In his first exercise, Maverick takes on the School's resident "enemy" pilot, LTC Richard "Jester" Heatherly ( Michael Ironside), and succeeds in outmaneuvering him and "shooting" him down, but in so doing he flies below a set minimum engagement altitude - a "hard-deck" - and then compounds this faux pas by "buzzing" (or overflying) a flight tower at absurdly low altitude just to show off. She begins to become smitten with Maverick before the official competition begins.
TOP GUN HARD LOCK SPLIT S SIMULATOR
Though technically a civilian, she has mastered the flight simulator where she has beaten several actual pilots. It seems not to work until the next day she appears at the School, revealing herself to be Charlie, a previously unseen DOD flight instructor that Maverick had assumed to be male. At a bar the night after their first day at the School, Maverick notices Charlotte Blackwood ( Kelly McGillis) a pretty young blonde in jeans, and hits on her by following her into the ladies room and serenading her. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky ( Val Kilmer), and his RIO, Ron "Slider" Kerner ( Rick Rossovich). Maverick, however, is quietly overjoyed as he regards the assignment as an opportunity for advancement, and upon arrival begins a rivalry with a fellow Tomcat pilot, Lt. Stinger is forced to change his intended disciplinary action against Maverick, for he must send a Tomcat tandem for additional combat training at the Navy's Fighter Weapons School in Miramar, near San Diego,CA and the Captain is plainly disgusted that Maverick is the only qualified candidate for the assignment. Cougar sees the captain of the Enterprise, Tom "Stinger" Jordan ( James Tolkan), and turns in his wings - the incident has left Cougar rattled and he feels he can't fly combat any longer. The MiG disengages and the two Tomcats fly to the Enterprise, but Cougar is so rattled he cannot land, forcing Maverick, low on fuel and against orders, to abort his own landing and talk Cougar to the deck. MiG One stays on Cougar and is only chased off when Maverick flies upside down, closes up on the MiG, and flashes an obscene gesture to the enemy pilot. Cougar is outmaneuvered by MiG One while Maverick locks his missile radar on MiG Two, who promptly disengages. The two F14s split up and are surprised when a second MiG, shielded from radar by riding within feet of its leader, appears. The second F14 is piloted by Bill "Cougar" Cortell ( John Stockwell) with Sam "Merlin" Wells ( Tim Robbins) as the RIO. Nicholas "Goose" Bradshaw ( Anthony Edwards). The pilot of the lead plane is Flight Lieutenant Peter "Maverick" Mitchell ( Tom Cruise), a callsign appropriate for his arrogant rule-bending attitude his RIO is Lt. The Combat Air Patrol of the Enterprise is vectored to meet the incoming aircraft, and the fighters involved are F-14 Tomcat interceptors, each manned by a pilot and a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is on patrol near the Persian Gulf when radar contact is made with a MiG fighter.The synopsis below may give away important plot points. Maverick struggles to be the best pilot, stepping on the toes of his other students. There he fights the attitudes of the other pilots and an old story of his father's death in combat that killed others due to his father's error. When his wingman turns in his wings, Maverick is moved up in the standings and sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. On almost no fuel, Maverick is able to talk him back down to the carrier. When he encounters a pair of MiGs over the Persian Gulf, his wingman is clearly outflown and freaks. Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is an expert United States Naval Aviator. Worried that he may have lost his nerve, Mitchell is given a chance to redeem himself during a tense international crisis involving a crippled US vessel and a flock of predatory enemy planes. Shaken up by the death of a friend, Mitchell loses the Top Gun honor to Kasansky. When not so occupied, Mitchell carries on a romance with civilian consultant Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). Here he vies with Tom Kasansky (Val Kilmer) for the coveted "Top Gun" award. Devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station for advanced training.