tom cruise plane tail number

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

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Tom cruise arrived on top gun: “maverick” set in his own $4 million dollar wwii fighter aircraft.

July 1, 2019 Air 69,546 Views

Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer famous known for Top Gun famous movies from back in the 80s.

In Top Gun actor Tom Cruise played a role of  United States Naval Aviator LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell flying the F-14A Tomcat aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He also learned to fly an Airbus AS350 helicopter for some of the scenes in last summer’s Mission Impossible: Fallout.

In real life, the millionaire Top Gun star Tom Cruise is reported to own anywhere from three to five private jets including a $20M Gulfstream. Tom Cruise has held a pilot’s license since 1994 and he often pilots all of the private jets that he own

Although quite luxurious when flying privately, Cruise purchased a rugged World War II fighter aircraft namely, a P-51 Mustang.

See Details: Here’s Top Gun: “Maverick” Actor Tom Cruise $4 Million Dollar American WWII Fighter Aircraft

This Mustang has a serial number of 44-12840 and was built in 1946. It was donated to the Civil Air Patrol unit and eventually ended up in a museum in Illinois. It was later completely restored by 1997 by Art Teeters and four years later was bought by Tom Cruise in 2001. He renamed it to Kiss Me Kate after his ex-wife, Kate Holmes.

on Sept. 7, 2018 “Top Gun” star Tom Cruise flew into Marana to refuel a vintage airplane. He was spotted in dressed in a military-style pilot’s jumpsuit, was seen outside the cockpit of a 1944 P-51 Mustang at Marana Regional Airport, and shown in a photograph tweeted out by the town.

Later Tom Cruise arrived on Top Gun: “Maverick” set in his own $4 Million Dollar WWII Fighter Aircraft

On September 14 Tom Cruise’s P-51 Mustang and the special colored F/A-18F Super Hornet used to film Top Gun sequel was spotted at NAS Lemoore on Sept. 14.

The 56-year-old reportedly flew with real life F-18 fighter pilots

This shot was taken by a fan at an airport in Arizona after the actor touched down in his jet

Top Gun sequel dubbed Top Gun: “Maverick” filming is underway right now. The upcoming film, slated for release on June 26, 2020, in the U.S., is likely entering the final stages of its production phase before going to post-production and editing.

Related Article: Actor Tom Cruise Fly His Own Aircraft in Top Gun: “Maverick” Movie

Top Gun: Maverick will reportedly revolve around Tom Cruise’s Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he trains Bradley Bradshaw who is a pilot trainee, as well as the son of Maverick’s late partner Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (who was played by Anthony Edwards in the original 1986 film).

Bradshaw will be played by actor Miles Teller. Additionally, the new film will also feature Val Kilmer returning as Commander Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky, plus Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and Ed Harris will all also be appearing.

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My very “BEST ACTOR AND IDOL TOM CRUISE” keep it up always.

He’s a crazy Scientologist. Not exactly an idol

What a great movie back in 1986, must of seen three-four times since it came out. (I am a USAF retiree non-flying) and always enjoyed the movie. Looking forward to seeing the sequel when it comes out. Tom is a great actor and still is. RN, USAF retiree

Top Gun MOVIES of the 80s????? really? basic facts guys. Hes more well known for this multitude of MI films rather than THE Top Gun FILM

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How Celebrities’ Private Jets Get Tracked—and Why the FAA Can’t Do Anything About It (Yet)

Social media accounts that broadcast flight patterns of noteworthy names have racked up millions of followers, and it's perfectly legal. here's why., jaclyn trop, jaclyn trop's most recent stories.

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And it’s not just business magnates, celebrities and politicians who are vulnerable. Anyone using a private jet is sharing information transmitted through the plane’s black box. For safety reasons, Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) technology transmits GPS coordinates, altitude, ground speed and other data to air-traffic controllers and surrounding aircraft—but it also gives rise to dangers ranging from corporate espionage to violence.

“It’s akin to driving on the interstate and having anybody pick up your license plate to see who’s in the car and where you’re going,” says Doug Carr, senior vice president of safety, security, sustainability and international affairs for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). “This isn’t just about lifestyles of the rich and famous. It’s about basic security and not being able to track people in real time—which, by the way, is illegal anywhere else.”

The FAA is trying to help. After ADS-B became mandatory in January of 2020, the agency created several programs that allow jet operators to opt out of sharing tail numbers, helping to conceal passenger identities. Many private owners signed up for the Limited Aircraft Display Data (LADD) program, but sources that don’t use FAA data aren’t obligated to obey those restrictions and can still publish the information emitted from a jet’s transponder.

The FAA moved to fix that loophole by creating a way to temporarily disguise a jet’s tail number through the Privacy International Civil Aviation Organization Address Program (PIA). But joining the program is significantly more complicated than signing up for LADD, requiring physical modifications to the transponder and temporary call-signs—and when it comes to the latter, “you’d likely need to change that code on a routine basis,” says Heidi Williams, NBAA’s director of air traffic services. Besides, the new codes are not recognized outside of US airspace.

As we’ve seen from broader celebrity culture, if there’s enough public interest, the trackers will find a way—the FAA can’t stop enthusiasts or paparazzi from physically watching jet traffic at a local airport and then sharing those tail numbers, for example. Spokesperson Tammy L. Jones says the agency is expanding PIA for US-registered aircraft to include FAA-managed international airspace, but that no mechanism currently exists to encrypt secondary surveillance and communication technology, and that modifying the next ADS-B generation could be a decade away.

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Tom Cruise Owns More Than One Plane - Here Are The Coolest In His Fleet

One of Tom Cruise's most famous movie roles is that of fighter pilot Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, a part he first brought to the screen in 1986 in "Top Gun" and reprised in last year's "Top Gun: Maverick."

Both films feature plenty of shots of Cruise behind the controls of an aircraft, a position he is comfortable with off-screen as well. Cruise earned his pilot's license in 1994 and has used the skill in previous films like "Mission Impossible: Fallout" and "American Made."

Cruise is famous for doing his own stunts, and going into the filming of "Top Gun: Maverick," he was determined to use as much real footage as possible and even wanted to fly Maverick's F-18 himself, but the Navy wouldn't let the actor behind the controls of their $70 million war machine. 

Cruise did, however, fly several other aircraft in the film, including helicopters and one of his own planes, a World War II-era fighter-bomber. Let's take a look at that aircraft and some of Cruise's other personal aircraft. (Cruise doesn't just collect aircraft, he also has several cars and other vehicles as well.)

P51 Mustang

The military propeller plane Cruise flew in "Top Gun: Maverick" was a P-51 Mustang that was built in 1946 and purchased by Cruise in 2001. Paramount released a featurette about the plane, in which flight instructor and "Top Gun: Maverick" technical advisor Steve Hinton remarked, "There's still a lot of that pioneering spirit of aviation when you're flying a P51. I know Tom loves doing aerobatics, it's a wonderful plane to do aerobatics with." The video also shows Cruise taking co-star Jennifer Connelly for a ride in the plane, something she called "an incredible experience, certainly like nothing I've ever done before. And he's an amazing pilot," she added.

Cruise also took "The Late Late Show" host James Corden for a ride in the P-51, although Corden was noticeably unsettled to be flying in the vintage aircraft, particularly when Cruise warned him about the contingency plan should the plane's lone engine fail — inverting the plane and ejecting Corden to parachute to the ground.

"I'm just going to turn over and I'm gonna plop you out of the plane," Cruise teased. 

"I don't want to be plopped out," an ashen-faced Corden responded. Cruise took Corden on a thrilling ride, even staging a mock dogfight with another P-51 pilot. 

Gulfstream IV

Cruise's fleet of planes is not limited to vintage fighter-bombers. Cruise reportedly travels in a Gulfstream IV, a $20 million jet equipped with a jacuzzi and private film screening room. The Gulfstream IV was first produced in 1985, just a year before the first "Top Gun" movie was released, and can be configured to carry a maximum of 19 passengers. The twin-engine craft has a maximum range of a little less than 5,000 miles and a top speed of 552 mph. 

Gulfstream made the IV for just eight years, producing only 862 of the model. Most of them were sold to government and military customers, but it's no surprise that a movie star of Cruise's stature and with his military connections was able to get his hands on one and outfit it with the equipment necessary to allow him to cruise the skies in comfort while also being able to review his latest work. 

HondaJet and Challenger 300

Jack Sweeney, who had a since-suspended account on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, was able to identify three other aircraft belonging to Cruise before his account was removed. One was a HondaJet HA-420 with the identification number N77VA, the same plane Cruise arrived at Burbank Airport with when he came to take Corden for a ride in his P-51 Mustang. The HA-420 has two engines, seats eight people, and can fly at a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet. It has a top speed of just under 500 mph and a range of just over 1,200 nautical miles. Sweeney also identified a Bombardier Challenger 300 as belonging to Cruise.

The Challenger is a twin-engine jet that typically seats eight people but can accommodate up to ten. It has a range of 3,220 miles, a top speed of 460 mph, and a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet. Cruise reportedly keeps all of his planes at a private hangar in Burbank, giving him easy access when it's time to take one for a spin.  

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Movie Star Aircraft: The P-51 Mustang in Top Gun: Maverick

• March 29, 2020

Bill Walton

When a P-51 Mustang Isn’t Really a P-51 Mustang at All.

Editor’s Note: Updated July of 2022

When this piece first went to press during March of 2022 we were impatiently waiting to see Top Gun: Maverick. We had, in fact, been waiting for years to see the much-ballyhooed sequel. As this update goes to press the movie has earned nearly $1.2 billion (that’s 1,200,000,000 dollars [more than ten bloody tons in $100 bills] to you and me) worldwide. It’s one of the biggest blockbusters ever. More than that, it’s a truly remarkable feat of technical filmmaking.

Back Before We Saw the Film…

All we had were the trailers, and they were mercilessly dissected and examined in excruciating detail . The parodies and the Lego version were awesome in their own right . Of course we know that the US Navy retired the F-14D Tomcat in 2006 . So one mystery we were looking to see solved was that tantalizingly fleeting appearance of an F-14A Tomcat in the trailers. Now that the film has been released it turns out the Tomcat got quite a bit more screen time than the other mystery co-star, the North American P-51D Mustang that also appears in the trailers. More about that mystery Mustang after the trailers, included here for reference, below. The first two trailers were uploaded to YouTube by Paramount Pictures . The third video was uploaded by Flicks and the City Clips .

Official Trailer with a glimpse of the Mustang

New Trailer with a slightly better glimpse of the Mustang

Behind the Scenes with the best (albeit short) glimpse of the Mustang

This Mustang is a Lucky Horse Indeed

It might be a bit of a stretch for a Naval Aviator, terminal at Captain, to have a hangar full of toys and memorabilia such as Maverick (proudly) does. After all, pay for a Navy Captain (O-6) tops out at about $175K after 30 years service (which Maverick certainly has by now) but it’s rare indeed. Suspension of disbelief is part and parcel of many great movies- aviation-related and otherwise. However it’s no coincidence that the particular Mustang in the film got the supporting role. It is in fact owned by one Tom Cruise- Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell himself. Every time I see him I still see Joel the U-Boat Commander, but that’s not important right now.

Mustang Yes…P-51D Well, Not Really

Cruise’s Mustang, registered as N51EW, was built as an F-6K-15-NT with a Construction Number (CN) of 111-36123 at North American’s Dallas assembly plant in 1944. P-51Ks and F-6Ks were built in Dallas and differed from the D models primarily in the propeller department. Ks were equipped with an 11 foot Aeroproducts prop as opposed to the 11 foot 2 inch Hamilton Standard mill. The K canopies were a shaped a little bit differently as well. In use the hollow Aeroproducts propeller was unreliable, especially at high power settings. Many P-51Ks were refitted with a different Ham-Stan prop later in life. F-6Ds and F-6Ks were built with a pair of K-24 cameras (one vertical and one oblique) mounted aft just ahead of the tail wheel.

Somewhat Spotty Early History

The photo-reconnaissance-capable fighter was delivered to the US Army Air Force in 1944 and given the serial number 44-12840. There is no reliable record of actual use by the USAAF, and 840 may have sat idle in storage at one of the scores of equally idle bases in the States, but in 1946 840 was donated to the Civil Air Patrol. Between then and 1997 the aircraft was privately owned, for at least a few years by Earl Reinert with Victory Air Museum in Illinois. Between 1982 and 1987 the Mustang underwent a lengthy restoration at B&D Enterprises in California.

Becoming a Rich Kid

Ownership of 840 changed hands midway through the restoration, picking up the registration N51EW when owned by Eddie Wallachs of Lake Bluff in Illinois. Restoration was finally completed in 1997 by Al Teeters at Cal Pacific Airmotive in Salinas CA. As newly-restored Mustangs are wont to do, 840 won best P-51 at Oshkosh the following year (1998). The aircraft was then still based in Illinois but took up residence in California during 2001 when actor Tom Cruise (operating as Valhalla Aviation out of Bob Hope Airport in the Los Angeles area) acquired her. The Mustang has also been based at Van Nuys in the past. Tom Cruise became a licensed private pilot in 1994 and owns several other aircraft including a Gulfstream IV-SP.

840 wears the late-war colors (but not the QP- codes) of the 334 th Fighter Squadron Fighting Eagles , 65 th Fighter Wing, 4 th Fighter Group, which were based at USAAF Station 356 (RAF Debden) as part of VIII Fighter Command. In July of 1945 the 334 th FS moved to USAAF Station 122 (RAF Steeple Morden). 840 has been adorned with the names “Kiss Me Kate” (relating to his wife at the time Kate Holmes) and “Montana Miss” but most current images of the warbird show her sans any moniker or nose art.

A Rare Bird

Cruise’s Mustang is one of only two flyable F-6K Mustangs in the world out of the 164 F-6Ks built by North American Aviation. The other is registered as N357FG- also built at North American’s Dallas assembly plant as an F-6K-15-NT in 1944. Painted today as SN 44-13318- Frenisi, the aircraft was built with a CN of 111-36135 (12 airframes later than Cruise’s Mustang) and was given the serial number 44-12852. Both 840 and 852 were restored as P-51K Mustangs with the photo-reconnaissance equipment and rear fuselage apertures removed.

So Where Was Maverick’s Hangar?

Where was the hangar used to store the Maverick Mustang, his impressive collection of motorbikes, and several metric tons of the memorabilia Mav collected over his 30+ year career as a fighter pilot? We wondered about that too. The actual hangar used to shoot those scenes is located near the southern boundary of Inyokern Airport (KIYK). The facility was originally built as a US Navy emergency landing field in 1935 and named Harvey Field during World War II and later Inyokern Auxiliary Field. The facility was associated with nearby Armitage Field and Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) Inyokern, which was later renamed Naval Weapons Center in 1967 and Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake in 1992.

Bill Walton is a life-long aviation historian, enthusiast, and aircraft recognition expert. As a teenager Bill helped his engineer father build an award-winning T-18 homebuilt airplane in their up-the-road from Oshkosh Wisconsin basement. Bill is a freelance writer, screenwriter, and humorist, an avid sailor, fledgling aviator, engineer, father, uncle, mentor, teacher, coach, and Navy veteran. Bill lives north of Houston TX under the approach path to KDWH runway 17R, which means he gets to look up at a lot of airplanes. A very good thing.

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• F-6K Mustang
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• P-51K Mustang
• Tog Gun: Maverick

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What Planes Will Tom Cruise Fly in 'Top Gun: Maverick'?

It looks like Maverick is flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet this time.

The Top Gun sequel is finally happening.

Rumors had circulated that greatest flying movie ever made would be getting a sequel. Tom Cruise ratcheted up the excitement yesterday by posting the following image to his Instagram account, with the hashtag #Day1 to indicate the first day of filming the new movie, called Top Gun: Maverick .

So how might a Top Gun movie look this time around?

Well, 32 years have passed since Maverick and Iceman played volleyball and flew fighter jets. The original Top Gun featured Tom Cruise as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, flying an F-14A Tomcat fighter with Ltjg. Nick “Goose” Bradshaw as his Radar Intercept Officer. The two took off from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and flew against a mysterious enemy, most likely Soviet pilots, flying the new MiG-28 fighter.

What we know so far is that Maverick is a flight instructor in the sequel, and that his new ride is the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter, probably the two-seater “F” version to give him someone to talk to in the movie. Unlike the Tomcat, which at the time was a strictly air-to-air fighter, the Super Hornet has an air-to-ground role, opening up the possibility that the pilots of Top Gun 2 could take on enemies on the ground.

What about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the latest fighter jet to join the U.S. military? The Navy is purchasing 273 F-35C models, which feature larger wings, slightly longer range, and strengthened landing gear designed to take punishing takeoffs and landings. Eventually the Navy will field 20 squadrons of F-35C, with two out of four fighter squadrons on every carrier equipped with the stealthy F-35.

The F-35C is a fundamentally different plane than the the original F-14A, or even today’s Super Hornet. It relies on remaining hidden to kill and survive, and ideally shoots down enemy planes from beyond visual range, without the enemy knowing it is there. That's a smart way to fight a war, but it makes for a lousy Top Gun movie. The Super Hornet, on the other hand, could still get into aerial knife-fights with the enemy. (Also, the F-35C is a single seat plane, meaning no clever, cocky cockpit banter.)

The original T op Gun featured aerial encounters and dogfights against Soviet pilots over the Indian Ocean. If the Top Gun sequel is modeled after real-life events, we could see its flyboys mixing it up against Russian pilots over the Baltic Sea, with the new Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter as the bad guy jet. The Su-57’s stealth could introduce a lot of dramatic tension as American pilots struggle to stay one step ahead.

Another possibility is the sunny South China Sea, where Maverick could fly against Chinese carrier-borne J-15 fighters of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Alternately, they could fly in the East China Sea against Chinese Su-35 fighters or even the new Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. This is somewhat unlikely from a marketing perspective, however, as China is a major movie market and making Beijing the antagonist is a surefire way to prevent Top Gun 2 from hitting Chinese theaters.

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News , and others. He lives in San Francisco.

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Tom Cruise’s P-51 Mustang Startup and Take Off

Stephen H. / Youtube

This warbird has got to be one of the best looking aircraft ever produced by the United States. Often regarded as the best fighter plane of WWII, it’s no wonder a top celebrity would own one of these and more specifically, the star of Top Gun: Tome Cruise. Ahem, we’re still waiting for Top Gun II to come out! Any day now *looks at watch*

Here we found a clip of Tom Cruise’s gorgeous P-51K starting up and taking off a couple years ago in Long Beach, CA. Oh, by the way, it will also be featured in the new movie! So keep an eye out for that one.

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The Last of the Wild Horses

P-51 Survivors book featuring images from Dick Phillips and John Dienst, with Mark Phillips. To order, goto The Last of the Wild Horses . You can order online. Price is $100 for pages and pages of P-51 Survivor history and photos. Over 2,500 photos! The late Dick Phillips shared hundreds of his P-51 images with us at MustangsMustangs over the last 25 years. If you can, help support his life-long passion. I recently ordered my copy. Thank you! Curtis Fowles, MustangsMustangs

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NBAA 2019: Honda Aircraft Customizes HondaJet for Tom Cruise

It’s the fastest entry-level jet, so one could say it satisfies a need for speed.

By Plane & Pilot Updated October 28, 2019 Save Article

At NBAA, Honda Aircraft President and CEO Michimasa Fujino, who’s usually the one who’s name is dropped, dropped a good one and shared the news of a bucket-list plane he got to fly, one that everyone reading this right now would want to fly, too.

Mr. Fujino started out by showing a photo of a HondaJet that a customer, whom he said he couldn’t name, had asked for the company to customize. It had to look like a race car, be cool-looking, beautiful and elegant.

That customer, whom Mr. Fujino did indeed name, is none other than movie star Tom Cruise, who reportedly just loves his HondaJet. We loved the plane too and named it our 2016 Plane & Pilot Plane Of The Year.

As you might know Cruise is starring in the sequel of one of the most popular aviation films ever, Top Gun . Top Gun 2 was originally scheduled to hit theaters this year, but its release has been delayed until June of next year. The flying is off the hook and, yes, there’s that motorcycle scene revisited, as well. Here’s the trailer and our story on the spy shots of what was probably a Top Gun 2 buzz job .

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Mr. Fujino’s other big reveal was that he got to fly in an F-18 too, though, no, TC was not PIC of that one.

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

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

Top gun 2: all 6 jet fighter planes that appear in maverick, how much of top gun 2 is real & how much is cgi.

• 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.

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell becomes the fastest man alive as he travels faster than Mach 10, a speed that has never been achieved in real life.

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: Maverick put Tom Cruise back in the cockpit after three decades, but which specific jet fighter planes appear in the followup to Top Gun?

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.

Top Gun: Maverick features plenty of thrilling flying sequences and stunts. Here's what was done for real by Tom Cruise and the cast and what was 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

• Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

The teen who tracks Elon Musk's jet has begun monitoring private jets for celebrities like Tom Cruise and Kim Kardashian

• Jack Sweeney said he has begun tracking four of Tom Cruise's private aircrafts.
• The teen is reporting the travel habits of numerous celebrities, including Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.
• The actor known for "Top Gun" has spent millions on his collection of private planes.

The teen known for tracking Elon Musk's jet has expanded his reach to include Hollywood stars.

Jack Sweeney, 19, said on Monday via Twitter that he had begun tracking four of Tom Cruise's private jets under his Twitter account @CelebJets. The account has nearly 28,000 followers and also appears to track the travel patterns of several other celebrities, including Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Kim Kardashian.

Sweeney told Insider he created the account in October, but has been gradually adding new celebrities, primarily based on requests. 

A spokesperson for Cruise did not respond to a request for comment.

Cruise has made headlines in recent weeks with his smash hit "Top Gun: Maverick." But, his character isn't the only one with an affinity for jets.

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The actor is known to have spent millions on buying private aircrafts, including a $4 million World War II-era P-51 Mustang single-seater fighter plane and a $20 million Gulfstream. Sweeney said he has been able to identify Cruise's P-51, Gulfstream, HondaJet, and a Challenger 300. 

Sweeney uses bots to scrape publicly available air-traffic data. He told Insider he identifies patterns between the aircraft's travel history and the celebrity.

"A lot of them are known already or there's pictures or articles of the celebrity exiting the aircraft somewhere, but no one seems to be tracking besides me," Sweeney said.

Cruise has held a pilot's license since 1994 and often flies his own private jets, according to Forbes. The actor is known for doing his own stunts in his movies.

Cruise also appears to enjoy flights as a passenger as well. His Gulfstream 4 is tricked out with a jacuzzi and screening room, Forbes has reported. The actor reportedly has a private hangar where he stores the aircrafts.

The actor is one of many people that Sweeney has begun tracking. Last month, he announced on Twitter that he had uncovered the whereabouts of Mark Zuckerberg's private jet. Sweeney had previously tracked the Facebook founder's travel patterns, but was made aware that Zuckerberg had changed planes about a month after he began tracking the billionaire. Meta spent over $26 million on its CEO's private security in 2021.

Earlier this year, Musk expressed concern over the account Sweeney created to track and report out his personal travel habits. In January, the Tesla CEO  offered  the teen $5,000 to take down the Twitter account, but Sweeney rejected the offer. 

"I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase," Musk said in a private message to Sweeney,  Protocol reported.

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Privatefly blog, private jet tail numbers.

No two private jets are the same. Pilots will tell you that even two aircraft of the same type and age will fly slightly differently and many have customised interiors and paint schemes.

However on the outside one of the obvious identifying features is the aircraft registration, commonly known as the tail number.

For private jet charter advice call our expert team on +44 (0)20 7100 6960 or start your search using our flight search tool.

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Private Jet Registrations by Country

Each country has its own prefix, so you can tell where each aircraft is from depending on the letters that the registration starts with.

Some common examples are: G = UK N = USA F = France D = Germany EI = Ireland EC = Spain HB = Switzerland OE = Austria

Famous Private Jet Tail Numbers

Much like car number plates, registrations can be customised. This is a particular occurrence in private jets, where there is no real boundary to registering your aircraft in any country you choose.

This has led to some fairly obvious customised tail numbers: N1KE = Nike Corporation N707JT = John Travolta’s Boeing 707 G-SUGA = Lord Alan Sugar N999BE is one of Bernie Ecclestone’s aircraft

Aircraft Registration & Tax

Countries can choose how they wish to tax aircraft that are registered there. Some nations have seen this ability as an opportunity to create highly “desirable” aircraft registrations. These tend to be small low-tax states and Caribbean Islands, which provide very cost-efficient aircraft registrations. Some examples of this are: M = Isle of Man VP-C = Cayman Islands VQ-B = Bermuda P4 = Aruba

As these registrations have become more popular over time, however, some civil aviation authorities have deemed that these aircraft should not be allowed to perform commercial charter flights.

In Europe particularly, all of the above aircraft registrations are prohibited from carrying fare-paying passengers. If you are ever offered a charter on an aircraft with one of these registrations, you should double check with your supplier that the aircraft has appropriate Air Operator Certificate and Insurance documents.

Given the success of these “boutique” registrations, other small states are looking to increase the popularity of their registrations.

Celebrity Private Jet Tail Numbers

In the meantime, some further celebrity aircraft registrations are: M-ANSL = Nigel Mansell Lewis Hamilton = G-LCDH Niki Lauda = OE-III P4-MES = Roman Abramovich N808T = Tom Cruise

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Tom Cruise Film Pilot Killed in Colombia Plane Crash

BOGOTA, Colombia — A small plane assigned to the crew of a movie starring Tom Cruise crashed in the Colombian Andes Friday, killing two people, including a Los Angeles-based film pilot, and seriously injuring a third, the country's civilian aviation authority said.

An official with the aviation agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said Cruise was not on the aircraft.

The official said an American, Alan Purwin, was killed along with the Colombian Carlos Berl. A third person aboard, Jimmy Lee Garland, a pilot from Georgia, was rushed to a hospital in Medellin, and was in intensive care.

The official said the twin-engine plane ran into bad weather late Friday afternoon after taking off from the colonial town of Santa Fe de Antioquia for a short flight to Medellin. No emergency was reported to air traffic controllers.

The Piper Aerostar-600, with tail number N164HH, appears to be the same aircraft that Cruise, a trained pilot, was photographed exiting the cockpit from upon his arrival in Medellin on Aug. 20 to start work on his new film.

Garland's son, Evan, told NBC News that his father is in critical condition, but is "doing fine ... he is still alive and doing well." He planned to travel to Colombia with his mother to be by Garland's bedside.

Garland, the sole survivor, is a flight instructor and manager of a regional airport in Georgia's Cherokee County, near Atlanta. He was looped in on the filming project in Colombia because some of the scenes were being filmed at the airport where he's from.

Evan Garland said this was the first time that his father had worked with the other pilot, Purwin, who died in the accident, and it was also his first time in Colombia. He had been on the ground for about a month prior to the accident, working on the Cruise project.

Called "Mena," the film stars Cruise as American pilot Barry Seal, a drug runner recruited by the CIA to try and capture the late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Seal was shot and killed in 1986 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, allegedly by assassins sent by Escobar's Medellin cartel.

Cruise's spokeswoman, Amanda Lundberg, had no comment on Friday's accident.

https://www.instagram.com/p/6yfVfiuTk6

Purwin was founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Helinet Technologies, a company providing aerial surveillance technology to law enforcement. On the company's website, he's described as "one of the top film pilots of his generation" with a list of credits from television and major Hollywood movies such as "Transformers," "Pearl Harbor," and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

He sat at the controls of a helicopter for the first time at age 16 and two years later took his first flying job crop dusting in Indiana, according to Helinet's website.

Purwin tweeted last Wednesday after landing on a dirt runway between the towering jungled mountains surrounding Santa Fe de Antioquia.

In a statement, Helinet remembered him as a "pioneer in the film industry and committed philanthropist."

The company said his legacy includes conducting the first vital organ transplant mission in Los Angeles, supporting the first response rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and being the only American Hollywood movie pilot to fly throughout China.

"There are no words that can express our heartache for we have lost one of the world's greatest helicopter pilots and one of aviation’s greatest leaders," Helinet added.

The Associated Press