On the subject of supermaneuverability in USAF aircraft, the F-22 actually has thrust vectoring capability in the pitch and roll axis allowing it to perform very cool stunts.

The most impressive thing about Top Gun Maverick is that it didn't have a spoiler leak in two years

I was really amazed at how respectful the movie was toward everybody. From the NAVY to the pilots and planes and even Russia for their amazing planes.

Rear Admiral: Thirty plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations. Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years. Yet, you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a two star admiral by now. Yet, here you are, captain. Why is that? Maverick: It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.

The fact he ejected and survived an airframe imploding at mach 10.2 was quite incredible 👏

I flew the darkstar in microsoft flight simulator and at mach 11 i lost control I thought it was just glitching out but now I know better. Thank you😊

The Darkstar was my favorite part. I’m also an aerospace engineer so I loved seeing the advanced tech. Seems like a turbine based combined cycle engine with a fully cocooning turbine and hydrogen fueled scramjet. Most likely a dual mode scramjet and possibly oxygen augmented

When pilots are practicing their 1 on 1 dogfights, the 3 different considerations are kinetic energy or airspeed, potential energy or altitude, and thrust to weight ratio. An aircraft with supermaneuvrability has the ability to trade airspeed for nose authority, meaning they can 'turn the plane' very very quickly and reliably at the cost of speed, but they can only really do it once in a fight because the act trades a large amount of speed for a one time advantage. Also yes, most incidents where a plane is shot down in air combat are at medium to long range with missiles so seeing an enemy first and being unseen by them is the priority (at least USAF) mindset.

Just came across your channel, went through a few videos, and I absolutely love it. I love the simplicity. This kind of pure enthusiasm is rare nowadays. I just want to thank you for what you do.

I like the fact that when the movie shows the scramjet switch over it works just like Republic's setup for the XF-103 with a ramp coming up, blanking off the engine and diverting air into the scramjet portion of the engine.

On the subject of drones being wingmans. A drone can never replicate human instict and judgement mechanisms. I think we will always have human pilots but whether they will be in the plane or on the ground is another subject.

Well, given that the Lockheed Skunkworks engineers built the full sized mock of the Darkstar, I’d imagine that it was spot on! The mock up was so impressive, that China redirected their spy satellites to fly over to take pictures as they had the mock up parked outside a hangar in Nevada. The NAVY tracked it and had a laugh with the engineers and Tom Cruise about it. The interview with the NAVY guys and movie producers talking about it is pretty entertaining!

Super maneuverability becomes relevant in the context of 5th gen aircraft duking it out. If both adversaries have stealth, then beyond visual range firing is no longer an option in which case, we're back to dogfights.

I love that they really tried to be accurate with this film. In some films that doesn’t matter but I’m glad to see this was really close.

Can we just talk about how when the SR72 took off the general wor whatever didn't budge yet the roof of the guard hut jumped like 3 feet backwards

The advantage of fifth generation fighters is absolutely in no way “small”. K/D rations in Red Flag have been recorded as being in excess of 20/1. There is no debate over abandoning advanced fighters, that would be ludicrous.

Your description of the classes of propulsion systems and their engine geometries I found very interesting. I have learned something today. Many thanks.

This scene actually was real they flew a blue angel plane low level, and it did blow the roof off the guard shack it was about 12 ft off the ground. The darkstar plane was with an ovelay over the original aircraft

I didn't expect all that much of it when I walked into the cinema. But they really did hit an incredible balance between nostalgia, realism and actually making it an entertaining movie. Fully agree with your ranking

Did you know that the first SR 71 Had the same situation as the Darkstar. At Moc 3 one of the engines flamed out and the pilot had no control of the aircraft as it started to rip apart. The pilot and the systems officer ejected. The pilot made it safely but the systems officer broke his neck ejecting similar to Goose.

@0:32 Stopped at spoiler warning. Already liked though. As Arnold said in Terminator, "I'll be back." Props for putting in a spoiler warning... Closing this tab and going to hit your other videos.

By far the most realistic hypersonic aircraft depiction I’ve ever seen - from someone who works with this stuff every day

5:39 i think at those speeds the forces on the airframe and the g load even on the slightest inputs are MASSIVE, definetly enough to rip apart the craft with asymetric thrust alone

I love this channel. I sometimes for fun do very similar things like this! Really deserves more subs than he has

Supermanuverability is also only really good in one on one dogfights, which almost never happen in reality. It can give you an advantage against a single aircraft, but leaves you slow and in a low energy state and easy pickings for any other enemy fighters in the combat zone. It is a lot of expense and engineering added to an aircraft for a very situational advantage.

Liked subbed and downloaded. Crazy I've never seen your videos before considering how much aviation themed content I watch on KZfaq. Looks like the algorithm blessed you on this one!😊 I'm going through the rest of your uploads now, looking forward to this binge.

I think you did a very nice job explaining some of our aircraft and the different engine types. We also have some updated aircraft that are truly amazing that fly at around mach 9 and went operational in 1990 and can possibly fly to the space station. The engine technology on our vehicles that travel beyond mach 9 is above my pay grade.

the only person who talks about mav bieng a test pilot thnks so much

Great, video. Definitely like these types of videos! Keep it up!

If you had a flame out at high mach perhaps the computers would instantly disable the other engine to prevent loss of control. Just a thought.

Plot armor so thick it saved him from vaporizing when ejecting at mach 10

What i liked in top gun was the attention to detail. They didnt just yada yada over stuff and showed things that no regular movie staff member would know, like the breathing pure O2 before maverick put on his helmet for the dark star flight. This is done to minimize the chances for decompression sickness during high altitude flights in only semi pressurized cockpits.

To say a drone can, never forget to date there is still a pilot flying the drones. Drones have been captured. The USA would need to have 6th generation integrated stealth plus actually making a faster plane. All the stealth craft have been getting slower and slower. Not only do the Russian aircraft have the super manoeuvre ability the EU craft have it and so do others.

When that Felon Cobras based!

Never ignore the engineers. SOOO true.

I'm no aeronautical engineer, but when Mav was trying to build up his speed in the Darkstar, why on earth was he TURNING?? other than to look cool on camera.

With regard to military bearing, when you are very very very good at what you do you can get away with pushing some boundaries. Especially when you get results. Maverick being that good of a pilot with real-world experience can get away with more. Plus he had Iceman acting as a sort of protector.

I just love the inside helmet lighting. The first time I remember seeing that was in the Colonial Vipers of Battlestar Galactica. What a great concept, shine light into the pilot's face!

There was actually a ton of CGI in the film. But also a ton of real flying. Even some of the basic shots of hornets in formation were CGI with only one real jet. Incredible film. Loved it so much

Great analysis and break down as always Austin!

There is a ton of CGI done in the movie. Pilot C.W. Lemoine interviewed a guy who worked on the movie in the CGI department and there are scenes that were done so well you just can't tell. They did a good job.

Anyone else amazed that Ed just stood there while the roof of the guard shack lifted up?

This was really educational and interesting video. Thanks so much.

anybody else think the supermaneuverability thing was really cool but also super goofy looking, like it just randomly twirl in the air then pops right back into the fight

I really enjoyed your video, first time for me on your content! Going to definitely check out more of your stuff and throw some thumbs and comments! But would really love to see you do a break down of the "Top Gun" mission they perform. Is the missing doable with the planes they chose, and exactly how does such low altitude extreme maneuvering effect the plan stress wise and the pilots! Again, thankyou for the content! KEEP IT UP!

The E-2 was the greatest cameo in cinema history.

I know the Raptor was the 1st '5th Gen' and newer near peer '5th Gen' have 'super maneuverability' but the Raptor is no slouch as you did say slightly better. From my understanding it isn't just about BVR combat but also the US is not a fan of losing energy(kenetic and potential). They don't believe the benefits to doing some of these super maneuverable moves out weighs loss to the energy state. Or at least that's my understanding. So while the SU57 may do a lil more cool moves the Raptor will maintain more energy and that in its self is an advantage.

This is a very good engineering review of the Top Gun Maverick movie. There is an older movie called "Stealth" starring Jamie Fox, Josh Lucas, and Jessica Biel. In this movie the question of having a UCAV in the military is explored. I would love to see you put your engineering mind on this movie, if you have not done so before. Cheers Bro.

As for drones the logical use is higher risk missions where a pilot could be lost. Also stealth swarming attacks would be a useful option to have where the stealth could be switched off at an appropriate time to draw interceptor aircraft and AA fire away from manned craft as part of an air defence suppression operation.

Well done! Keep up the good work!

Having our 5 Gen fighters being detectable is different from being targeted. Different radar is used in targeting systems, it’s this that the F35 and F22 are good at evading.

When you want to enroll in AE program, everyone tells you not too because of defense, career limitations, etc. But you do it anyway and that comes with a huge risk and a lot of sacrifice. The course is also heavily specialized to nurture aerospace engineers and it's extremely tough. Please don't get me wrong but I find it unfair that other majors also call themselves aerospace engineers without having gone through the pain.

In a documentary of the SR-71 was mentioned that no pilot survives ejection at hypersonic speed. in fact ejection at supersonic speed if you survive will take you to hospital with broken bones and haematomas like experiencing high speed carcash. So the movie was bollocks. Thanks for this great video

Love this information, thank you.

Love it from an engineering point of view. I work at GE Aviation and make several blades for this F404 Turbofan engine!

The most impressive thing for me about the Navy is, that they run the second largest Air Force in the world… off of boats Edit:grammar

at 1st he is shown as a hero saving his colleges jobs bi putting his own life on the line and then he just chucks it all away bi doing 10.1 and above, what a good guy looking after his mates like that

An elderly skunk works engineer called a radio station and said the classified top speed of the SR-71 was just over mach 14. The higher it went, the faster it went due to a decrease in drag, but also, the higher you go, the faster you HAVE to go in order to feed the engines. I wanna know what we replaced the SR-71 with. Seismic stations have picked up sonic booms from something traveling MUCH faster.

Thanks for the review Movie was simply awesome Great flying scenes and I do believe the Darkstar exists When they retired the SR 71 I was sure it’s had been replaced by another aircraft either manned or unmanned Satellite technology is great to a point but you can’t replace real time intelligence like obtained through an airplane like SR71 or Darkstar Takes time to reposition satellites and orbit are predictable where as an aircraft can be in your airspace at anytime Just my 2 cents If it doesn’t exist, boy O boy It should 👍

hey, loved the video! If you're looking for more stuff to do reaction videos about, I'd like to recommend the Expanse - I know it's a TV show with 6 seasons, but it has so many cool details about spacetravel and combat and an overall great story (even though it starts off slow), I think you would really enjoy that.

Awesome.. so glad I found this channel.. I gotta tell my buddies about it.. we're all into Jets and the history

This was something I needed that I didn’t know I needed

The Darkstar could have been a whole film, but it's so cool that we only got the climax of that storyline. maybe the best opening of a film I've ever seen. Also, just wondering why the film didn't showcase their newest gear, apart from wanting more two seaters. I'm assuming the Navy/Air Force wouldn't want cameras or actors anywhere near an F-22 or F-35?

I think realistically the Su-57 has very limited stealth capabilities as well.

The two most unbelievable aspects of the movie were - they all, lieutenants to admirals, had about 2 more rows of ribbons than they would have had in real life, and, especially, the way Mav took jets whenever it suited him. First of all the prep work in getting one of those things in the air, and the number of people involved means it couldn't happen, and if perchance it did, he'd do it one time and be tossed out on his fanny. Oh, well, that's "dramatic license" in action.

Dude there is no amount of Love I have for you jeffg

Awesome video. I don't agree with your score for Su 57. but honestly the video was awesome 👌🏾

Mach 11 is no different from Mach 10 other than increased dissociation of air particles. Dr. Javier Urzay's Stanford Hypersonics lectures are available on KZfaq. Also, the Microsoft Flight Sim is way off with the max cruise altitude for Mach 10 being above MECO altitude for Falcon 9, unless you pull up and shut off the engines to perform a zero-lift ballistic to hit an apogee in the aircraft. William Heiser's 1994 book "Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion" trajectory tables (available on Amazon) puts Mach 10 max altitude at around 150,000 feet.

When that hypersonic jet flew past, causing the roof on the dwelling to lift and shifting that large SUV, the Admiral stood still, just shows how hard and tough of a man he is 😂

Saying Skunk Works has a long history of making incredibly advanced aerospace technologies is almost not doing it enough justice. I cannot express enough how much Lockheed Skunk Works has contributed to aerospace development and other technologies for that matter. They don’t just make very advanced products, they are absolutely cutting edge and set the bar for everything else to come. Their CV with things like the SR-71, F-117, F-22 and F-35, there is absolutely no one else in the world that come even close. I was so frikkin excited when i saw the skunk on the joystick and vertical stabiliser. Absolutely beautiful to see this in the movie.

It is interesting to continually have the Pentagon devalue close range maneuverability for speed and beyond visual range engagement... only to repeatedly be put our forces into scenarios requiring visual confirmation for engagement. When dealing with no fly zones, warzones, naval exclusion zones, and a host of neighboring regions not in conflict with a host of both civilian and allied aircraft not always readily identified electronically the concept of shooting from 30+ miles away becomes nonsensical as all those inherent advantages are dissolved by real world rules of engagement. Amazingly the F-14 was an excellent platform for just such scenarios due to the high magnification camera system which allowed the RIO to zoom in and identify aircraft from well outside normal visual range. Pissing on concepts like supermaneuvrability while at the same time putting your pilots into engagement scenarios where just such capabilities become critical is the epitome of swivel chair short sightedness. I also appreciated the nod to reconfigurable engines to transition to higher mach numbers and agree, continuing to push past the envelope for that test, especially after the numerous temperature warnings began to sound, was a complete Hollywood moment. Seeing the old F-14 back was a nice nod and of course this had to be "not Iran" as that is the only nation still flying them. Having Maverick have to start the bird from the ground cart at least remotely connected this other Hollywood moment to reality. I got a kick out of his reaction to entering the cockpit with the mass of analog controls and dials. I think he said something along the lines "It has been a hot minute" upon being confronted with the panel. Rooster's response was even more entertaining as an aviator having been raised entirely in the next generation of aircraft. It is nice to see a series of videos with an informed opinion on these matters. BS Aerospace Engineering ERAU 1992.

One vulnerability I see with RPA is the datacomms, and as much as I think it vanishignly unlikely fully (I caveat "fully" to try to exclude most guided missiles) autonimous weapons would go full skynet, I do think any autonimous systems would be an insane liability just from how it could fuck up on a day to day basis. Going against near peers, I don't think we can do without in person piloting.

10:40 there is another reason. USA has studied supermaneuverability with 3 aircraft, modified versions of F-16 (the VISTA) F-15 (ACTIVE) and F-18 (HARV) and it was achieved on these research vehicles. They found that, while these modified versions managed supermaneuverability well, it wouldn’t be as helpful in a dogfight too. (Not only BVR.) USA prioritized energy conservation. Supermaneuverability looks cool and all, but bleeds of energy like crazy. USA point of view is that after doing a move like a Cobra, you’re basically frozen mid air, sitting like a duck. The enemy jet can just easily turn and blast it out of the sky. Supermaneuverability can maybe help as the fight continues on, and the energies (speeds) of both jets have dropped, along with their altitudes. So basically a low altitude (deck level) and low speed combat. Jets without supermaneuverability will require at least some speed to be able to turn well. Supermaneuverability will then enhance nose authority and may bring victory in that type of a fight. But the idea again is that the fight could just end before that point, especially with missiles like AIM-9X. Also; 13:30 man that’s injustice against the Viper :( Viper should at least be much closer to F-35.

The debate isn't 'can we do it', it is 'should we do it' and 'who becomes responsible when there is no one in the cockpit'

I think the Darkstar scene would have been acted out better if they just told Maverick beforehand why he shouldn't go faster than Mach 10. In the movie it seemed more like an order and they didn't show that this order had an engineering background. Maybe if they told him why, he wouldn't have taken the risk. Although as a test pilot for hypersonic aircraft, you should know your physics... I also didn't know about the principle of a scramjet until now, that's why I was a bit confused during the movie when they said he should not go over Mach 10, not even a bit because I thought, well if the target is Mach 10 and you reach 10.2, even better, right ? But as I said, they didn't explain why.

Please make a reaction any movie genre about technology that relates to your channel. Thank i love it 😍

Ok going into Aircraft Mechanic school, would like videos on understanding how to do the math, read the manuals of civilian or commercial aircraft. To me a Aerospace Engineer explaining why fixing an aircraft in a particular manner is good for the aircraft and safety. I would even take you explaining the "FAA-H-8083-31A, Aviation Maintenance Technician Handbook-Airframe Volume 1" and manuals because no one really breaks down the concepts.

Really enjoyed your presentation. Thank you.

_"There's pretty much no way he's walking away from this stunt of his with his wings."_ Or his life, I would argue. There's no way a pilot would survive a Mach 10 breakup and disintegration like he did, much less walk away from it. That's like the Space Shuttle Columbia breakup and disintegration. There's no safety cage or capsule or anything that survives that.

Drones have their place but we’re years away from taking men out of the aircraft.

This makes my top 10 favourite movie list now. My assignment today in Navigation systems and Instruments (Master level) class is to provide a detailed presentation on how we as humans are irrelevant and Autonomous ships are here to replace us as seafarers. So to me the Darkstar scene is huge.

Scram jet, by definition, cannot create thrust because there is no compressibility at the inlet diffuser. It’s not that it can’t get up to speed, it cannot move. The scram jet engines usually have solid propellant, and when the compressibility from the forming shocks kick in, that’s when scram jet takes over.

lt had been long time to see u, love from india.

Wow, great video (first time viewer). Darkstar.....Skunk Works has been in the fight for a long time and is capable. Hopefully, they have lots of goodies nestled away in those underground bases in California, Arizona, and Nevada. That being said Darkstar/Red October could be seen as a first strike weapon by Russia and China.

I can understand having unmanned drones to handle dangerous missions BUT the pilots have feelings, instincts, and moral judgement that those robots will never have

I really love when the green wrinkly dude tells the young pilot not to think, when they go down the trench of the deathstar to shoot the vent and when the Millenium Falcoln appears out of nowhere to save our heroes

5:30 instead of two engines which can cause thrust asymmetry, why not wrap the aircraft around one giant engine? That way if you get an engine flame out you just become a glider.

10:45 "if you are in a dog fight between F-22 and Su-57, the F-22 is gonna fire before it even sees the Su-57" Well, that is assuming the F-22 can actually not only detect the Su-57 at that range, but get a lock on it without being detected itself. It might well be possible but since most data including actuall radar cross section of the Su-57 is unknown at the moment, its impossible to assume Also, we have to be aware that if both planes are approaching each other at the speed of sound, 20km gap is covered in just about 14 sec. If they are approaching at supersonic speed that gap is just from 13 to 6 seconds. In stealth aerial warfare, maneuveravility has just become MORE important than for previous generations as mutual detection might not happen until the point that both pilots can both see each other visually.

Thank You . An interesting analasis

And he flew that aircraft with lights inside the actual helmet now that's impressive

Finally saw Top Gun last night at it was incredible. Also, it is super cool to see something I've worked on in your video. Thanks for the content!

Now I’m kinda curious what your thoughts would be on the fictional super planes from the Ace Combat franchise like the ADFX-01 Morgan, XFA-27, or maybe even the CF-44 Nosferatu or X-49 Night Raven

I agree with you, justed watched it 2days ago in 4K. was just the right balance of nostalgia and something new. found myself quite anxious at some scenes. all round a nice fun movie

I’m proud to say I make engine parts for some of these military aircraft. Been doing this for over 11 years now.

Maverick has been lucky, he had one of his colleagues and friends and former rival looking out for him in the boardrooms. Glad they made it very obvious in the movie. Shows the value of faith in someone's capabilities and friendship.

I watched TG:Maverick in cinemas twice, and both times I went "woots!" when the SU-57 suddenly "pulled up" mid-flight. Uh-ma-zing to see. I'm an aspiring aerospace engineer, currently in my 2nd year Bachelors in Aerospace Systems. Loved coming across your video & channel! I've always been a civil aviation geek, but watching TG:M (and this video!) is making me really consider charting a career path for military aviation. Anyway, great review, @Aviation Austin! 😁

Actor Jon Hamm was correct when he stated in the movie that in a few years the Navy will no longer need pilots

One thing about air breathing vehicles is they can typically travel faster with a higher energy to weight ratio. The O2 from the air saves weight instead of having to store an oxidizer as fuel.

Great video! I learned a lot from this, and Im not an engineer!

The Su-57 jets are not a threat to anyone - Russia has got only 4 of them (the 5th has already crashed). They had issues with engines, fire control units and radars. With the current situation - Russia is not going to complete these jets soon.