Summary
This article explores the physics behind Top Gun: Maverick, analyzing whether the extreme speeds and accelerations shown in the film are realistic. Concepts like Mach numbers, G-forces, and human tolerance to acceleration are clearly explained in an accessible way, revealing which scenes are grounded in reality and which ones take cinematic liberties.
Recently, I had the chance to watch Top Gun: Maverick, the thrilling sequel to the iconic 1986 film. At the end of the movie I thought I could quickly put together an article about Top Gun physics, pointing out how certain scenes were decidedly unrealistic.
However, to my surprise, after doing some research, I had to partially change my mind.
(Lesson learned: articles are never as simple as they seem before you start writing them.)
Speed and acceleration
Many fans wonder how accurate Top Gun physics really is when it comes to speed, acceleration, and the effects on the human body.
First, let’s briefly review the concepts of speed and acceleration.
Speed measures the distance an object travels in one second. If an object travels at a speed of 5 m/s, it means it moves 5 meters every second.
Acceleration measures how quickly an object’s velocity changes. For instance, if an object accelerates at 8 m/s2, it means that every second its velocity increases by 8 m/s. For example, if the object starts from rest, after one second it will be moving at 8 m/s; after two, 16 m/s, after three, 24 m/s, and so on.
In the film, speeds are measured in Mach, which is a ratio relative to the speed of sound. Mach 1 means the speed is equal to the speed sound, Mach 5 means that it’s five times faster.
Accelerations, on the other hand, are measured in proportion to the acceleration due to gravity, which is just under 10 m/s2. If you drop an object, after one second it will be moving at 10 m/s. After another second the speed will be 20 m/s, and so on. Note that this behavior occurs only if air resistance can be neglected compared to the object’s weight. An acceleration of 1 g is about 10 m/s2 while an acceleration of 4 g is about 40 m/s2.
Top Gun physics: speed
Human body and high speeds
In the first part of the film, the protagonist is shown flying an experimental aircraft at Mach 10— ten times the speed of sound.
First point: reaching such extremely high speeds does not put stress on the human body.
If you were in an aircraft flying at Mach 10 at a constant speed, you wouldn’t feel anything unusual—apart from perhaps the vibrations of the aircraft. Just think about being on a high-speed train traveling at 300 km/h. We don’t feel anything unusual, apart from slight vibrations. If the tracks were perfectly straight, and you didn’t look out the window, you wouldn’t be able to tell whether the train was moving or standing still.
Galileo developed this idea—known as the Galilean principle of relativity—which played a key role in supporting the heliocentric theory. His opponents questioned how the Earth could orbit the Sun and rotate on its axis if we don’t feel any motion. In fact, due to Earth’s motion around the Sun, we’re actually moving at 30 km/s—about 107,000 km/h—yet we don’t notice this extraordinary speed!
Speed records
Second point: the Mach 10 speed shown in the film is extremely high—but not impossible.
Currently, the speed record for a jet-powered aircraft capable of conventional takeoff and landing is held by the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird,” which can exceed Mach 3.
That may seem much slower than what’s shown in the film, but significantly higher speeds have been achieved by rocket-powered planes. These aircraft can’t take off or land on their own and don’t have turbines that draw in external air. Instead, they carry the oxygen needed for combustion onboard. These rocket planes are typically carried to altitude by another aircraft or a helicopter. Once released, they continue flying on their own.
The speeds reached in these cases are remarkable. The record for a manned rocket plane is held by the North American X-15, which reached Mach 6 in 1967.
Other unmanned prototypes have approached Mach 10, such as the X-43, an experimental aircraft that reached Mach 9.6 in 2004.
In short, no manned aircraft currently reaches Mach 10—but technically, it’s not impossible.
The reason it hasn’t been done is that it’s unnecessary to risk pilots’ lives in such experimental prototypes—especially now that modern technologies allow for remote control.
If anything, the most unbelievable part of the scene is the curved trajectories the aircraft follows. Performing such curves would pose an unnecessary risk by adding extra stress on top of what’s already caused by the extreme speed. It’s safer to just fly in a straight line—and that’s what’s typically done when setting speed records. But of course, a plane flying straight the whole time isn’t exactly cinematic!
Top Gun physics: acceleration and the human body
The human body and acceleration
In the second part of the film, the pilots must train for a maneuver that will expose them to an acceleration of 10 g.
Flying at Mach 10 doesn’t pose a problem for the human body — it’s the acceleration that does.
When we are in a vehicle that accelerates, we feel pushed in the opposite direction of the acceleration. If the acceleration is strong enough, it can reduce blood flow to the brain, leading to fainting. This loss of consciousness is called G-LOC (G-force-induced loss of consciousness).
Below is a video of a pilot undergoing a 9 g acceleration and losing consciousness for a few seconds.
Acceleration tolerance limits
The human body can withstand a different level of acceleration depending on the direction.
The following graph shows for which acceleration-duration combination there is a fainting due to accelerations in different directions.
Human tolerance to different levels of acceleration (vertical axis) over various durations (horizontal axis), depending on the direction (indicated by color). The horizontal axis uses a logarithmic scale.
As shown in the graph, the human body tolerates accelerations directed toward the front of the body better than those in other directions (red line). Upward accelerations are the most dangerous (green line) because they tend to push blood downward, away from the brain.
In the case of frontal accelerations (red line), the human body can withstand 20 g for only 1 second, or 10 g for just over 10 seconds.
When acceleration comes from other directions, the tolerance limit drops significantly. As for the film, the acceleration was 10 g, lasted about ten seconds, and the apparent forces were directed downward and backward.
We could say the corresponding line would fall somewhere between the green and red lines, making it quite unlikely for a normal person to endure such acceleration. But be careful! Fighter pilots (and even astronauts) undergo training that allows them to withstand higher-than-normal accelerations. They also wear special suits that compress the legs to reduce blood pooling in the lower body. For this reason, the best pilots can withstand accelerations of 9–10 g for a few seconds without suffering major consequences. For them, it may be a challenging situation, but it’s one they are trained for and have experienced before.
Conclusions
I won’t comment on the feasibility of the aerial maneuvers shown in the film or on any potential aeronautical inaccuracies, as these are outside my area of expertise. I won’t comment on the feasibility of the aerial maneuvers shown in the film or on any potential aeronautical inaccuracies, as these are outside my area of expertise.
Let’s just say it’s more realistic than what we see in many other films!
References
- Wikipedia: Flight Airspeed Record
- Wikipedia: Mach Number
- Wikipedia: G-force
- Wikipedia: High g Training
