Flight Training - July 2022 - 20

PREFLIGHT FIRST LOOK
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THE REAL DEAL
FLYING SCENES IN NEW 'TOP GUN' MOVIE WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY
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QUARTERLY BONUS POINT CAP OF 2,500 POINTS*
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IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN 30 YEARS SINCE THE RELEASE
of Top Gun, the movie that propelled so many into
aviation careers. The movie's long-awaited sequel Top
Gun: Maverick opened in theaters May 27. The original
movie was as important to the U.S. pilot population
as the end of World War II and the Vietnam era. Top
Gun's portrayal of the exciting life of naval aviators
in the Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program
reignited the nation's fascination with flying.
The U.S. Navy saw an increase of 500 percent in
applicants for its aviation program and throughout
the summer of 1986 capitalized on it by putting
recruiting booths outside of theaters. Top Gun
grossed $357 million worldwide, it made Tom
Cruise an international star (who also became a
pilot), saw Ray-Ban sunglasses sales increase 40
percent, and collectively took our breath away.
Cruise-in one of his typical grandiose statements-promised
all the flying in the new movie would be " real " and it comes close. Pilot
Kevin LaRosa II filmed many of the flying sequences with his company Helinet Aviation.
LaRosa is known for his work on Iron Man (2005), The Avengers (2012), and Transformers:
The Last Knight (2017), and he has worked on more than 100 motion picture
and commercial productions. He is an ATP, has type ratings in several Learjet models,
and has a Part 107 UAS rating.
LaRosa hopes movie goers leave the theater wondering if scenes were an actual
flight or computer-generated imaging (CGI). LaRosa said he will not be offended if
filmgoers presume it was done on a computer: " That's actually the biggest compliment
we could ever receive, " he said.
The new movie made $156 million over the 2022 Memorial Day weekend.
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THE NEXT LEVEL
LaRosa designed CineJet, an Aero L-39 Albatros jet that features a customized
gyro-stabilized camera system designed for high-speed aerial cinematography.
Shotover, a New Zealand company that creates camera gimbals for the motion picture
industry, developed the camera system. The L-39 has a top speed of more than 450
miles per hour, four times faster than the helicopters commonly used in aerial cinematography,
and it can loop and roll. The Shotover camera system hangs off the nose
of the jet from a specially designed mount. The lens sits just below the belly of the
airplane, allowing an unobstructed, 360-degree view of the airplane's surroundings. " I
wanted to build something
that we could go out and do
aerobatics with-including
a camera system that could
push the edge of aerial
photography like no one has
done yet, " said LaRosa.
See how the aerial
sequences in Top Gun:
Maverick were filmed:
aopa.org/ft/topgun
20
FLIGHT TRAINING JULY 2022

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Flight Training - July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - July 2022