Tom Cruise doesn’t just talk the talk — he loves flying, and he really does know how to fly. As he told Conan O’Brien in 2019, “As a little kid, I wanted to fly airplanes, and I wanted to make movies.” With his work, he’s found a way to combine the two, and many of his films, like “Top Gun: Maverick,” are an ode to his beloved hobby. “I’m a pilot myself,” he enthused. “I love flying, and I love aviation, so this is also just a love letter to aviation.” This is why he demanded that he be allowed to fly an F-14 himself, and the studio agreed. “I went through all the pilot training, and then I filmed three flights in the F-14 in one day — it was a dream of mine,” he said.
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However, Cruise was flying long before then. He originally got his license in 1994, and as he told WIRED in 2017, he can indeed fly airplanes. “I’m a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot,” he explained. What’s more, he can also pilot a helicopter and got his license so he could film his dream helicopter sequence for “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” Not too shabby! “I fly aerobatics in that,” he shared. “I’m a commercially-rated helicopter pilot also.” As the movie’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, told Thrillist, Cruise also underwent stunt training and totally crushed it. “Tom is a great pilot,” he applauded.
