandal have to do with Top Gun: Maverick? Sorry, just curious--I don't really see the connection.
Could anyone consistently land the jet on the aircraft carrier in the NES Top Gun video game from the 80s? I couldn't, but I never actually owned the game.
I don’t often go to the movie theaters anymore, but I was determined to watch the new Top Gun on the big screen. I’m glad I did. I definitely prefer the original, but the sequel was satisfyingly reverential of its predecessor and a pretty good story on its own.
I may see it today. Mrs. A has the afternoon off and there's a showing that fits our schedule, maybe. Not IMAX, gotta go into the city for that, but the ATMOS screen is pretty big.
I never thought of Top Gun as a movie franchise to think about--the experience is in getting pumped by the mix of aircraft chase camera framing, upbeat music, and the dance choreography of deck technicians PS: how are they called? the people on the deck/ground that signal when and where to land or take off?
Ground crew. The ones with the fun positioning are plane captains. Those are usually brown hats. Green hats are usually troubleshooters.
And fuelers wear purple and are referred to as "grapes." It's always amused me how the difference in functions affects uniforms in the Navy and Marines. On a ship it's really important to be able to tell at a glance what someone's function is, so the Navy has all kinds of different working uniforms and clues to their job on their rank insignia. For Marines, however, it's best if there's a high degree of ambiguity so the enemy doesn't know to whom their fire should be most effectively directed. The Corps is even transitioning away from the belt-fed SAW to a magazine-fed weapon that has a profile similar to the M-4 with the partial rationale that it will make it harder for the enemy to identify and target the machine gunners (automatic riflemen, in the Old Corps) in a squad.
Is the term marshaller ever used it is that just for planes that have already landed, like at a regular airport or base?
Just saw Top Gun 2 and...well, to borrow from Amazon, the most helpful positive review I can give is: It was Top Gun 2. And the most helpful negative review I can give is: It was Top Gun 2. See it on a big screen or skip it, I guess. YMMV.
I was never called a "grape," but then we only had a helipad, and that may be a carrier culture thing. No one on that ship had a direct aviation rating. We sometimes did something called "vertrep"; Vertical Replenishment. Fueling a helicopter while it is hovering about three feet off the deck. This gave me a real appreciation for the size of the CH53 Sea Stallions. We had to lean in hard against the rotor blast from that beast.
Something I learned from The Discovery Channel supercarrier documentary, so may not be current (or true ) Spoiler
Just watched Final Destination 2 and 4, to complete the set of 5. OK, not great cinema, but an interesting idea cleverly examined.
How does one become part of the ground crew? What kind of qualification and specialized training does one have to have? With movies like Top Gun, pilots of fighter aircrafts are widely discussed, but not the ground crew . . . I find the whole "working together" fascinating.
I could write about this for days. Pilots are show offs who think they're the most important people in the world. Ground crew slaves, like myself, are always overshadowed. Ground crew works semi-well between shops, but officers and enlisted are very much separate channels. They don't mix well. Being a troubleshooter, I downed aircraft often. This led to many often physical confrontations with pilots. Pretty boys gotta fly their special bird or they cry endlessly. In the military, you simply need to not be an idiot and get a fairly decent ASVAB score upon entry to the military. Then get contracted for that specific field. It's a long, drawn out process. Need to have sound technical skills to really make it anywhere though. You go through around a year of technical training, which teaches you general concepts very generally, then you go to your specific squadron and learn on-the-job constantly.
just like in the movies . . . !!!! aside from jokes, I worship my mechanic when he fixes my car, because he can do something I can't do and without him I would be lost. Admittedly though I am just an average driver.
I should be fair that I do actually have a pilot friend, but it's a true rarity. I actually write about this subject a lot in a long term project I've been working on.
After basic training enlisted personnel are assigned to advanced technical training, or sent out to the fleet for OJT, based on placement testing administered on entry. The US navy uses a rating system that your title is your rank accompanied by a two letter code specifying the specialty you were trained in. BM is boatswain's mate, pronounced bossuns mate. These are always trained on the job in basic ship handling. THE Bossun's Mate is often a Chief Petty officer (E7) in charge of them. His title is BMC. I was an EN2, (E5) engineman this is the highest rank you can achieve in a single hitch, and about half attain it, and all but the total dregs make at least E4. I wasn't in it for life. I was sent after basic for advanced training in mechanical systems like pumps, valves, piping and diesel engines. Lower ranking ones as I was were often assigned as "engineers" on landing craft as seen in the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. Those had a crew of two; engineer and coxswain (driver.) The ones in Private Ryan would have had a gunner too. I was on an amphibious assault ship that had a crew of about three hundred, and space for four hundred marines, and could carry up to eight of those landing craft in a special hold that acted like a floating drydock. Ballast tanks were filled to lower the aft end and a giant tailgate would be lowered so the boats could be floated out the back. My group's responsibility included the hydraulics that lowered the gate, and the compressors that blew the ballast tanks. We also donned the purple vests to refuel the helicopters that also took marines to the beach. There were DC's (damage control men) in red vests ready to respond to accidents. On an aircraft carrier these would be personnel with more specific aviation ratings.
