Fighter pilot rates "Top Gun" action scenes for realism

Tech Insider

Dave Berke, a retired Top Gun instructor, rates the action scenes in "Top Gun" and "Top Gun: Maverick."

He talks about being an effective wingman, piloting an F-14, firing missiles, effectively navigating jet wash, getting out of a flat spin, and how ejector seats work in "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards.

A US Navy fighter squadron scored a series of firsts fighting the Houthis from an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea

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An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the
An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the "Gunslingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 105, launches aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on April 20.

US Navy photo

The world's most popular fighter jet just turned 50, but it still packs a punch

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F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 62nd Fighter Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., fly over southern Florida during a flight from Luke to Key West, Fla., Oct. 16, 2004.
F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 62nd Fighter Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., fly over southern Florida.

Stocktrek Images/Getty Images

Deadly Russian Su-34 bombers are sitting ducks for Ukraine's ATACMS. But it can't attack without US approval.

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Russian Su-34 fighter jet

Artyom Anikeev/Stocktrek Images

Satellite images show apparent mock-ups of US fifth-gen fighter jets and a runway with blast marks and craters in a Chinese desert

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A satellite image of Chinese mockups of US aircraft in the Taklamakan Desert.
Satellite image from April 19, 2024, show Chinese mock-ups of what appear to be US aircraft in the Taklamakan Desert.

Planet Labs PBC

Like the F-16, French Mirage 2000-5 fighters are good planes, but they aren't the best Western jets for Ukraine

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A photo taken on Feb. 1, 2021 shows a French Mirage 2000-5 in the Djiboutian air space.
A photo taken on Feb. 1, 2021 shows a French Mirage 2000-5 in the Djiboutian air space.

Photo by DAPHNE BENOIT/AFP via Getty Images

A viral canned water company is giving away a $400,000 fighter jet, poking fun at Pepsi's notorious failed joke prize

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A Aero L-39 Albatros training fighter jet named
Liquid Death is giving away a branded Aero L-39 Albatros training fighter jet named "The Dehydrator."

Liquid Death

The B-52 shot down Vietnamese fighter jets in historic dogfights. Here's how the US Air Force plans to keep its oldest bomber in the skies for over a century.

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A B-52D Stratofortress bomber aircraft drop ammunitions from the sky to support ground combat operations in Vietnam.
A B-52D Stratofortress bomber aircraft drop ammunitions from the sky to support ground combat operations in Vietnam.

Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A Chinese fighter jet popped flares in the path of an Australian military helicopter in an 'unsafe' Yellow Sea intercept, Canberra says

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Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2021 shows a J-10C fighter jet during the air Show 2021 in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province.
Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2021 shows a J-10C fighter jet during the air Show 2021 in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province.

Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images

How China's J-20 stacks up to USA's F-22 fighter jet

Tech Insider

The US claims China stole American tech to make a copycat of the F-22 Raptor, known as the J-20 Mighty Dragon. We compare the stealth, accuracy, and radar technology of the two fighter jets.

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