tom cruise license to fly

Is Tom Cruise a real pilot? All about his flying dream

• by Chege Karomo
•  – on May 26, 2022
•  in People

Tom Cruise returns for the second installment of  Top Gun , which promises to be an improvement on the first one. However, before the film’s premiere, Cruise teamed up with television host and actor James Corden to promote the movie. In 2018, Tom took James skydiving; in 2022, Tom strapped him into a plane piloted by the  Mission Impossible  star. 

“I’m gonna go up in a 75-year-old plane with someone who isn’t a pilot? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,”  Corden protested . 

If it were another actor, it’d be difficult to believe that they were a pilot. However, given Tom Cruise’s penchant for performing his own stunts, it’s pretty easy to fathom Cruise having a pilot’s license. 

Tom Cruise has held a pilot’s license since 1994

Tom Cruise qualified as a pilot in 1994, nearly three decades ago. Cruise reportedly owns several planes, including a luxury Gulfstream jet and his beloved P-51 Mustang, a WWII fighter that’ll appear in  Top Gun . 

“The P-51 Mustang you see in the movie is actually my plane, so I got to pilot in those sequences,” Cruise told  Hello magazine . “I also got to be in the jet fighter a lot more this time, which was thrilling. It was something I had been working up to.”

Cruise told the outlet that  Top Gun  allowed him to fulfill two dreams: flying and acting. “All I ever wanted to be was a pilot or an actor, so Top Gun was a huge moment in so many respects, including my passion for aviation,” Cruise said. “I got to actually fly in an F-14 jet which was a dream come true, and play a character I loved in Maverick.”

Tom told the PA News Service that he advocated for realism in the new  Top Gun , translating to as little computer trickery as possible. For Cruise, a man with a decades-old flying license, flying would be easy, but the rest of the cast needed intense training. 

For three months, the actors developed skills crafted by Cruise and learned how to film while inside the aircraft. However, few can match Tom Cruise, as Miles Teller admitted that he never got used to the feeling:

“We trained for this for a long time, Tom had us in a flight programme for several months before we ever started filming. But it was never something you really ever got, like, super comfortable with, at least for me. It was something that every time I went up, it really tested me and I felt like I wanted to puke pretty much every time.”

Cruise didn’t get to fly the F-18 Super Hornet in  Top Gun

Cruise may be an experienced pilot, but the military doesn’t hand the keys to one of their most prized assets to anyone with a flying license. 

The military hasn’t given a reason why it didn’t offer Cruise the F-18 Super Hornet, but we think money has a lot to do with it. The jet costs $70 million, nearly half of the film’s $152 budget. Few insurers would accept to insure potential damage of such an aircraft. 

Furthermore, despite having a pilot’s license, Cruise may not have the requisite skill to fly an F-18 safely – placing one in his hands would put lives at risk. The crew and cast filmed using real F-18 jets driven by trained Navy pilots. 

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Can Tom Cruise fly fighter jets? When he got his pilot’s licence and how much of Top Gun he’s flying for real

Tom cruise is famous for his commitment to realism, and frequently performs his own stunts.

The much anticipated Top Gun: Maverick i s about to hit the big screen, and critics are already raving about the quality of the flight scenes.

Tom Cruise is famous for his commitment to realism, frequently performs his own stunts, and even broke his ankle while filming Mission Impossible in London in 2018.

But does the daredevil do his own flying? Here’s everything you need to know.

What can we expect from the new Top Gun ?

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back and is still feeling the need for speed. His bosses have him in their line of fire, but he remains the best navy test pilot around and commands respect from his flying colleagues.

There is a seemingly impossible mission to blow up an Iranian uranium enrichment plant and Maverick is dispatched to train up an elite team of graduates for the task.

Expect some breathtaking aerobatic displays which, judging by the critics and not entirely surprisingly, outstrip those of the original.

Geoffrey Macnab, writing in i , said “the aerial photography is every bit as spectacular as you would expect”.

The sequel, he adds, “defies cynicism and confirms Tom Cruise’s status as Hollywood’s ‘mission leader’ when it comes to blockbusters ”.

Deadline Hollywood praised the film saying it “tops the original in every way imaginable” adding it is “an example of Hollywood filmmaking at its zenith”.

The original Top Gun was released on 16 May, 1986 and went on to become one of the most famous films of the 80s.

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, deeming it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Is the flying real?

Cruise is well known for doing his own stunts, and he has built that reputation through decades of action films such as the Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher movies.

“People had asked for a sequel for decades,” Cruise told the PA News service. “And the thing I said to the studio from the beginning was: ‘If I’m ever going to entertain this, we’re shooting everything practically. I’m in that F/A-18, period.”

The cast of Maverick underwent serious training in how to cope in the air, meaning the footage you see is in fact real, not CGI.

The course was developed by Cruise, lated three months, and included tuition in underwater evacuation, aerial aviation and flight itself.

They were also prepared for the dynamic pressures of G-force.

They started in single-engined planes, moved on to a Czech-designed jet trainer called the Aero L-39 Albatros, and then the F-18 Super Hornet.

Miles Teller, who plays ‘Rooster’ the son of ‘Goose’ from the original film, explained: “We trained for this for a long time, Tom had us in a flight programme for several months before we ever started filming.

“But it was never something you really ever got, like, super comfortable with, at least for me. It was something that every time I went up, it really tested me and I felt like I wanted to puke pretty much every time.”

The team also learned to operate cameras and about cinematography as they were essentially filming themselves up there.

But were they actually in control of the aircraft?

Despite this training the Navy did insist on having trained officers at the controls of the F-18 Super Hornet, which is worth £56m.

Glen Roberts, the chief of the Pentagon’s entertainment media office, said a regulation bars non-military personnel from controlling a Defence Department asset other than small arms in training scenarios.

Instead, the actors rode behind F/A-18 pilots, and external shots are of trained Navy pilots.

Cruise, who has been a licensed pilot since 1994, did fly a P-51 propeller-driven fighter plane and a few helicopters for the movie.

The planes aircraft carriers and military bases are also real locations.

Who else stars in the Top Gun: Maverick ?

The cast includes:

• Tom Cruise as Captain Peter “Maverick” Mitchell, a test pilot
• Miles Teller as Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw
• Jennifer Connelly as Penelope “Penny” Benjamin
• Val Kilmer as Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky
• Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson
• Ed Harris Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain

It was directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and long-time Cruise collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie.

Top Gun: Maverick is dedicated to the director of the original Top Gun , Tony Scott, who died in 2012.

Lady Gaga has co-written Hold My Hand , the lead song for the sequel’s soundtrack’s.

Those who remember the original Top Gun will recall its big hit song was Berlin’s You Take My Breath Away . It won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

When is Top Gun: Maverick released?

It is set for release in UK cinemas on 27 May.

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Does Tom Cruise Really Know How To Fly Jets?

Tom Cruise has made headlines for a lot of unique reasons over the years, from his epic on-set rants to his volatile love life, passionate devotion to Scientology, celebrity feuds, and various disturbing truths that fans tend to ignore . Even his passion for aviation has often gotten folks talking, like when he accepted his 2023 MTV Movie & TV Award from a plane, took James Corden for a flight in a World War II P-51 Mustang, and intensified his weird relationship with the royals with a bizarre fly-by message to King Charles on coronation weekend.

Indeed, fans will know Cruise loves flying, and he's all about doing his own stunts. Remember his climb up Dubai's Burj Khalifa in "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol"? Yes, he really was 1,700 feet in the air, hanging by a thin wire. "The whole thing was one, extended, hair-raising moment," director Brad Bird told the  New York Daily News at the time. How about that scene in "Mission: Impossible Fall Out" where he's dangling off a helicopter? Yes, he did that too. "It's all Tom flying, 100% of it," stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times . Most impressive, however, are all of the scenes in which Cruise appears to be piloting various fighter jets, which has left many wondering whether the actor can really fly. We can explain.

Yes, Tom Cruise does really know how to fly

Tom Cruise doesn't just talk the talk — he loves flying, and he really does know how to fly. As he told Conan O'Brien in 2019, "As a little kid, I wanted to fly airplanes, and I wanted to make movies." With his work, he's found a way to combine the two, and many of his films, like "Top Gun: Maverick," are an ode to his beloved hobby. "I'm a pilot myself," he enthused. "I love flying, and I love aviation, so this is also just a love letter to aviation." This is why he demanded that he be allowed to fly an F-14 himself, and the studio agreed. "I went through all the pilot training, and then I filmed three flights in the F-14 in one day — it was a dream of mine," he said.

However, Cruise was flying long before then. He originally got his license in 1994, and as he told WIRED in 2017, he can indeed fly airplanes. "I'm a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot," he explained. What's more, he can also pilot a helicopter and got his license so he could film his dream helicopter sequence for "Mission: Impossible – Fallout." Not too shabby! "I fly aerobatics in that," he shared . "I'm a commercially-rated helicopter pilot also." As the movie's stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, told Thrillist , Cruise also underwent stunt training and totally crushed it. "Tom is a great pilot," he applauded.

The military refused to give Tom Cruise access to one special plane

Tom Cruise's flight skills may garner plenty of confidence from his crew, but the US Navy didn't fully share that sentiment. In 2020, Cruise told Empire that when he and producer Jerry Bruckheimer started planning "Top Gun: Maverick," he wholeheartedly opposed the use of special effects and demanded that he be allowed to fly an actual F-18. However, despite being allowed to helm an F-14, Bruckheimer told Empire (via USA Today ), "The Navy wouldn't let him fly an F-18." Even so, his skills as a pilot are on full display in the flick. "He flies a P-51 in the movie and he flies helicopters," the producer shared. "He can do just about anything in an airplane."

As for those F-18 sequences, they had to get creative. They agreed to use two-seater F/A-18 Fs instead, so a professional could pilot the plane, the actor could be in the back, and CGI could take care of the rest. As "Maverick" stunt coordinator Kevin LaRosa II told GQ , it was the next best thing. "The beauty is that really is a shot of Tom in the back seat of that F-18, so he is there, being piloted by a genuine naval aviator," he enthused. What's more, Cruise told Channel 4 Sport , he was sort of allowed to fly the plane. "They let me have a stick in the back and a throttle, so there were times where they let me fly in fly formation," he said.

How the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Cast Trained to Fly Fighter Jets

By Jazz Tangcay

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Audiences coming out of “ Top Gun: Maverick ” this weekend want to know one thing, are the actors really flying those fighter jets? The answer in short is, yes.

Tom Cruise , who returns as “Maverick,” is renowned for doing his own stunt work, and he wanted his stars Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro and Glen Powell to learn how to fly. That’s where the film’s aerial coordinator, Kevin LaRosa Jr. , stepped in.

LaRosa Jr. worked with Cruise to put together an intense flight program that began with the cast flying in a smaller aircraft. “We started with the Cessna 172 and we took them through basic flying. This allowed them to see what it was like to take off, land and know where to look and put their hands,” LaRosa. Jr. explains. That starter plane also allowed the actors to get a feel of what a small g-force felt like.

And just like in a real training program, once the actors were comfortable with that, they graduated to the next level and it was onto the aerobatic airplane, the Extra 300. “This was similar to what the general public would see at an airshow where those planes do crazy maneuvers. It can pull up to eight g forces. It’s exhilarating,” says LaRosa Jr.

Again, the exercise would build up their G-tolerance. “That to me is almost like muscle memory. If I don’t fly for a long time, I might go up and get sick. But if I fly every day and pull those Gs, it’s almost like brain muscle and you’re going to get used to it, and get better.” He adds, “We built them up to the point where they were mainly not getting sick.”

Next was the L-39 Albatross. “This allowed them to experience a fighter trainer jet. When they graduated from that, we had aviators.” LaRosa Jr. adds some cast members are working on getting their full license. Glen Powell, who plays Hangman, did get his.

By the time the actors were put into F/A-18, LaRosa Jr. says, “They were confident and they felt good. They were used to those G-forces, and then they could focus on working with Joseph and Tom on telling this amazing story.” He continues, “They didn’t have to worry that they were in this high-performance fighter jet flying through canyons.”

As someone who has dedicated his life being an aerial coordinator, flying and teaching, LaRosa Jr. praises the talent of the cast. Barbaro, he says was the most impressive. “She absolutely killed it, and did a good job of adjusting to the physiological effects of everything.”

Equally as impressive was Powell, who got sick while filming the F/A-18 scenes. Says LaRosa Jr., “He would go and take care of his business and then get right back in the game. of the most impressive things was watching how some of the cast were able to process that and recover themselves.”

The training program set the actors up, so when they were ready to fly and film, Cruise’s determination of wanting the best performances possible were delivered.

For the mission training program that the pilots go on, LaRosa Jr. says the jet-to-jet photography allows audiences to go live with the fighter jets while IMAX cameras were mounted to the inside and outside of the F/A-18. “As the audience, it feels like we’re riding in there with them.” LaRosa Jr. adds, “When you mix all of those things together, you end up with the perfect mix of aerial storytelling.  It is a perfect blend of living with our actors who are absolutely in those aircraft, maneuvering and pulling G’s and also letting the audience see where we are to get spatial orientation and to see these aircraft maneuvering down low and in and around the training range.”

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Top Gun Maverick: Is Tom Cruise a qualified pilot?

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Top Gun: Maverick  has officially landed in UK cinemas with Tom Cruise returning as hotshot fighter pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.  

Three decades after the original  Top Gun  movie aired in 1986, the highly anticipated sequel sees Maverick return to the danger zone and teach the latest Top Gun recruits how to fly.  

The Mission Impossible actor had promised to deliver thrilling aviation scenes with some of the most complicated aerial sequences in film history. 

The action star is known for his commitment to doing his own stunts, even going so far as  breaking his ankle on Mission Impossible: Fallout with the footage still making the final movie.

From helicopters to fighter jets, the 59-year-old has demonstrated his aviation skills on screen, but was any of it real? 

Is Tom Cruise a qualified pilot? 

Tom Cruise has actually had a pilot’s licence for almost 30 years now, after securing his qualification in 1994. 

Cruise thought it was worth getting his licence after getting a taste for aviation in the original Top Gun film. 

The real-life action man also has a licence to fly helicopters and demonstrated his abilities in complex aerial sequences in Mission Impossible as well as Top Gun: Maverick.   

In fact, all the aerial sequences in the action-packed sequel are real. Not even one flight in the movie uses CGI, thanks to Cruise’s extensive flying training plan for the actors who had to take to the skies in the movie. 

Throughout the film, Cruise and his co-stars including Miles Teller as his former best friend Goose’s son fly P-51 propeller-driven fighter planes as the military pilots. 

The legendary actor recently showcased his skills for James Corden on the Late Late Show  as he took the Gavin and Stacey star to the Top Gun training school.

Corden was terrified as Cruise began the ascent in a small plane and he declared: ‘I’m going to go up in a 75-year-old plane with somebody who is not a pilot.’

However, Corden faced his fears and strapped in for a whirl in the fighter jet where Cruise let loose with his tricks and flips. 

Cruise sported his iconic smile as Corden bellowed expletives in his ear: ‘Oh my God, shut up! Oh God, you absolute b*****d.’

The actor teased: ‘We’ll just fly straight, just relax, just take it easy for a little bit’ before turning the plane upside down.

‘Oh b*****ks, oh f****ing hell!’ Corden shouted as Cruise beamed. 

Cruise’s rigorous training plan allowed the crew to film the flight sequences in a similar way to GoPro films created by Navy pilots. 

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Special rigs were created to go allow six cameras to be fixed inside the cockpit to capture the aircraft and the actor in 6k resolution as they performed each stunt. 

MORE : Tom Cruise reveals how the amazing flight stunts in Top Gun: Maverick were shot

MORE : Top Gun: Maverick producer reveals biggest challenge to making sequel and Tom Cruise mantra that pulled them through

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Simple Flying

What planes does tom cruise own.

Let’s take a look at Tom Cruise’s aircraft collection.

• Tom Cruise is a licensed pilot with qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and helicopter flying skills.
• Cruise owns a collection of airplanes, including a vintage P-51 Mustang fighter from World War II and a Gulfstream IV G4 jet.
• There may be additional aircraft in Cruise's fleet, such as a HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet, according to a travel expert.

It wasn't just a show for 'Top Gun.' Tom Cruise is one of the few actors who genuinely love aviation. He has been a licensed pilot since 1994 and is able to fly several types of aircraft. However, it doesn't stop with a license. The famous Hollywood actor also has a collection of airplanes varying from vintage fighters to business jets.

What kind of license does Cruise have?

In various discussions, Tom Cruise has revealed that his affinity for aviation was crucial to his initial attraction to the original 'Top Gun.' He shared that he holds qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and has continued to enhance his skill set throughout his life. Notably, he acquired helicopter flying skills for the remarkable stunts seen in the 2018 film 'Mission Impossible: Fallout.'

Plane collection

North American P-51 Mustang fighter

During a segment on The Late Late Show, Cruise took host James Corden for a ride in his own vintage P-51 Mustang fighter plane. Tom Cruise acquired this World War II fighter in 2001, which was initially built in 1946.

The P-51 Mustang was an American long-range fighter bomber that served alongside other conflicts during World War II and the Korean War. It was developed by North American Aviation and was retired in 1984. Nevertheless, even today, the fighter is utilized for air racing by civilian pilots. After being donated to an Illinois museum, the plane underwent restoration in 1997.

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Making his recent performance in ' Top Gun: Maverick ,' Tom Cruise takes to the skies in the P-51 Mustang fighter. What adds intrigue to this is the revelation that he wasn't just portraying the pilot on screen – he was actually at the controls of his very own P-51 Mustang fighter.

Gulfstream IV G4 jet

With an estimated price tag of $20 million, this jet boasts the capability to accommodate as many as 19 passengers. Notably, it reportedly comes furnished with luxuries, including a jacuzzi and a dedicated movie-screening room, according to Business Insider.

The Gulfstream IV G4 is a long-range executive jet designed and built by Gulfstream , a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United States, from 1985 until 2018. Its production spanned from 1985 to 2018, resulting in over 900 G4 units taking to the skies. This jet can cover distances of up to 7,100 kilometers and achieve a top speed of 850 kilometers per hour.

Is there more?

Whether the actor has more aircraft in its fleet has been under speculation as it was never officially confirmed. But according to a Business Insider report, in addition to the vintage fighter jet and the Gulfstream IV G4, Jack Sweeney, who is famous for reporting the travel habits of numerous celebrities, including Elon Musk, said he has been able to identify Cruise's HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet.

Want answers to more key questions in aviation? Check out the rest of our guides here .

Sources: Business Insider , South China Morning Post

So How Does One Teach Tom Cruise To Fly Top Gun: Maverick Fighter Planes, Anyway? How The Aerial Coordinator Did It

How did Tom Cruise learn how to fly fighter planes in Top Gun: Maverick?

To be able to get back behind the cockpit for Top Gun : Maverick must have been a real dream for Tom Cruise . He wanted to reprise his role of “Maverick” in the Top Gun sequel for the purpose of being able to fly those jets again. While it would have been too easy to make Tom Cruise be surrounded by a green screen, he’s actually skyrocketing into the air, with those aviation scenes being 100% real. Here is how Top Gun: Maverick ’s aerial coordinator was able to teach Cruise and the rest of the cast how to fly a fighter jet.

In the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise and the other actors were actually in the air on real fighter jets, but it was required for someone else to be piloting the plane. But that was over three decades ago and the cast actually learned to fly fighter jets for Top Gun: Maverick. According to KTLA 75 , the cast was put through an extensive training program to soar through the skies which were run by the film’s aerial coordinator and camera pilot, Kevin LaRosa. He said by the time the cast got into the aircraft, they were “seasoned pros” able to “deliver epic performances.”

Mission: Impossible ’s Tom Cruise can be seen flying in Top Gun: Maverick , but as a civilian, he could not fly the primary fighter jet of the film, the F-18 Hornet. He had to start on certain aircrafts like the entry-level airplane, a Cessna 172, to learn the basics. The next level airplane would be the Extra EA-300 used in air shows for aerobatic stunts. Every plane the cast flew was meant to build up their “G tolerance” in order to look like pros on camera. Afterwards, the cast moved up to maneuverable fighter jet L-39 to finally the F-18. So Tom Cruise was still not allowed to actually fly an F-18 for the movie, but LaRosa gave them the training to help him make it look like he can.

Once the actors were inside of the cockpits, the actors actually had to direct themselves and figure out the camera shots since a director obviously could not be up in the air with them. This meant the filmmakers had to wait until the actors landed to see which footage could be used, and sometimes do-overs were necessary. LaRosa had no problem striving for perfection in wanting the actors to keep going again and again until it was done right. If you’d like some proof if the Top Gun star still has it in him, you can see watch the epic video of Tom Cruise flying planes.

Kevin LaRosa clearly came up with an amazing training program for Top Gun: Maverick , as the aerial sequences were among the things singled out by the critics . Many commented that they loved the exterior airborne shots and being able to hear the realistic roaring of the engines. Various critics also commended the film for not going the CGI route and having the actors actually fly in the airborne cockpits. This proves one again that going the practical route is sometimes better than just using CGI.

You can see Tom Cruise and the rest of his fellow actors in the new movie release of Top Gun: Maverick , which is playing in theaters now. 

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Can Tom Cruise Really Fly a Plane IRL?

Wondering ‘Is Tom Cruise a pilot?’ after watching Top Gun Maverick? Read to find out how Tom Cruise learned to fly a plane and celebrities that can fly a plane.

With the release of Top Gun: Maverick, the highly-grossing sequel to Tom Cruise’s 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, there has been a lot of interest in his stunts in the movie. This movie, released in 2022, was a massive success and was widely praised for its realistic portrayal of fighter pilots. Intense stunts and daredevil action sequences have become a trademark of Cruise’s action movies, and his latest movie does not disappoint. 

The movie follows the story of  Pete Maverick Mitchell, a test pilot, and graduate of the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, popularly known as Top Gun. 

Cruise always advocated for realist portrayals in his movies and wanted the usage of CGI  to be as minimal as possible. He performs most of his stunts, and even at 60, Cruise is still trying out new things and fulfilling his passions. 

For Top Gun: Maverick, he ensured that all his co-actors were well acquainted with the workings of the aircraft and trained them himself. They also learned to film while working inside the planes, like Cruise had to do for a few of his previous movies.

The biggest question is, ‘Is Tom Cruise a pilot?’ The possibility of an actor having an aviation background can be unbelievable. However, for a movie star like Tom Cruise, who is constantly pushing the limits of his work, it’s not very hard. 

Can Tom Cruise Fly a Plane?

Yes, Tom Cruise can fly a plane. He has held a pilot license since 1994. Cruise got his private pilot’s license in 1994 and then obtained his commercial license in 1998.  

Although the US military did not let him fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet used in Top Gun: Maverick, he pilots the P-51 Mustang he owns. 

It was speculated that money had something to do with it. The aircraft costs nearly $70 million, which was half the movie’s budget. Due to this, giving insurance for such an expensive plane must have been beyond the producer’s limits.

Another reason could be that Tom Cruise did not necessarily have enough experience or skill to pilot that sophisticated fighter jet, which was risky. Trained Navy pilots performed all the scenes with the F/A-18. 

The P-51 Mustang, which belongs to Cruise, is seen in his appearance on James Corden’s The Late Late Show, where he takes Corden on two rides. Cruise’s level of aviation skills can be seen in this promotional video, as he easily maneuvers his P-51 Mustang and the Aero L-39 Albatros, borrowed from the Patriots Jet team. To be able to pilot such an aircraft, Tom Cruise must have over 1000 hours of jet flying experience.  

Along with his Mustang, Cruise also owns a Gulfstream IV G4 jet. This luxurious aircraft, estimated to cost around $35 million, has a seating capacity of 19 passengers and has an in-built jacuzzi and movie-screening facilities.

In an interview with Hello Magazine, Cruise told them, “All I ever wanted to be was a pilot or an actor, so Top Gun was a huge moment in so many respects, including my passion for aviation.” It is indeed quite amazing to see an actor finding the time and motivation to fulfill all his passions. 

Read More: What Is the Coldest Place in the Universe?

How Did They Fly a Plane in Top Gun: Maverick?

In the movie Top Gun: Maverick, the scenes with planes and flying were applauded for being highly realistic. Anybody would believe that the actors flew all the complicated aircraft and performed the stunts, but that is not true! 

It was not feasible to let inexperienced actors fly the Navy’s assets, like the F/A-18. All the actors flew as passengers with military pilots. However, they had to undergo intense training to work efficiently in those extreme conditions. Tom Cruise himself headed these sessions for his co-actors. They had to prepare well to increase their tolerance to fly without getting sick and prepare for emergencies.

 The team coordinated with the Navy to find the perfect spots to place their cameras inside the plane, which would not disrupt the plane’s navigation systems. The actors had to switch on the cameras themselves because of which, Joseph Kosinski, the director, could see the footage only after the planes returned to the ground. Moreover, the film’s aerial coordinator and camera pilot, Kevin LaRosa, helped them achieve this efficiently.

In an interview with the Men’s Journal , Miles Teller, who plays the role of Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, spoke about the extent to which the team went, to ensure that the film was portrayed realistically. 

“There is no green screen in a Top Gun movie. Every shot, every stunt, was the result of the work, the real sweat, that we all put into it. The production was over the course of a full year, which was definitely the longest shoot I have ever been a part of.” Miles Teller

Talking about his flying experience and training, the actor sounded quite excited. “They would have me go up in an F-18 for an hour or hour and a half, pulling anywhere around seven-and-a-half Gs. Getting to fly around with the best naval aviators in the world.”

The team also had to pass tests for all their training. Teller told them, “Before we got into the jets, we had to pass the Naval Aviation Survival Training course in San Diego.”

Which Movies Has Tom Cruise Flown a Plane In?

1. top gun: maverick (2022).

In his recent film, Top Gun: Maverick, we see Tom Cruise as a pilot, with his P-51 Mustang, and flying as a passenger in the F/A-18 Super Hornet. “I got to actually fly in an F-14 jet which was a dream come true, and play a character I loved in Maverick,” said Cruise about his experience while shooting for the movie. 

Cruise wanted to reduce using CGI as much as possible and ensured that all his co-actors were well acquainted with the aircraft. 

Top Gun: Maverick has also become instrumental in inspiring more young Americans to join the armed forces. The way the military has used films to exert their influence has always evoked a sense of patriotism and thrill and this movie is a perfect example of the same. The impact is an Instagram handle that recently posted about this. 

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The actors had to film themselves flying in the airborne cockpits, and the director could see the video only after they reached the ground. A lot of training went into ensuring that the actors could handle it. Kevin LaRosa designed an extensive training program for the actors so they could act and maneuver the aircraft. Even though Cruise did not pilot the F/A-18, all that training he received was enough to make his acting as realistic as possible. 

In the original Top Gun(1986), Cruise did not do any flying. Professional navy pilots handled all the stunts and flying. Tom Cruise was either in the backseat of the fighter jet or in a set that mimicked a cockpit. Things changed a lot when the sequel came out in 2022. Cruise had a pilot’s license, and they trained the other actors too. 

2. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Mission: Impossible Fallout had Cruise piloting a helicopter. He completed over 2000 hours of helicopter flying to be well-trained. That was a long and dangerous sequence in the movie, and some of the stunts could have resulted in Cruise’s death if the execution had not been perfect. 

In the same movie, Cruise also pulled off a HALO jump, the first ever to be done by an actor. He trained in a big, vertical wind tunnel. Cruise has over 100 hours of skydiving experience, and for this stunt, he jumped from over 20,000 feet and used a parachute at about 2000 feet. 

3. American Made (2017)

In American Made, Cruise hones his aviation skills in a few scenes. The movie follows the story of American pilot Barry Seal, played by Cruise, who transports drugs for the CIA. A controversy did arise from this movie’s set when two pilots died while another was severely injured. 

4. Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation (2015)

Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, the fifth movie in this franchise, had Tom Cruise hang outside an Airbus A400M as it took off and completed the circuit. There were multiple retakes and Cruise was being supported by just a cord. His commitment to performing such stunts as realistically as possible is commendable. 

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How Did Tom Cruise Learn to Fly a Plane?

Tom Cruise is a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot. He has a private and commercial pilot license. After the first Top Gun movie, he was motivated to undergo training to obtain his pilot license. In the first movie, Cruise could not handle the experience in the cockpit with the flight pilot and felt nauseous. Now, he can easily pilot the plane and perform complex maneuvers. 

Cruise must have hired a private instructor to train him. He owns a few planes as well, and he regularly practices and flies them. His first step was to obtain a private pilot’s license. 

The process of obtaining a private pilot license is not very complex. 

• After an orientation flight, the interested person can apply for a student pilot’s license. They should fulfill certain conditions – should be of the eligible age (14-16 years and above) and be well acquainted with English. 
• They should also have a medical form called Third Class Medical from an Aviation Medical Examiner(AME). After obtaining both these documents, the student should find a Certified Flight Instructor(CFI). Flight schools, flight training programs, or any certified person with an aircraft could teach you. After training, you should have a certain number of solo flight hours and other requirements . 
• The FAA conducts a written test before the check ride. After this, you will have your “check ride” with a Designated Pilot Examiner. This exam has two parts- oral and practical. You can find additional information regarding this procedure on the FAA website . 
• Based on the performance, the student will receive your PPL (Private Pilot’s License). Obtaining a commercial pilot’s license (after receiving your PPL) has almost the same procedure. 

Cruise has a multi-engine instrument rating. This rating involves more training and tests because the usual pilot’s license is for a single engine. Obtaining a multi-engine instrument rating requires more aeronautical knowledge and flight training. The student has to be prepared for any scenario or emergency, as the examiners will evaluate their ability to handle complex aircraft and face any situation that could arise. 

Tom Cruise should have followed the above-given processes to obtain his license. He also holds an aerobatic rating which helps him to perform all the stunts. 

He must have acquired his helicopter license the same way, and the process isn’t very different. Tom Cruise pushed to gain over 2000 hours of helicopter flying experience for his movie Mission: Impossible- Fallout. 

His expertise is evident when he performs complex maneuvers, in mountainous terrains, like the ‘corkscrew dive’ or the 360-degree downward spiral in Fallout. 

To use the kind of aircraft he pilots (like the Albatros), Tom Cruise must have a type rating, a high-performance endorsement, and more than 1000 hours of jet flying. Type rating essentially means the license to fly a specific model of aircraft. A high-performance endorsement allows the pilot to be the pilot-in-command of heavier and more complex aircraft. The FAA conducts additional training and tests for interested people. 

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Who Are a Few Other Celebrities That Can Fly a Plane?

Many Hollywood celebrities own pilot licenses and, like Cruise, have fulfilled their aviation dreams. Some of them include the following:

• Angelina Jolie – Angelina Jolie is an award-winning actress and humanitarian who is also a pilot. She got her license in December 2004. Soon, she also bought a Cirrus SR22-G2, a single-engine plane. Her son Maddox was her inspiration to take up aviation, as he was interested in aviation at a young age. The actress has revealed that her son has taken up flying classes now. 
• Morgan Freeman – Along with being a renowned American actor and filmmaker, Morgan Freeman also nourishes a love for aviation. He loved war films and eventually received an opportunity to become a fighter pilot. However, Freeman realized his heart was more inclined towards acting and left the Air Force. His love for flying remained, and he got his license in 2002. He owns two planes – a Cessna Citation II and a Cessna 414. 
• Dennis Quaid – Known for his comedy and drama movies, Dennis Quaid, the American actor, is also a pilot. For the film The Right Stuff, Quaid overcame his fear of flying and learned the skill. He owns a Cessna 421 twin-engine and a Cessna Citation II and uses them frequently. 
• Clint Eastwood – Clint Eastwood is an American actor, musician, and politician. He finds himself on this list since he owns a pilot’s license. In an interview in 1997, Eastwood revealed that his favorite hobby is flying and has held a chopper license for a long time. He also owns an Aerospatial AStar helicopter.
• Kurt Russell – He is an American actor who also loves flying. He has owned a license for more than 28 years and has received the Aviation Mentor Award. He also possesses multiple aircraft and has several hours of flight experience.

How Difficult Is It to Become a Pilot?

Theoretically, it is not very difficult in the USA. If the person is eligible and has the time and resources to train themselves, becoming a pilot is quite accessible.

The entire process was explained in the article in detail earlier. However, several factors could make it difficult for people to pursue their aviation dreams. 

1. The Cost

Becoming a pilot is not a cheap affair. To obtain good training and to be able to practice sufficiently, you must have access to such resources. These can be very expensive. The minimum cost to acquire a private pilot’s license is nearly $7600. This rate could differ based on other factors, such as the student’s location and expertise.  

2. English Ability

The student should be able to read and comprehend English quite well. If this poses a problem for the student, it can be quite easily solved if the student is willing to take lessons for the same.

This is a requirement that migrants might find difficult to fulfill, but it won’t be too difficult to master the basics in a short period. 

3. Medical and Physical Fitness

A pilot needs to remain healthy. The student’s health conditions determine the eligibility for the license. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that you meet the health guidelines issued by the FAA.

For a private pilot’s license, you only require a third-class medical certificate, but for further certification, you need advanced medical certificates.

From the accounts of the actors who worked in Top Gun: Maverick, it is quite obvious that air sickness, tolerance, and breathing are the first major difficulties that new aviators face.

They had to regularly fly and remain in shape during the entire shoot. Hence, it is quite important for pilots to be healthy and have strong bodies.

4. Demanding Lifestyle

The lifestyle and working hours in a pilot’s career can be challenging. When you consider being a pilot as a career path, you would have to prioritize your professional life over your personal life to a large extent.

Frequent traveling and staying from home for extended periods would become the norm. This work-life balance is not everybody’s cup of tea, so you should consider this seriously before taking aviation as a career. 

If you are willing to put in time and effort consistently, it will not be too hard to become a pilot. Aviation enthusiasts who want to obtain a license for recreational purposes would not find the process challenging, especially after obtaining the license.

Discipline is required when it comes to the job, and you will have to sort out your priorities carefully. 

An actor, a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot, a producer, and so much more is what makes Tom Cruise such an exceptional inspiration. Even after crossing 50, he hasn’t slowed down or given in to the limitations imposed on you as you age. 

His dedication and drive to achieve what he wants are admirable. In a day and age in which anything is possible through CGI and editing, making the actor’s job much easier, Tom Cruise is an exception. It is quite enthralling to see an actor committed to giving maximum respect to the story and the action sequences. 

With the resources and wealth that Cruise amasses, he does find it easy to fulfill all his passions. Hard work and perseverance brought him to his present glory, and he never disappoints. Cruise’s dedication to becoming both the things that he always wanted to be, a pilot and an actor, is something we can all learn. 

The only limits are the ones we create for ourselves, and if we put our minds to them, we can achieve at least a few things we love and cherish. Becoming a pilot might sound like a scary path, but with the correct guidance, it is possible!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Does Tom Cruise have a pilot’s license?

Yes, Tom Cruise has owned a pilot’s license since 1994. 

2. Is Tom Cruise a real pilot?

Yes, Tom Cruise is a multi-engine,instrument-rated commercial pilot and owns several planes. He owns a P-51 Mustang and a luxurious Gulfstream IV G4 jet. 

3. Is Tom Cruise a jet pilot?

Tom Cruise owns a pilot’s license that he uses for personal and professional needs. 

4. Is Tom Cruise a certified pilot?

Yes, Tom Cruise is a certified pilot and owns a license. He has a private as well as a commercial license. 

5. Is Tom Cruise a fighter pilot?

No, Tom Cruise is not a fighter pilot. He owns a private and commercial license but he does not work with the military. 

6. Is Tom Cruise a helicopter pilot?

Yes, he has a helicopter license as well. He had trained for more than 2000 hours for the helicopter flying scenes in Mission: Impossible- Fallout.

7. How much is Tom Cruise paid per movie?

At the beginning of his career, he was not paid hefty salaries. He received around $50,000 for one of his early movies, Taps. Gradually, he gained international fame and recognition. His roles in the first Top Gun movie and the romantic drama Jerry Maguire contributed to the same. 

Over the years, his paycheck has increased significantly. From the 1990s onwards, he has received almost $12 million to $100 million per movie through backend deals from his massively successful and profitable projects. 

Author: Ajeya

An avid blogger, meme compiler, quizzer and I'm always on the look-out for the latest trends on the internet, in tech and AI! View all posts by Ajeya

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Welcome to Tom Cruise’s Flight School for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

If there was to be a sequel to the ’80s classic ‘Top Gun,’ it was going to need to be even better than the original—and way more realistic. Before the movie hits theaters, the cast of ‘Maverick’ explains what it took to become on-screen pilots.

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In the middle of shooting Top Gun , producer Jerry Bruckheimer realized he had a huge problem: With the exception of Tom Cruise, all the actors playing Navy pilots kept vomiting in the cockpit. “Their heads were down, and when they got their heads up, their eyes were rolling back,” Bruckheimer says. “It was terrible. They were all sick.”

On a scrappy budget with clunky 1980s technology, an untrained cast, and new studio leadership, filming eventually moved to an L.A. soundstage, where those actors could settle their stomachs while pretending to fly on a gimbal instead. The disrupted, piecemealed experience stuck with Cruise long after—despite the movie’s eventual massive box office success and canonization as a modern classic, the A-list actor had little desire to revive Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. “Originally, I wasn’t interested in doing a sequel,” he told Total Film magazine , at least not until technology—and his castmates—could “put the audience inside that F-18.”

Three decades later, Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski flew to Paris to convince him they could. During a 20-minute break on the set of Mission: Impossible—Fallout , Kosinski pitched a sequel centered on Cruise’s aging fighter pilot and his strained relationship with his best friend Goose’s son. “I wanted it to be a rite-of-passage story for Maverick,” says Kosinski, who tried appealing to his star’s extremist sensibilities by promising to shoot everything practically. The director had seen Navy pilots use GoPros on their flights, documenting a first-person experience above the clouds that was “better than any aerial footage I’d seen from any movie,” he says. “I showed that to [Tom] and said this is available for free on the internet. If we can’t beat this, there’s no point in making this movie—and he agreed.”

Over the next 15 months, Kosinski collaborated with naval advisers and aerospace corporations, building six specialized IMAX cameras for an F-18 cockpit, mapping out highwire action sequences through tight canyons, and developing a specialized “CineJet” with aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa II to capture it all from the air. “A lot of what we did was cutting-edge,” LaRosa says. “That technology came to fruition as the story came to fruition, and Top Gun: Maverick became a real thing.” At the same time, Cruise started his own preparations, vetting a cast of young pilots—Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Monica Barbaro, Greg Tarzan Davis, Lewis Pullman, and Danny Ramirez—before developing a specialized flight training gauntlet so that everyone could conquer the sky. “He knew the goal was to not only get his footage in the plane, but to get them all in the planes,” Kosinski says. “He just wanted them to be prepared, and he knew exactly what it was going to take.”

Leaning on years of his own piloting experience, Cruise put together a detailed aviation curriculum, connecting actors with trusted flight instructors, building up their G-force tolerance to unthinkable levels, and readying their transition into the F-18 cockpit. The result is breathtaking, a collage of immersive, madcap flying sequences and high-octane performances—a testament to Cruise’s unrelenting drive to pack as much thrill-seeking euphoria into Top Gun: Maverick as humanly possible. “He will do whatever it takes to give audiences the ride of a lifetime,” Powell says. “It’s so infectious to be a part of.”

Part 1: “I Never Signed That Waiver.”

Because Top Gun: Maverick would be shot practically, Kosinski and Bruckheimer needed actors who were unafraid to fly and could subject themselves to intensive training. Not everyone who auditioned was truthful right away.

Joseph Kosinski (director): I made it very clear from the very first meeting: We’re going to shoot this for real. This means you’re going in a real F-18 and flying in these scenes. A lot of people tapped out.

Lewis Pullman (Robert “Bob” Floyd): You go to an audition like that and you’re like, “Damn, that would be cool but it’s never going to happen.” Then they said, “We want to sign you up as long as you’re not scared of flying.” I fly all the time commercially—Spirit Airlines, all the greats. They were like, “It might be a little different than that.”

Monica Barbaro (Natasha “Phoenix” Trace): Joe asked me if I was afraid of flying, to which I said, “No”—then he told me that we’d be flying in jets. I got goosebumps.

Greg Tarzan Davis (Javy “Coyote” Machado): I lied to Joe. I was just given a piece of paper for the audition saying, “Are you afraid of flying?” “Are you afraid of heights?” Of course I said, “No.”

Danny Ramirez (Mickey “Fanboy” Garcia): We had to sign a paper before we stepped into the audition room because otherwise I would have lied to him, and that would have started the relationship on the wrong foot.

Glen Powell (Jake “Hangman” Seresin): I keep hearing all the other guys talk about signing a waiver that you were not afraid of flying. I never signed that waiver.

Pullman: It kind of snuck up on me what we were really doing. They were like, “You’re going to actually fly in these planes.”

Ramirez: I was absolutely terrified whenever I was on commercial flights. My routine was two glasses of wine and Bose headphones to tune everything out.

Kosinski: I looked at hundreds of actors, narrowed it down to my favorite two or three [for each role] and then I sat with Jerry and Tom and, drawing on their decades of experience, we selected our final team.

Jerry Bruckheimer (producer): You look at their body of work, you look at who they are. They sit down in front of you, look you in the eye, and you can tell that they’re committed and that they want to advance their career through a movie like Top Gun .

Kosinski: I think it’s gut instinct, really.

Barbaro: I genuinely love flying. I told Joe in the room that I weirdly enjoy turbulence, and he quietly looked down at his notes like, “OK.” I was like, “That was a weird thing to say.” And then later I thought about it—that was probably the perfect thing to say.

Powell: None of that stuff had ever fazed me. One of the reasons I decided to sign on to the movie was the opportunity to be in the back of real F-18s and shoot this thing all practically. I didn’t want to pass it up. I was all in.

Ramirez: The first week, Monica was like, “It’s crazy this is going to be the peak of our careers,” and Tom’s like, “No, no, no, don’t you repeat that.” He’s like, “We didn’t just cast you guys because you’re great for [your roles]. We cast you because we think you’re going to be the next great movie stars.”

Part 2: “It Feels Like You’re Strapped in by a Couple Shoelaces.”

As part of Cruise’s extensive training program, actors learned to fly inside single-engine Cessnas before graduating to the EA-300 and L-39—aerobatic planes capable of pulling more G’s—to mimic the feeling of being inside an F-18.

Pullman: Tom had personally designed a training regimen that would basically condense two years of flight training into three months—and it was all done in a way that Tom had wished he’d had for himself on the original Top Gun .

Kosinski: He’s a licensed pilot. He flies aerobatics, he flies helicopters, he’s very familiar with what it takes to be in these planes.

Ramirez: Before we even got on a flight, they taught us about what creates lift and the physics of flight. That popped the bubble of fear for me.

Davis: Tom makes sure you feel comfortable with it, then he lets the instructors do what they need to do.

Kevin LaRosa Jr. (aerial coordinator): My dad and I started training all the cast in Cessna 172s. Where to look, how to talk on the radio, how to take off and land, basic flying technique—where and how to look like pilots while flying.

Barbaro: We never flew solo because legally you can’t unless you have a pilot’s license, but we got to a point where we were talking with the tower.

Powell: I’d been cast first, so I’d had a couple more opportunities to be in the Cessna. But I’d never done a takeoff and landing.

Ramirez: We showed up at Van Nuys Airport. I see Glen’s car parked with a big Texas license plate, and I’m like, “Oh, I’ve seen this guy from Scream Queens , he was pretty funny.”

Powell: I remember grabbing a Subway sandwich, getting to know each other in the parking lot. And then it’s like, “All right you guys, ready to fly?!”

Ramirez: It’s my first time, so I’m also a little nervous. As we’re on the runway and taking off, I’m looking at Kevin LaRosa Sr.’s hands, but they’re really relaxed, and they slowly start slipping off. I look over and we’re taking off because Glen is the one pulling back on the controls. I just panicked: Glen Powell from Scream Queens is the first person in this whole movie that’s taking me up in the air? What the hell?

Powell: We got up in the air and I could see he was kind of breathing a little heavier than normal. I looked back and said, “Everything good?”

Ramirez: We ended up flying for about an hour. He lands the plane, and I was like, “I would have never sat in that Cessna had I known that Glen was going to be the one that took me up.”

Powell: We were thrown in the deep end. The amount of trust that these guys had in us from the get-go was wild.

LaRosa: There were definitely actors who were very forward-leaning—fearless, loved every second of it. And then the normal person who’d be like, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

Barbaro: We moved on to an Extra-300, which does all kinds of crazy loops and can pull nine G’s with two people in it.

LaRosa: G-forces are created when we apply a velocity or direction change to mass. They can be formed by the jet changing direction. The best analogy is when you’re on a roller coaster and you enter a corkscrew or loop, you feel your body being pressed into the seat—that might only be two G’s.

Pullman: Tom figured you could pull more G’s in the Extra-300 than the F-18, so if we could master that without a G-suit, once we got up in the F-18s, it would be like we had been running with weights on.

Powell: It’s almost like you’re spiraling down in a tornado formation, and you get these big wide turns that get smaller and smaller to increase the G’s until you’re on the verge of blacking out.

Davis: I have video footage of my face being distorted to the maximum. All the life drained out of my body.

Pullman: When you go inverted and you’re upside down, you’re just dangling over nothing. It feels like you’re strapped in by a couple shoelaces. I basically took it upon myself to go skydive. I was like, “If I can jump out of a plane willingly, then I can do all this stuff.”

Powell: Monica and I had this amazing competition every time where we could see who could pull more G’s. You’d do these fake bombing runs over and over, and I think Monica and I got to 6 or 7 at one point. That girl is tough.

Barbaro: We moved on to an L-39 jet. We did some dogfighting with each other, and then we got to fly in the F-18s. And then as refreshers we would fly in the EA-300 just to keep up with our training.

Pullman : We would do these little surveys after each flight. You write down how many G’s you pulled, what maneuvers you did, what challenges you may have had.

Davis: It was like a review-all questionnaire. How do you feel up there? What did you learn? How can we improve on your experience to make you more comfortable?

Pullman: In the beginning, we were all just filling them out not really thinking, Who is reading this? But whenever we saw Tom, he would come up to us and say, “Hey man, I saw that on your last flight you had a little trouble pulling zero G’s. Here’s what I do.” It was like, “Holy smokes, Tom Cruise is taking the time out of his jam-packed day to give me personal tips.”

Kosinski: We had our hands full. It was great to have Tom.

Bruckheimer: He checked the log, found out if somebody didn’t show up. He made sure everybody was there and did what they had to do.

Davis: He’s like the greatest Yelp reviewer ever.

In addition to the aerial training, the cast also needed to pass a Naval Aviation Survival Training course to simulate an ocean landing.

Kosinski: For people who didn’t like to swim, it was really difficult.

Ramirez: Tarzan didn’t even know how to swim when the whole thing started. We all felt like little tadpoles, but our instructor was a U.S. Olympic coach.

Pullman: I grew up swimming a lot, but it’s still different from swimming. It was like forced drowning. They drag you on a zip line to simulate being ejected overseas.

Davis: We had to gear up in about 40 pounds of Navy equipment. The helo-dunker submerges itself in water and flips upside down—it’s a complete 180, and you’re tied to a chair and you have to make your way out through a window.

Pullman: You have to have one hand on some part of the cockpit at all points, and if you have both hands off, you get disqualified. It was a challenge, to say the least.

Davis: Then we had a few tries with blackout goggles on our faces, and that’s when Lewis tried to drown me. [ Laughs .] He couldn’t get out the window fast enough.

Pullman: I also had a 101-degree fever that day and I couldn’t change the appointment so I basically had to do it all while incredibly sick.

Powell: You’re literally in a washing machine under water blindfolded and strapped in.

Ramirez: Glen and I had just passed the blindfold test, but Tarzan had failed one of the runs, so Glen was like, “Let’s go in there with him out of solidarity.” I felt a little cocky like, “Hell yeah, I’ve done it already.” We’re upside down, and I keep trying to open this harness, and Glen’s like, “All right, see you later.”

Powell: I’m literally blindfolded trying to find my way out like he is. He tells this story like I looked at him in the eyes and then abandoned him. Danny, you know that’s not how it happened, man.

Ramirez: I’d forgotten the emergency sign for the scuba divers to pull me out. I was about to open my mouth and swallow a bunch of water. Finally the harness slightly opens up, I squiggle my way out of there, break through the window, breach, and take the biggest gasp of air I’ve ever taken. I went up to the guys: “You didn’t see me down there unable to get loose on the screens?” And they were like, “No dude, we thought you were just chilling, you looked so composed and collected.”

Powell: I thought it was really fun, but if you’re having trouble with your harness and something gets stuck, it’s a pretty scary environment. I never panicked, but that moment for Danny I know is pretty scary. If I knew he was having a problem I would have totally gone over to help him. But I had a blindfold on.

Pullman: At the end of the day, everyone was always checking in on each other, making sure nobody was falling behind. It felt like a very safe space and everyone wanted each other to succeed.

Ramirez: The swim element was more like trauma-bonding.

Part 3: “You Can See the Tunnel Start to Close.”

Though none of the actors actually flew F-18s by themselves, they rehearsed repeatedly on the ground with their professional pilots to mimic each other’s movements and maneuvers, making it easier to perform and stay coordinated in the air. Still, sustaining eight G’s and flying at low altitudes provided all kinds of challenges.

Kosinski: We would do a two-hour brief every morning where we would go through everybody’s work—storyboard by storyboard, line by line, where the sun had to be, what the terrain had to be, what the choreography of the planes had to be. We had to make sure the Navy pilots and actors were in perfect sync.

Pullman: That was pivotal. Once you’re up there in the cockpit, you’re kind of on your own. You can’t walk down to Joe Kosinski and be like, “Did we get that take? Can we move on?”

LaRosa: He can’t be in the air with his cast, so he’s so involved in the planning and briefing stage. We always went through the same formula: What are we going to do on this flight? How are we going to obtain all of that on this flight? And we end it with safety being paramount.

Kosinski: After that we would move to something called “the buck,” which was a plywood mockup of the F-18 cockpit with all the instruments and switches in the same place, but on the ground. We would walk through the entire day’s work shot by shot—spray the sweat on, turn the camera on, turn the camera off. It was a very tedious process to go through.

Pullman: Tom would sit on the outside of the buck and run the scene with you and give you direction and tips about how to make it more dynamic or more intense. Because these cameras are more stagnant and fixed onto the frame of the F-18, you have to kind of create your own dynamics within the frame.

Barbaro: There were four cameras facing us that were fastened to the cockpit, and two pointing toward the front of the plane over the shoulder of the actual pilot that was flying us.

Ramirez: As weapons system operators, [Lewis and I] had a tougher task of being back there and not looking in the direction we were flying. When we were banking to the right, we’re looking to the left.

Barbaro: We would have to sort of direct or remind our pilot exactly where to line up with the sun. For example, if I was flying in a certain direction in the morning and Lewis was flying with the same pilot later in the day, they had to fly in the opposite direction so that there was continuity.

Kosinski: I wanted it to be muscle memory because when you’re pulling six or seven G’s, you don’t want to think about anything.

LaRosa: Typically, jets would go on an hour-and-a-half mission, return, and then debrief. We’d sit there and watch all the footage with the pilots and the cast and Joe would say, “Oh I need you to look a little more this way, need you to fix your mask here, furrow your brow more.”

Powell: You’re running cameras, you’ve got to remember your lines, you’ve got to [remember] sun position and keep that consistent, know where the other airplane is so you don’t run into another aircraft, the altitude, the airspeed—all these things have to be together. When you’re up there, you’re the pilot in command, you’re the only one who is in charge of this stuff. It’s a very empowering experience.

During a training run in Top Gun: Maverick, in which the pilots must ascend at a vertical angle to eclipse a mountain peak, Coyote (Davis) blacks out at eight G’s and descends into a free fall before regaining consciousness. One of the movie’s most extreme scenes, it epitomizes the physical toll required to be an F-18 pilot.

Kosinski: It was one of the first sequences we shot, and it was such an important one because the footage that Tarzan got on that flight was so spectacular that when we put it on the big screen, it really motivated everybody.

LaRosa: There’s a shot from behind the F-18 slow-rolling toward the ground. That is a real, practical shot. That’s me in the CineJet chasing an F-18 toward the earth as if the pilot has passed out. We’re doing 400 miles per hour.

Pullman: What we learned in preparation of getting into the F-18 and pulling G’s was you have to do this thing called the “Hick maneuver” to stop the blood from leaving your brain and rushing to your legs. You flex from your calves, to your thighs, to your core, to your chest, to your head in succession so it flushes all the blood up to your head.

Davis: I realized if I were to do the Hick maneuver well, I’m not really passed out, and the audience would see that on camera. So as I’m going, I am literally dying not being able to do the Hick maneuver—and I still have to act.

LaRosa: For Tarzan, he’s on a jet rolling toward the ground.

Davis: I definitely have to trust my freaking pilot. He also played limp, so they could match the cut in the edit. I’m like “Yo, when are you going to pull up?” At one moment we were really close to the ground. Pull up! Pull up!

Kosinski: He swore to God he didn’t pass out, but we all think he might have.

Davis: People thought I really passed out. I did not—that was just some damn good acting.

Barbaro: It takes a lot of core strength and a lot of clenching to stay awake and control the aircraft.

LaRosa: You have like 1,700 pounds of pressure on your chest.

Pullman: It’s sort of like your spine is sliding back into the chair and a rhinoceros just popped a squat on your lap.

Powell: In order to breathe in those face masks, you have to push out air in order to suck in air, so you’re almost hyperventilating in order to breathe. If you’re not doing the Hick maneuver correctly, you can see the tunnel start to close in and you’re like, “Oh no.” You just try to keep pushing blood back in your head so you don’t black out.

Davis: When you have motion sickness, they say to look at the horizon and it will settle your stomach. You can’t do that in the F-18 because the cameras are directly in front of you. You have to look inside the cockpit—that makes you even sicker.

Powell: I’ve got to give Lewis and Danny credit as WSOs. They’re looking all around this canopy and when a turn happens, they’re looking in the opposite direction, which is the easiest way to get sick. It is brutal.

Pullman: I tried [Dramamine] on the first flight, but you have to be so cognitively alert. I couldn’t have any fog, I had to be incredibly sharp up there. So I had to find some ways to settle the stomach.

Ramirez: Lewis and I will be the first to admit that we puked.

Powell: You keep your puke bag in your leg pocket. Sometimes when you’re pulling these really dynamic maneuvers with high G’s, you can’t even bend your body to grab that bag.

Ramirez: You just open it up and send your lunch back down.

Davis: You have to push through, you have to rally. You have to know once you get down, everybody’s going to be watching you.

LaRosa: If someone goes out in an aircraft and gets sick, typically you’re done for the day. You feel washed out and tired, you want to rest. We got our cast to a level where they would get sick and fight through it. There’s no pulling over.

Powell: The rite of passage after every flight is you have to go straight from the plane to the briefing room. You would show your empty puke bag to kind of be like, “Did it.” So I would end up taking two puke bags back there—one to puke in and one to show. And then at a certain point I just owned it.

Ramirez: Monica for sure never puked. She was also the person that pulled the most G’s on the EA-300. But Lewis has the most grit of anyone I’ve ever met. He was going to puke and instead said, “Not today,” and swallowed it all back down.

Powell: I’d have a stick and throttle in the back, and if I could put my hand on the stick and throttle and do some kind of maneuvers, there was something mentally [about] controlling the aircraft instead of being a passenger, it changed everything.

Kosinski: Every day was a struggle for those pilots—and the Top Gun pilots themselves. If you haven’t flown in a week or two, and you get back in that jet, they get sick as well. But you have to just learn how to work through it.

Ramirez: In college, I never learned how to puke and rally. So in a confined space, and to be able to push through it, I was very proud of it. I was like, “I don’t want to be cut out of this movie.”

Part 4: “Tom Cruise Is Maverick.”

Cruise’s reputation as an extreme stunt performer and adrenaline junkie preceded his arrival to set, but throughout shooting Top Gun: Maverick , his ambition and daredevilish feats blended with his character and continued to defy the cast and crew’s expectations.

Kosinski: We were shooting the third-act scene in the snow-covered mountains at Whidbey Island. One day, the weather was so spectacular and we had so much work to do, so Tom flew three sorties in a day. Most of our actors would fly once a day. On the last flight, he came back to the debrief room. I could tell he was exhausted and he just sat down on the chair and he put his black Ray-Bans from Risky Business on. I was like, “How did it go?” And he said, “We crushed it.” And he did crush it.

Davis: At one point we were too high up above the canyons, and Tom saw the footage and was like, “This doesn’t work, there’s no danger in this.” And when he says it, you’re like, “Oh, God, Tom, no.”

Bruckheimer: They were 50 feet off the ground, it’s unbelievable. When the pilot got on the ground, he turned to Tom and said, “I’ll never do that again.” Tom pushes them. He said, “We’ve got to make this look real, we’ve got to do this right, it’s got to be a love letter to aviation. We’ve got to be able to make people feel what it’s like to be in one of these planes.”

Powell: The rules are not the rules, the accepted boundaries are not the accepted boundaries. He’s a guy that is constantly pushing everyone around them to do things they never thought were possible.

Barbaro: He really was an incredible resource. Not only did he design the entire aviation training course, but he also taught us how to make a film, how to study film. He would really look you in the eye, and talk to you, and make you feel heard.

LaRosa: There was one day where he came out of the parachute and helmet shop and passed me to the F-18. He was in his Maverick helmet and his full getup. I just remember looking at him going, “That’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.” Instant goosebumps.

Davis: You’re like, “Wow, this is Maverick. This is the real life Maverick.”

Powell: Tom Cruise is Maverick.

Davis: What is Tom not good at? I remember I threw a pass to him [playing football] and he just went gunning. He took off down the sideline in the sand in jeans, and nobody was catching him. I was like “OK, I’m glad you’re on my team.”

Ramirez: I had just finished my last F-18 flight—we were doing a really intense sequence. We land, we’re in the briefing room, we show the footage. Tom is super excited. “Ah, you nailed it.” We’re all hyped. And then Tom’s like, “You heading back to L.A. today? Grab your bags.” So, Tarzan and I are flying back with Tom in his private jet. He’s like, “Yeah, I just bought this.” We land, and then he just jumps onto his motorcycle and hauls ass away. We’re like, “What the hell?” It was the most Hollywood thing I could have ever imagined.

Davis: He may seem intense, because what we’re doing is serious, but he’s a character.

Bruckheimer: I work with actors that can’t wait to go home. It’s so much fun when you have an actor like Tom who understands all this.

Powell: On this movie I’m doing next with Richard Linklater , Tom’s already given me notes on the script, how to build character. That level of TLC and the fact that I can actually call him a real friend … he’s not just bouncing after wrap, he’s really special.

Pullman: There was this moment where Tom brought us into his trailer to show us the first trailer of Top Gun: Maverick . I will always remember Glen Powell looking at Tom and sort of jokingly going, “Tom, you realize now the only way to top yourself is to shoot a movie in space.” Everyone was laughing. And with a sense of seriousness, Tom just nodded: “Yes, that’s true.” Like, this is what’s next for me, this is my duty . And I think he is going to space with Doug Liman .

Powell: You’ve got to watch saying things like that, because Tom will figure out a way to get there.

Part 5: “Welcome to the Skies.”

During the more than 10 months of shooting (and 800 hours’ worth of footage), Top Gun: Maverick pushed everyone’s technological, physical, and mental limits to the brink, creating an instant bond and camaraderie between the cast and crew.

LaRosa: It is no joke what they were doing every single day.

Kosinski: Nothing was easy on this film. We’d only get a few minutes of usable stuff every day, but it’s the only way to get what we got. That was the way it had to be done.

LaRosa: With practical aerial stunts and aerial cinematography, it’s a more visceral feel. You’re not watching a cartoon, you’re not looking at anything fake. You’re looking at something that actually happened. And that means something to people.

Bruckheimer: When the aerial stuff was done, that was my biggest relief. Machines can break, they can have problems. But the pilots were so terrific; the Navy was so great surrounding us with the best mechanics, best aviators—and the precautions that Tom took, which he always does, made sure our actors were all safe.

Barbaro: There was a scene we shot before we did all our pilot training. But after we learned how to become pilots, we apparently walked with more swagger. They were like, “Oh, you guys are walking differently, we have to go reshoot that scene.”

Davis: When you see us in the bar, those are some cocky mothersuckers in there. Why? Because we went through it.

Powell: I’m really proud to look back and go, “Wow, I accomplished way more than I ever thought was possible,” and it’s because of a guy like Tom, who has been pushing for 40 years.

Barbaro: It’s kind of incredible, we stay in touch all the time. Ten months after being in a particular character’s world, it takes a minute to shed that.

Kosinski: It was clear there was a natural chemistry there that got stronger as they went through the flight training and swim training—and the shoot itself.

Pullman: I definitely miss it. I miss going up there.

Powell: For Christmas, Tom gave all the young guns the iPad with ground school on it, and so we all had the opportunity to study it and pick it up.

Pullman: Everyone wants to continue their aviation journey in some sense or another.

Barbaro: I’m almost done with ground school. I’m kicking myself for not just doubling down during the pandemic, but I have every intention of doing it.

Powell: I started flying on my own, and Tom was with me every step of the way. After I got my private pilot’s license, there was a note waiting for me on the ground from Tom that said, “Welcome to the Skies.”

Davis: Tom got us skydiving lessons. Then we went through drifting lessons. Then weaponry training. Dirt bike lessons. I’ve done everything I can think of.

Pullman: I was craving those adrenaline spikes because there’s nothing like it.

Davis: There’s nothing I can say I’m afraid of. Maybe a bee. Other than that, I can do whatever the hell I want now.

Jake Kring-Schreifels is a sports and entertainment writer based in New York. His work has also appeared in Esquire.com, GQ.com, and The New York Times .

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Inside the Flight Training Program Tom Cruise Personally Designed for the Stars of Top Gun: Maverick

Welcome to what his costars call the "Tom Cruise School of Being a Badass.” Hope you brought a barf bag.

That's why Cruise personally developed a rigorous months-long flight training program, which Danny Ramirez dubbed “the Tom Cruise School of Being a Badass” for the cast of Top Gun: Maverick . He wanted to ensure that he and his costars would be able to actually fly their own F-18 jets through the sky to capture the movie's—what's the word?— intense flying sequences. So those scenes where the aviators all look like they're being pummeled to the edge of unconsciousness by G-forces? That's because they are. The movie's crew dabbed the actors' make-up, ensured they knew where the cameras over their cockpits were placed—and then they let 'em fly.

So Men's Health asked Paramount Pictures to give us a crash course in what the movie's cast had to endure for the most intense pre-production film prep ever. Here's what they provided:

The Overview

Top Gun: Maverick’s new aviators had to complete a comprehensive and demanding five-month flight training program devised, coordinated and overseen by Cruise himself, receiving approximately 34 to 36 hours of cumulative flight training each, and personalized nightly feedback from him on their progress. As per his instruction, Cruise’s students worked their way up from Cessna 172 Skyhawks, to Extra 300s, to the L-39 Albatross, to – finally – the F/A-18 Super Hornets.

The Syllabus

The ASTC (Aviation Survival Training Curriculum) that Tom Cruise and all the new aviators on Top Gun: Maverick had to complete to qualify for the extensive flying sequences included classrooms on topics including: Acceleration/G-Forces, Altitude Physiology, Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device Training, Aeromedical Aspects of Ejection, and Aviation Life Support Systems, before proceeding to Ejection Seat Trainer and Virtual Parachute Descent/ Parachute Landing Fall/ Lateral Drift Training.

Water Training

The course then moved to an outdoor pool, for more physically demanding training, such as survival stroke, survival gear inflation and underwater problem-solving. Methods included being rotated underwater in an ejection seat and being dragged across the pool attached to a parachute, from which students had to disentangle themselves.

Enduring G-Forces

When shooting the flying sequences, the actors often had to sustain up to eight Gs (potentially up to around 1,600 pounds of pressure on the body) and had to wear G-suits designed to prevent blackouts and G-LOC (a G-induced loss of consciousness).

Five real Navy bases were used as shooting locations in Top Gun: Maverick : Naval Air Station North in San Diego, Naval Air Station Lemoore in the Mojave Desert, the highly secretive Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California’s Central Coast, Naval Air Station Fallon (the current home of the TOPGUN program, although North Island is depicted as ‘Fightertown USA’ in the film) in Nevada, and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State.

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Screen Rant

Top gun 2: why tom cruise wasn't allowed to fly an f-18 fighter jet.

Although he pilots several different aircraft in Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise was denied clearance by the U.S. Navy to fly the F-18 jet.

• Tom Cruise insisted on prioritizing practical effects over CGI in Top Gun: Maverick , adding authenticity to the aerial action.
• Cruise originally wanted to fly a real Boeing F-18 fighter jet in the film, but the US Navy denied his request due to insurance concerns and the high cost of the plane.
• Cruise's dedication to doing his own stunts enhances the storytelling and creates a level of authenticity that can't be achieved in any other way.

Given the actor's reputation for wild stunts, it's not surprising that many viewers were wondering did Tom Cruise actually fly in T op Gun: Maverick . Joseph Kosinski's sequel has surpassed the original 1986 Top Gun with its box office success and a Best Picture nomination. Much of this has to do with how the movie prioritized practical effects over CGI, adding authenticity to the aerial action. That said, while it's no secret that Tom Cruise does his own stunts a lot, some of the tricks proposed for Top Gun: Maverick were a little too ambitious, even by Cruise's standards.

When it came to the long-awaited sequel, Cruise signed on for the project only with the assurance that the film's effects would not be reliant on CGI. Cruise was so ambitious, in fact, that he had initially hoped to fly a real Boeing F-18 fighter jet. A certified pilot, Top Gun: Maverick's Cruise is well-accustomed to high-octane aviation stunts . Many Cruise fans will already be aware that many of the more impressive helicopter stunts in 2018's Mission: Impossible - Fallout were performed by Cruise. However, Bruckheimer maintains that the US Navy ultimately denied Cruise's requests to fly the Super Hornet, which boasts a price tag in excess of $70 million.

How Fast Is Mach 10? What Speed Maverick Travels In Top Gun 2

Why it’s sensible that tom cruise wasn’t allowed to fly a fighter jet, the navy denied his application.

The Super Hornet jet does feature in the sequel, but Tom Cruise did not fly them in Top Gun: Maverick as those scenes were all completed with assistance from Navy pilots. According to producer Bruckheimer, Cruise does fly a P-51 propeller-driven fighter plane, as well as some helicopters. With the assistance of skilled editing, the action sequences are convincing to even the best-trained eye.

There's no confirmation about why the US Navy might have denied Cruise's aspirations to pilot a Super Hornet , even though the actor has experience flying Top Gun 's supersonic military aircraft . However, the most logical reason would be insurance concerns, which is always enough of a consideration to prevent actors from doing their own stunts.

The cost of the plane also figures into this – a real F-18 Super Hornet would make up roughly half of Top Gun: Maverick 's $152 million budget. That would be likely to create logistical nightmares for the insurance of the film. That's not even to mention insuring Cruise himself, who, though already a certified pilot, may not have the specific training required to fly the F-18 safely.

Insurance woes aside, should an inexperienced pilot such as Cruise lose control of a high-speed aircraft, it could also mean peril for civilians and/or military personnel on the ground. Besides, while Tom Cruise does his own stunts to great effect, the real Navy pilots in Top Gun: Maverick 's brought more than enough authenticity to the sequel.

Top Gun 2: All 6 Jet Fighter Planes That Appear In Maverick

Why does tom cruise like to do his own stunts, a passion for story telling is why tom cruise doesn't use stunt doubles much.

The real reason why Tom Cruise does his own stunts is simple: it's the best way to tell whatever story is at hand . In the actor's own words, “It has to do with storytelling… It allows us to put cameras in places that you’re not normally able to do.” Indeed, if the lead actor in an action movie is able to physically perform the character's stunts, this removes the necessity to shoot from strange angles or use editing tricks to make dangerous scenes appear real. This ultimately translates to smoother action sequences and scenes closer to the writer, stunt coordinator, and director's vision.

Moreover, whenever Cruise puts himself in danger for a risky stunt, everyone involved - from the film crew to the audience - is much more invested in the results, a level of authenticity that simply can't be achieved in any other way. Outside of the Top Gun series, this stunning effect can also be observed in the stunt-filled Mission Impossible franchise .

The F/A-18 Super Hornet Requires An Advanced Pilot

The aircraft in top gun: maverick are among the hardest to fly.

While Tom Cruise did really fly in Top Gun: Maverick with certain aircraft, confirming his exceptional pilot skills, the F/A-18 Super Hornets are not the kind of plane just anyone can jump into and take off . It requires specially trained pilots to operate these aircraft given their immense power and the danger involved. Some of the impressive specifics about the plane (via: Military.com ) include its maximum speed of 1,190 mph and the ability to climb 45,000 ft per minute. Such power is needed as the Super Hornets have a 30,500 lb weight while empty which can increase to 66,000 lbs with its maximum weapons load.

It seems as though Tom Cruise will do anything for his stunts , and that likely includes the necessary training to handle an aircraft like this. However, even if he was denied that opportunity, the Super Hornets didn't come at a discounted price. It was reported (via Bloomberg ) that the movie r ented the Super Hornets from the U.S. Navy for over $11,000 an hour . However, given that Top Gun: Maverick more than surpassed box office expectations, it seems as though it was a price worth paying.

How Much Of Top Gun 2 Is Real & How Much Is CGI

Tom cruise’s wildest stunt, top gun: maverick isn't his most dangerous filming experience.

By Tom Cruise's own reckoning, the wildest and most dangerous stunt he's ever performed is when he hung on to a moving plane in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , the fifth movie in the MI series. Not surprisingly, for Tom Cruise, flying a Super Hornet would qualify as a less dangerous stunt, as that would have at least required the actor to be inside the plane. Although Cruise was harnessed to the plane in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , no amount of safety precautions could account for all the inherent dangers involved with a person wearing virtually no protection while hanging onto a moving aircraft. This just goes to show the level of sheer dedication Cruise brings to his movie projects.

However, recently Cruise has suggested a new stunt in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 might be his wildest stunt yet, which involves Cruise jumping a motorcycle off of a cliff and then parachuting to safety. It is a stunt that took years of planning and training to get right and promises to be another spectacle from the dedicated actor. Clearly, even if Tom Cruise didn't really fly the F-18s in Top Gun: Maverick , he is not slowing down at all when it comes to his onscreen stunts.

Top Gun: Maverick

Did Tom Cruise Learn to Fly for 'Top Gun'? Here's What You Need to Know About the Aviation Buff

Apr. 21 2020, Updated 11:26 a.m. ET

Everyone's talking about the Top Gun: Maverick trailer and Tom Cruise flying jets in the highly anticipated movie sequel. Many people have been wondering if that's really Tom in the pilot's seat and if he learned to fly for the movie. Here's what you need to know.

Did Tom Cruise learn to fly for 'Top Gun'? The star is actually a real pilot! 

Tom fell in love with aviation while filming the original Top Gun , which was released in 1986. He got his private pilot's license in 1994 and has been active in the flying community ever since. In an interview with Wired , 

Tom confirmed he's a multi-engine instrument rated commercial pilot. That means you could legally hire him to fly you across the country, but we're guessing Tom's schedule is pretty booked up these days.

So is that really him flying the plane in Top Gun: Maverick? 

Yes and no. Tom loves to do his own stunts, and he is fully capable of flying a private plane — but some of the fighter jets in the Top Gun sequel can only be piloted by aviators with military experience. 

In 2018, Paramount confirmed (via Fighter Jets World ) that while Tom does fly "certain aircraft" in Top Gun: Maverick , he will not be flying the F/A-18 fighter jets. That's what editing and CGI are for!

View this post on Instagram Maverick is back. #TopGun A post shared by Tom Cruise (@tomcruise) on Jul 18, 2019 at 12:58pm PDT

Top Gun: Maverick is "a love letter to aviation." 

When introducing the Top Gun: Maverick trailer at Comic Con, Tom told Conan O'Brien the movie was "a love letter to aviation."

"The aerial footage is really beautiful," he said of the film. "I'm a pilot myself, and I love flying, and I love aviation." Tom said his dream, since he was a little kid, "was to make movies and to fly airplanes." With Top Gun: Maverick, he gets to do both on an epic scale. 

This isn't Tom's first flying movie. 

He portrayed real-life TWA pilot turned drug smuggler Barry Seal in the 2017 film American Made, and in 2018's Mission Impossible — Fallout, Tom pulled off a death-defying stunt in a helicopter. He actually got his helicopter pilot's license so he'd be able to fly the real choppers in the film .

"We're always flying from one place to another because Tom's needed in so many places," Mission Impossible — Fallout' s stunt director Wade Eastwood told Thrillist ,. "I would always fly the choppers because I love helicopters and I'm a pilot. Tom is a great pilot, fixed-wing, and he got really into helicopters because they are just cool." 

View this post on Instagram Over 100 jumps - we got it. A post shared by Tom Cruise (@tomcruise) on Jun 12, 2018 at 11:38am PDT

Putting an A-list movie star like Tom into these intense, high-flying scenes is high-risk and high reward, though. As Eastwood explained, "With Tom Cruise, I've got to make it as safe and as powerful and spectacular, but also if he's slightly damaged, we can't shoot anything else."

It's a good thing they're careful, because the world needs more Tom Cruise action movies. 

The New Top Gun: Maverick trailer looks awesome.

Paramount just released the new trailer for Maverick that spills the beans on a few more plot points. The trailer opens up with someone narrating the exploits of Tom Cruise's character to a bunch of new recruits that he's training. In the lineup is Goose's son, played by Miles Teller, who's rocking a mustache, just like his dad did in the first film.

Among his lauded characteristics is the fact that he was "one of the finest pilots" that the Top Gun "program has ever produced" and that his work is "legendary". We also learn that Maverick's been asked back to lead the program, despite the fact that even he admits he didn't think he'd be asked back.

What's really cool is that the soundtrack also seems to play heavily on '80s nostalgia.

There's some awesome synth lines blaring over epic-looking shots, and we're treated to a scene of Maverick wrecking the other pilots in a "dog-fighting" two-on-one match. We also see a glimpse of Jon Hamm, looking very concerned, and tempers flaring between new recruits. We also know that a big death occurs in the movie, as we catch yet another shot of Maverick saluting someone at the funeral.

Does Goose's son suffer the same fate as his father in the new movie? We're also treated to what looks like an aerial battle shot in snow-capped mountains. Will the new movie follow the same plot format as the first film? With a bunch of recruits rising about shallow disputes in a high-stakes, competitive environment, only to take their battle skills to a real-life combat scenario?

We will see when Top Gear: Maverick hits theaters on June 26th, 2020. Are you excited to see Tom Cruise back in action?

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How Tom Cruise and Miles Teller Pulled Off Those Insane Stunts in Top Gun: Maverick

By Jack King

According to the aviation website Aerocorner , in today's money, a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet — the fighter jet du jour used by the U.S. Navy since 1995 — costs the American government $67.4 million. That isn't a bulk deal, folks: it's per plane. It should come as no surprise to anyone with a sliver of critical thought, then, that Tom Cruise , Miles Teller and Co. didn't actually pilot the vehicles we see in Top Gun: Maverick .

“But it looks real!” Yeah, it does. That's movie magic, baby.

Nevertheless, Tom Cruise knew from experience on the first Top Gun just how physically taxing the face-melting forces of extreme flight can be: on his debut test run, rocketing up to double the speed of launching astronauts, he hurled inside his oxygen mask. While they might not have actually hit the throttle and handled the joysticks, Cruise did insist that they actually go up into the air, albeit as passengers, not pilots.

Ergo, he put the ensemble of Top Gun candidates through an intensive training course in the run-up to production. Going from smaller prop planes to, eventually, actual F-18s — loaned to the filmmakers by the Department of Defence for a measly $11,000 an hour — they learned not to fly the things, but how best to mitigate the ill effects of jet flight. In part, this was a three-month boot camp to avoid air sickness en masse.

But it worked: “There was never a time on Top Gun: Maverick where we had to delay or stop filming because somebody felt sick,” says Kevin LaRosa II, the movie's aerial stunt coordinator. Sitting down with LaRosa for just under an hour, we got all the goss from the making of the Top Gun sequel.

"We had what I like to call rules on Top Gun: Maverick as far as aerials were concerned. And the first and foremost rule, it all had to be real. However: not every aircraft we used in the movie is readily available in the United States, or they're not flyable here, and we show their aircraft flying.

“So here's the other rule: there has to be an aircraft in front of the lens, but a subject [stand-in] aircraft could be used — like another F-18. And then visual effects comes in, they tweak or retexture it to look like a different aircraft. [See: the ambiguously-defined ”fifth-generation jets" the equally nebulous bad guys fly.]

“But the beauty of that is the audience should know that there really is an aircraft out there — the vapour's going to be real, the flight dynamics are going to be real, it's simply a digital reskin of a real fighter. When it came to VFX plane shots? Always a real aircraft.”

"Our cast had to be in the aircraft for every shot. So when they're delivering those epic performances, they are really in there pulling those Gs. Production went to great lengths to design that in-cockpit IMAX camera set up so those actors could be in there, doing that.

"This was a process that was built in and heavily driven by Tom Cruise. They had me build the training programme: we started them in Cessna 172s — my father and I were actually the first cast flight instructors — and those little single-engine aeroplanes are entry-level aircraft that anyone would learn to fly.

"This gave the actors spatial orientation, and an understanding of what flying was all about, where to look where, where to move their hands, what all of the gauges do, the basic things. How to turn, land, takeoff.

"We graduated from there to an aircraft called the Extra 300. Their new instructor there was Chuck Coleman, a great friend of mine — again, this is all being heavily monitored by Tom Cruise every day, every step of the way. [Cruise earned his pilot license in the mid ‘90s.]

"This is the aircraft the general public would’ve seen in Red Bull Air Races or other stunt shows. It's a single-engine, piston-driven aeroplane that's extremely manoeuvrable and capable of pulling a lot of Gs. This part was to build up their G tolerance.

"From there, we moved on to the L-39 Albatross, a Czechoslovakian fighter trainer jet imported to the US — it's readily available, very manoeuvrable, very fun. And this was for the cast to learn how to pull heavy Gs. By the time they graduated from this one, and got into the F-18s, they were seasoned pros.

“This process lasted for three months, all in parts of Southern and Central California. That's why even for a guy like me, who can watch something and pick it apart, I watched Top Gun: Maverick and it looks like they're real naval aviators.”

"The Cinejet platform is something that I dreamt up: I needed a camera platform that would match the story quality of Top Gun: Maverick , something that'd really let us get in there, into the dogfights and canyon runs, really put the audience through a thrill ride.

"I was struggling to find the right platform and, again, I landed on the L-39 Albatros. I put a picture of a camera gimbal over the nose of the jet — in an old programme called Microsoft Paint — and said, you know what, that's it. We had to work with the manufacturers to make it a reality but, a year later, the L-39 Cinejet was a real thing.

"Previous jet-based platforms worked with partially stabilised camera technology, meaning that if I'm flying that aircraft, and I rock my wings at all, it could disturb the shot. It was a lot harder for the aerial director of photography, or the camera operators sitting in the back of the jet — they'd have to stabilise my movements, which is very difficult to do.

“With the Cinejet, the gimbal is fully stabilised. It doesn't matter what I do while I'm flying, that thing's gonna be rock steady. Now you can get very aggressive, really get the camera in there so we're shoving the audience in the face of these afterburners.”

"We were working with F/A-18 F Models, which are two-seat F-18s — basically a pilot up front, and typically a weapon system operator in the back seat. They look very, very similar. So we'd have forward-facing cameras over the shoulder of actual naval aviators in the front seat at the controls, and four rear-facing cameras [facing the cast] in the back.

By Daniel Riley

By Zach Baron

By Michella Oré

"For the exterior sequences — say when we see Tom flying an F-18, we're enhancing that F-18 with CGI to change it from a two-seat to a single seat. The beauty is that really is a shot of Tom in the back seat of that F-18, so he is there, being piloted by a genuine naval aviator.

"The cast would have an hour and a half to two hours in the morning, and another period in the afternoon, but typically no more than four hours a day. But that's a lot of flying. When you're pulling those days and doing the type of manoeuvres that we were doing, that's a lot.

“Obviously everything in the cockpit needs to be stowed away. They would unzip their flight suit, pull out whatever they need to do their own hair and makeup — you know, spray their face if they needed extra sweat, make sure their mask was centred, their googles were clean.

“Once that was all done they'd stow all that stuff, hit the big red button and start rolling the camera. This is where they became like a [director of photography]: they'd tell their pilots, 'Hey, I need the sun back here at five o'clock, I need a thirty-degree right bank, and I'm gonna hit these lines!'

"Remember, in a jet, you're moving really fast, you're covering a lot of terrain — it's not like you can just get the perfect background and leave it there, you have to hit it, say your line, and come all the way back to get [another take]. By the time we'd get to the debrief, we'd sit there and watch maybe ten takes, and two would be perfect.

“So it's a lot of work — not just sitting there taking a joy ride!”

This story originally ran on   British GQ   with the title  “How Tom Cruise and Miles Teller pulled off those insane, high-flying stunts in Top Gun: Maverick ”

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Tom Cruise became an expert helicopter pilot just to film one stunt in “Mission: Impossible”

The swashbuckling Tom Cruise has one-upped himself yet again. The Hollywood actor learned how to fly a helicopter specifically so that he could risk his life filming a stunt in the upcoming  Mission: Impossible  sequel, a behind-the-scenes video for the film revealed.

Cruise, 55, earned his pilot’s license in 1994 and has since turned into one of Hollywood’s biggest flying enthusiasts—a hobby he has demonstrated on screen in films like American Made . The star, whose breakthrough role was as a pilot in 1986’s Top Gun , flies planes so often that the US environmental lobby nicknamed him “ Emissions Impossible .” Cruise owns a number of expensive private jets, one of which he was rumored to use to pick up groceries for his then wife, actress Katie Holmes. (Cruise has never publicly denied the rumor.)

But he didn’t have as much experience with helicopters—until  Mission: Impossible – Fallout  came along. The sixth installment in the popular action spy series required that Cruise not only learn how to fly a helicopter, but also become something of an expert helicopter pilot so that he could perform an extremely dangerous stunt on his own.

It’s unclear if the script necessitated that Cruise become a master pilot, or if the actor simply wanted to be one and then decided to use his new skills in the film. In this age of CGI technology and stunt doubles, we’re assuming the latter.

“Flying a helicopter takes a lot of skill,” said Marc Wolff, aerial coordinator for the film. “To put someone like Tom into a situation like this is almost impossible to imagine.” (The italicized emphasis is our own—you see what he did there?)

According to Randy Hepner, an aerial assistant on  Mission: Impossible – Fallout , Cruise accrued 2,000 flying hours in a very short period of time to get up to speed. Normally, pilots would need to train eight hours per day for at least three months just to become a novice pilot. But Cruise needed to be more than a novice pilot: He needed to perform a 360-degree downward spiral maneuver in mountainous terrain.

“Most pilots wouldn’t attempt this,” one stunt coordinator says in the video. “You make a mistake, somebody’s going to die from it,” another adds.

And that’s where the behind-the-scenes clip goes from absolutely incredible to distasteful. On Cruise’s last film,  American Made  (for which he performed his own plane stunts ), two stunt pilots  did  die in a plane crash, in the Colombian Andes outside Medellin, after production wrapped. The families of the two pilots are now suing the producers of the film , alleging that they ignored safety procedures and cut corners to save time and money.

Cruise was not directly involved in the accident, but the lawsuit blames him and director Doug Liman for pushing the limits on set and contributing to an unsafe environment in which an accident might occur. Tom Cruise involved in risky business? Never!

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A real-life Ethan Hunt: Tom Cruise has so many dfferent licenses it would make Mission Impossible superspy proud

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tom Cruise is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'. His involvement in the highly successful action film franchise has propelled him to global stardom. Despite the demanding nature of his career and its accompanying schedule, Cruise has managed to prioritize and pursue his personal interests and hobbies too.

Dedicating a significant portion of one's life to a role inevitably leaves an impact on a person. Similar to his on-screen alter-ego, Ethan Hunt, Cruise has discovered pursuits in recent years similar to the skills of a seasoned super spy.

What licenses does Tom Cruise have?

Aviation license.

In the 1986 film 'Top Gun', Cruise portrayed the character of a daring pilot skilled in flying fighter jets. In real life too, Cruise holds an actual aviation license that allows him to pilot a fighter jet, without any reliance on animation, CGI or movie props. This license allowed him to operate an F-18 fighter jet during the filming of 'Top Gun: Maverick'. Additionally, Cruise also possesses another license that permits him to fly commercial planes.

Motorcycle license

Cruise shares an enthusiasm for riding motorcycles both on and off set. He has a motorcyle license, which is a specific endorsement added to a driver's license that allows individuals to legally operate motorcycles on public roads. It indicates that the license holder has met the requirements and demonstrated the necessary skills for motorcycle operation. He owns numerous slick two-wheelers, including the Triumph Thruxton, Kawasaki GPZ900R, a Ducati Desmosedici RR, BMW S1000 RR motorbike and a BMW R nineT Scrambler. He also has a Ducati 999R and owns one of the most powerful and expensive motorcycle brands in the world, the Vyrus 987 C3 4V.

🏍 When he is not saving the world in one of his films, the American actor and film producer, Tom Cruise, loves to ride motorcycles. In fact, he owns several, including a Vyrus 987 C3 4V worth over $100,000 - 📷 by Gajanayaka Motors - #tomcruise #cruis … https://t.co/JO56uiCVEC pic.twitter.com/TCVhwoY6PF — Epicureans Club (@EpicureansClub) May 16, 2018

Boat license

Known for his affinity for daring stunts, Cruise indulges in high-speed thrills with expensive sports cars and motorcycles on land. However, he also seeks adventure on the open waters, often spotted navigating through picturesque scenes aboard luxurious yachts. He has a boat license, also known as a boating license or a boater's license, which is an official document or certification that grants individuals the legal authority to operate a boat or watercraft on public waterways. 

Our view today… This yacht is currently anchored in Mount’s bay - Triple Severn super yacht with Tom Cruise on board… #nationalcoastwatchinstitution pic.twitter.com/hzW4M1CtZ4 — Blue Waters, Newlyn (@BlueWaters_H0L) July 22, 2021

Parachute license

Cruise also holds a parachute license, also referred to as a skydiving license or parachutist license. This enables him to actively participate in skydiving activities. While preparing for a stunt featured in 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' Cruise embarked on an extraordinary journey, completing over 500 skydives. Regarded as the "most dangerous" stunt ever attempted for a movie, behind-the-scenes footage has been released, showcasing Cruise's intensive training for the scene. The sequence involves riding a motorbike off a cliff and subsequently deploying a parachute for a safe landing. 

Real estate license

The actor also carries a real estate license, which authorizes individuals to engage in real estate activities such as buying, selling or leasing properties. It is obtained by meeting specific requirements set by the governing real estate authority in a particular jurisdiction. Holding a real estate license is necessary for individuals working as agents or brokers in the real estate industry, demonstrating their qualification and adherence to legal regulations.

'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One' is scheduled for release in the United States on July 12.

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Tom cruise is caught up with this major project as estranged daughter suri turns 18.

by Alice Kelly

Alice Kelly

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In photos obtained by the Daily Mail , the Hollywood icon, 61, was seen sitting inside the cockpit of his HondaJet, successfully landing it in stormy London, where he is filming the eighth installment of the hit action movie franchise.

Cruise has been shooting in the heart of Westminster for the movie that will be a follow-up to 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One . The film was initially scheduled for a summer 2024 release but production was postponed due to last year’s Hollywood Writers’ Strike. The eighth Mission: Impossble film will also see the return of stars Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby.

See who Tom Cruise has been linked to over the years! https://t.co/j4LeY6LSPX — SheKnows (@SheKnows) March 24, 2024

As Suri celebrated her 18th birthday, and was even seen caring what appeared to be a gift bag from a friend, speculation mounted about whether her dad would reach out for the occasion. It is widely reported that Cruise is not in contact with his youngest daughter, whom he shares with ex-wife Katie Holmes .

Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise in 2012, in a filing that reportedly blindsided the Eyes Wide Shut actor. Reports at the time, and since, claimed that Holmes ended the marriage to escape from Cruise’s controversial involvement in the Church of Scientology .

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More stories from entertainment, a 2011 tom cruise video proves that victoria beckham’s party isn’t the only place he likes to dance, kellie pickler’s emotional return to the stage after husband kyle jacobs’ death has us sobbing, meghan markle’s new podcast deal has reportedly hit a road bump before it even began, mel b’s heartbreaking experience with emotional abuse shows how long-lasting the effects can be, jon bon jovi hints that his rock star lifestyle may have sometimes conflicted with his marriage.

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Tom Cruise Is a London Boy

Sometimes when God closes a door (Taylor Swift says “So long” ), She opens a window (Tom Cruise does the splits). Cruise is living that life in London, and for him that means break-dancing, doing the splits, and watching the British absolutely lose their crumpets. Cruise has lived in London since 2021 and has, in that time, been at the former queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the British Grand Prix, according to the Mercury News . And now he has attended the most British event of all: Posh Spice’s birthday party. Fortunately, he still has the American propensity to do the most. While at the party, Cruise began break-dancing and ended his routine by doing the splits, according to the Daily Mail . “People were absolutely dumbfounded,” a source mentioned. All we’ll say about that is that if there’s one thing the Mission: Impossible franchise could do to s ecure those Imax screens , it just might be a (gay?) club scene in which Cruise distracts the bad guys by jumping into the splits like a Drag Race contestant. Just an idea.

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Entertainment | Tom Cruise’s daughter Suri will soon be free to…

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Entertainment | congressional recount: 16 ballots being challenged in san mateo county — some of which went uncounted due to a ‘simple oversight’, entertainment, entertainment | tom cruise’s daughter suri will soon be free to talk about their estrangement and scientology: report, with suri cruise turning 18 this week, she should be free to speak out about her father, his beliefs and their rift, a scientology expert says in a new report.

Tom Cruise’s three ex-wives, Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, probably would have a lot to say about being married to the famously intense mega-star and their time inside his beloved Church of Scientology.

But these women have mostly kept Cruise’s secrets, with experts in the inner workings of Scientology saying that Kidman and Holmes, in particular, probably signed non-disclosure agreements when their marriages to the “Top Gun” actor ended.

But no such agreement probably applies to Cruise’s youngest child, Suri Cruise, from whom he’s long been estranged, Page Six reported . With Suri turning 18 on Thursday, she and her mother Katie Holmes should no longer receive the reported $400,000 a year Cruise paid as part of a divorce settlement. Cruise also agreed to pay Suri’s college and health care costs, Page Six added.

As an adult, Suri Cruise should be free to speak out about her father, his beliefs and their rift, journalist and Scientology expert Tony Ortega told Page Six.

“Suri would have been too young to sign any agreement (when her parents divorced in 2012), but she will now be free to talk if she wants to and it’s going to be really interesting if she has something to say,” Ortega said.

Page Six said that representatives for Cruise, Holmes and the Church of Scientology did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It’s possible that Suri may choose to stay silent about her famous father. For one thing, if she gave an interview or published a tell-all about him, she’d probably have to give up the mostly private life she’s been able to enjoy thus far. People credit a protective Holmes with trying to give Suri as normal life as is possible under the circumstances, while raising her in New York City.

“Katie has safeguarded Suri and she’s a devoted mom,” a source told Page Six. “This is a girl who is a private citizen. She hasn’t lived her life in public.”

Suri’s life, though, started out in a very public way. As Page Six pointed out, she was once “the most famous baby in America” because of the very high-profile way that Cruise conducted his courtship of the “Dawson’s Creek” star, who was 16 years younger that Cruise when they began dating. When news came that Cruise and Holmes had become parents to a baby daughter in April 2006, a global frenzy erupted, with media outlets competing to be the first to publish the little girl’s photos.

At the age of five months, Suri Cruise made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair, in a glossy photo taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.

For the first six years of Suri’s life, Cruise seemed to dote on his youngest daughter and enjoy being seen with her in public. He also is the father of two older children, Isabella, now 31, and Connor Cruise, now 29, whom he adopted with Kidman.

But Suri’s relationship with her father changed after Holmes reportedly “blindsided” him by filing for divorce in 2012. The following year, Cruise gave a deposition in his $50 million court fight against a pair of tabloid magazines and admitted that Holmes filed for divorce “to protect Suri from Scientology,” court documents revealed, Page Six reported.

There have been questions about whether Holmes and her daughter were declared Scientology “suppressive persons,” or SPs, after the divorce. According to Scientology , SPs are people who have “anti-social” personalities who seek to “upset, continuously undermine, spread bad news about and denigrate betterment activities and groups.” Scientology recommends that members stay away from SPs for their own well-being, but the church’s own website said it is “extremely rare” to label someone an SP.

“We don’t know for sure if Katie was ever declared an SP,” Ortega told Page Six. A regular church member, whose wife and daughter left Scientology, would be encouraged to disconnect from them, but Cruise might have been spared that option because of his “top celebrity” status. “He gets to ignore all this stuff,” Ortega said.

In any case, Holmes secured sole custody of their daughter, while Cruise retained “meaningful” visitation rights, according to The Blast . Yet, public sightings of Cruise with his daughter soon dwindled, with Page Six saying they were last seen together at Disney World in the summer of 2012.

Even if Suri has lived a mostly private life, paparazzi are known to follow her and her mother Katie Holmes around the streets of Manhattan. Still, as Suri reportedly prepares to head off to college, Holmes revealed in a 2023 interview with Glamour that she has grown up to be “an incredible person.”

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Suri Cruise buys herself flowers on 18th birthday during NYC stroll as her father Tom films in UK on milestone day

• Ekin Karasin , Assistant Entertainment Editor
• Published : 8:28 ET, Apr 19 2024
• Updated : 12:28 ET, Apr 19 2024

TOM Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter Suri celebrated her 18th birthday in style as she bought herself dozens of flowers.

The teenager - whose dad is filming thousands of miles away in the UK - looked cool in a '90s-inspired double denim outfit on the milestone day.

Suri wore a nude tank top with an oversized burgundy cardigan, baggy jeans, and black sneakers and carried a denim jacket over her arm.

The famous offspring carried a cup of coffee in one hand as she picked out several blooms from her local flower stall in New York City on Thursday.

She went for several bouquets of white and purple blooms and headed back home.

On the eve of her birthday, Suri was seen hanging out with a friend in the city.

Read More on Suri

Suri Cruise, 18, has shunned dad Tom for a decade - can they ever heal rift?

Suri Cruise, nearly 18, towers over mom Katie Holmes and shows off edgy style

She hid under an umbrella from the rain and carried a gift bag with presents from her pal.

On Friday, extravagant birthday flowers were delivered with a card to her home.

The teen is believed to have spent some of her big day with her mom Katie.

Tom , meanwhile, has been busy filming Mission Impossible 8 in London.

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Earlier this week, he shot a scene where his character Ethan Hunt was captured in the middle of the street.

Weeks earlier, Tom stunned tourists as he  sprinted through the city covered in blood .

The Mission Impossible team has been filming in the UK since the beginning of March.

Determined to stick to schedule, at one point Tom paid for the  entire cast and crew to be flown to set by helicopters  after a major motorway was shut down.

The as-yet-untitled blockbuster is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2025.

Suri has been leading a quiet life away from the spotlight since Katie and Tom's separation in 2012 when she was just 5.

She was raised in Los Angeles before relocating with Katie to New York City. 

Suri is believed to have had little contact with Tom since the split.

Katie  gained sole custody of Suri along with a generous settlement that saw Tom paying a reported $400,00 a year for his daughter’s care until she turns 18.

Tom was also expected to pay for all of his daughter’s expenses, including college fees.

Katie rarely speaks about Suri or her private life.

However, in 2022, she gave an insight into their sweet relationship while chatting to InStyle.

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"I love her so much. My biggest goal has always been to nurture her into her individuality," the Dawson's Creek star said.

"To make sure she is 100 per cent herself and strong, confident, and able. And to know it."

• Katie Holmes

Protect Your Trip »

Here's when you need (and don't need) a passport to cruise.

It's the type of sailing – closed-loop or open-loop – that largely determines whether or not you need a passport to cruise.

Do You Need a Passport for a Cruise?

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A passport isn't always required for cruising.

To determine whether or not you need a passport to cruise, you first need to figure out if the itinerary is closed-loop or open-loop (also known as open-jaw).

Closed-loop cruise: A closed-loop cruise typically doesn't require a passport since it begins and ends in the same U.S. port (though there are some exceptions to this rule).

Example: Royal Caribbean International 's seven-night Western Caribbean & Perfect Day cruise stops in several countries – the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti and Grand Cayman – but the itinerary is considered closed-loop because it starts and ends in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Open-loop cruise: An open-loop cruise begins in one U.S. port and ends in a different U.S. port.

Example: Carnival Cruise Line 's 16-day Panama Canal from Seattle itinerary is not considered closed-loop because it departs from Seattle and completes its journey in New Orleans.

All of the above regulations have been determined by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative: a plan by the departments of State and Homeland Security that determines which documents are acceptable for proving identity and citizenship when entering the United States.

Where to cruise without a passport

There are several destinations where you can cruise without a passport on a closed-loop sailing. They include the following:

• The Bahamas

When looking at cruises to these locations, be mindful of the home ports. The Bahamas, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada are all foreign ports, which means they only qualify for the passport exception if they are a stop along your cruise itinerary . If the cruise originates in any of these countries, it is likely you will need a passport.

Since Alaska, Hawaii and New England are all U.S. destinations, any closed-loop routes departing from these locations will not require a passport. However, keep in mind that it can be hard to find closed-loop cruises originating in Hawaii or Alaska.

To find closed-loop itineraries for a Hawaiian voyage or Alaskan cruise , try searching for sailings departing from major cities on the West Coast, like Seattle or Los Angeles . By contrast, quite a few closed-loop cruises leave from New England ports, but they are often marketed as Canadian cruises.

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When you need a passport for closed-loop cruises

Some cruise itineraries include foreign ports that require a passport for disembarkation. This is most commonly an issue for travelers on a closed-loop Caribbean cruise. Barbados , Guadeloupe , Haiti, Martinique , St. Barts , and Trinidad and Tobago all require U.S. citizens to present a valid passport to disembark and enter the country, despite WHTI regulations not requiring a passport for these destinations. Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private island , is an exception and does not require a passport despite its location in Haiti.

If your itinerary includes a country requiring a U.S. passport, your cruise line will require you to have the passport at check-in. Note that your passport must not expire within six months of your arrival in a foreign country or else it won't be considered valid for international travel.

Read: The Easiest Way to Renew Your Passport

Acceptable forms of ID

All travelers – U.S. citizens and foreign nationals alike – must present documents that show identity and citizenship when entering the United States. A U.S. passport can show both. If you don't have one or don't want to bring one, be aware that you may need to present more than one document.

U.S. citizens 16 and older

If you're a U.S. citizen age 16 or older sailing on a closed-loop cruise without your passport, you will need a government-issued photo ID like a driver's license. In addition, you must present a document that proves your U.S. citizenship. These include:

• Passport card
• State-issued enhanced driver's license (EDL)
• Government-issued birth certificate
• Trusted Traveler Program card (NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST)
• American Indian Card (Form I-872) or Enhanced Tribal ID Card

The Trusted Traveler Programs are risk-based programs to facilitate the entry of travelers who have been vetted and preapproved. Most of these programs will provide you with a machine-readable card that allows you to pass through border checkpoints quickly. Keep in mind, some of these IDs are only available to travelers 16 and older.

Read: TSA Precheck vs. Global Entry

U.S. citizens younger than 16

U.S. citizens younger than 16 are only required to present proof of citizenship, such as one of the following documents:

• Original, notarized or certified copy of their government-issued birth certificate
• Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by U.S. Department of State
• Certificate of Naturalization issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Read: How to Get a Passport for Kids

Non-U.S. citizens

If you are a lawful permanent resident (or LPR) of the United States, you are required to present a permanent resident card or other valid evidence of permanent residence status.

Non-U.S. citizens, with the exception of Canadians and Mexicans, are not subject to passport exceptions, so a valid passport will need to be provided. Canadian citizens can present a valid passport, Enhanced Driver's License or Trusted Traveler Program card. Mexican citizens must present a passport with a visa or a Border Crossing Card.

Unacceptable forms of ID

While most common forms of identification are accepted, there are a few exceptions. U.S. military identification cards and U.S. Merchant Mariner documents are valid forms of identification, but only when traveling on official orders or in conjunction with official maritime business, so it is unlikely they will be accepted when traveling on a cruise.

Here are some other documents that will not be accepted as proof of citizenship:

• Voter registration cards
• Social Security cards
• Baptismal papers
• Hospital certificates of birth (for anyone older than a newborn)

It is important to note that many of the permitted forms of identification, such as a passport card or EDL, are only accepted at land and sea border crossings. Unforeseen circumstances, such as a medical air evacuation, may cause you to return to the U.S. by air travel. In this case, these documents won't be accepted when you try to reenter at the border crossing.

To avoid extra delays in your return to the U.S. following unforeseen travel complications, the Department of State recommends that everyone taking a cruise from the United States carry a valid passport book in case of emergency.

Why Trust U.S. News Travel

Erin Vasta has traveled extensively to international destinations, gaining a deep knowledge of travel regulations in the process. Her expertise in this area has saved her family and friends from unnecessary travel delays and ensured stress-free trips through border security in nearly 15 countries. To write this article, Vasta used her international travel experience and research skills.

You might also be interested in:

• The Top Passport Holders
• Cruise Packing List: Essentials to Bring
• Safe at Sea: The Best Cruise Insurance

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How Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise's relationship with Tom Cruise will change once she turns 18

I t's a big week in the Holmes household, as Katie Holmes' daughter with her ex-husband Tom Cruise , Suri , is poised to turn 18 years old on April 18 , finally entering adulthood.

The actress, 45, and her teen daughter lead their lives away from the spotlight, while Tom, 61, has reportedly been estranged from his youngest for over a decade.

After their divorce in 2012, Katie was granted full custody of Suri, and Tom agreed as part of their settlement to pay $400,000 per year in child support to his ex-wife for Suri's upbringing.

However, that agreement lasts until Suri turns 18, and is set to expire this week, after 12 years of payments, which roughly equate to $33k a month in child support (Katie did not ask for spousal support in their divorce).

While it is reported that Tom might still pay for Suri's insurance bills, plus contribute to her college tuition (as one of the highest paid actors in the world), it seems like the end of his child support might just extinguish one of his last remaining links to his daughter.

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Recent reports suggested that Katie was uncomfortable with the end of the payments, but her attorney Jonathan W. Wolfe, Esq., shut those rumors down with a statement to RadarOnline.com back in March by asserting that the actress and filmmaker would not be affected.

"The story is riddled with falsehoods," he shared. "One would hope there would be more newsworthy items to cover, and publications would avoid reporting as 'facts' claims from anonymous sources peddling such obvious misrepresentations."

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Suri is also reportedly poised to be heading off to college this fall, with her Dawson's Creek star mom being heavily involved in the application process and supporting her big move every step of the way.

The 17-year-old may not be a huge fan of the spotlight , but she's taking after her famous parents when it comes to her creative abilities, having contributed to her mom's productions with her vocal stylings on multiple occasions, most recently 2023's Rare Objects , which was Katie's third directorial venture.

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She also sang a cover of "Blue Moon" for her 2022 film Alone Together , and in her interview with Glamour , Katie spoke about the joys of always having her daughter by her side in her professional life as well. Check out her singing voice in the video below...

"I hope she always does something on my films," the proud mom gushed. "I always ask her. But both of those experiences came out of the same sense of what I love about our industry, which is, you have these projects and you become a family with people. And it's this safe, beautiful, creative space." 

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"So it comes out of love for me to include someone who I love dearly. That's how I like to work. I like to have that kind of feeling. It was very meaningful to me to have her there, because she's my heart."

She described being a mom to a teenage girl as wanting to "protect" her, adding: "What has been really important for me with my daughter, because she was so visible at a young age, is I really like to protect her. I'm very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She's an incredible person."

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