'Top Gun: Maverick' Aircraft Demo To Make Landing In Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- "Top Gun: Maverick" is breaking records after a wildly-successful opening weekend.
It made $156 million -- the most ever for a Memorial Day Weekend debut.
While many Minnesotans saw the movie, some got an even closer look at the military aircraft featured in the action.
The Minnesota Council of the United States Navy League, a nonprofit, hosted military aircraft from California bases Tuesday, including an F/A-18 Super Hornet and F35s.
"Around where we fly, we can fly at 200 feet off the desert, just like you'll see in the movie," said Cmdr. Tom Herrold, an executive officer with Naval Air Forces. "We're doing that at 400 knots, so everything blurs by you pretty fast."
Herrold's call sign is "White Tiger." With 21 years in the Navy, he says flying jets never gets old.
"'Top Gun,' that was a great recruiting experience for the Navy back in the '80s, and now that ['Top Gun: Maverick'] has come out, we're obviously riding on those coattails," Herrold said.
He says the movie also nails the accuracy of the flying, with some "Hollywood-isms."
"Listening to the [communications] and some of the things that they do, there's an emergency procedure there and they actually follow the steps," Herrold said. "[Pilots are] not playing, you know, football on the beach and at the bars as much as I'd like to be doing that."
It takes extensive training to be a pilot, as well as good grades. The Navy League is trying to bring the real-life experience of being a pilot to Minnesotans with its event.
"They get a better understanding and appreciation for the 24/7 job this is out here to protect and defend America's interests on the seas, under the seas and in the air," said Bill James, the president of the Minnesota Council of the Navy League.
Paramount is the movie company behind "Top Gun: Maverick," and the parent company of CBS and WCCO-TV.
