Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.
Goose: The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.
Charlie: Excuse me, Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?
Maverick: Yes ma'am, the data on the MiG is inaccurate.
Charlie: How's that, Lieutenant?
Maverick: Well, I just happened to see a MiG 28 do a...
Goose: We!
Maverick: Uh, sorry, Goose. *We* happened to see a MiG 28 do a 4g negative dive.
Charlie: Where did you see this?
Maverick: Uh, that's classified.
Charlie: It's what?
Maverick: It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
Stinger: Maverick, you just did an incredibly brave thing. What you should have done was land your plane! You don't own that plane, the tax payers do! Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash. You've been busted, you lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five air control towers, and one admiral's daughter!
Goose: Penny Benjamin?
[Maverick shrugs]
Stinger: And you asshole, you're lucky to be here!
Goose: Thank you, sir.
Stinger: And let's not bullshit Maverick. Your family name ain't the best in the Navy. You need to be doing it better, and cleaner than the other guy. Now what is it with you?
Maverick: Just want to serve my country, be the best pilot in the Navy, sir.
Stinger: Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot! I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters are going to Top Gun.
Charlie: So, lieutenant, where exactly were you?
Maverick: Well, we...
Goose: Thank you.
Maverick: Started up on a 6, when he pulled from the clouds, and then I moved in above him.
Charlie: Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?
Maverick: Because I was inverted.
Iceman: [coughs whilst saying] Bullshit.
Goose: No, he was man. It was a really great move. He was inverted.
Charlie: You were in a 4g inverted dive with a MiG28?
Maverick: Yes, ma'am.
Charlie: At what range?
Maverick: Um, about two meters.
Goose: It was actually about one and a half I think. It was one and a half. I've got a great Polaroid of it, and he's right there, must be one and a half.
Maverick: Was a nice picture.
Goose: Thanks.
Charlie: Eh, lieutenant, what were you doing there?
Goose: Communicating.
Maverick: Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations. You know, giving him the bird!
Goose: [Charlie looks puzzled, so Goose clarifies] You know, the finger
Charlie: Yes, I know the finger, Goose.
Goose: I-I'm sorry, I hate it when it does that, I'm sorry. Excuse me.
Maverick: Jesus Christ, and you think I'm reckless? When I fly, I'll have you know that my crew and my plane come first.
Charlie: Well, I am going to finish my sentence, Lieutenant. My review of your flight performance was right on.
Maverick: Is that right?
Charlie: That is right, but I held something back. I see some real genius in your flying, Maverick, but I can't say that in there. I was afraid that everyone in the tax trailer would see right through me, and I just don't want anyone to know that I've fallen for you.
Maverick: Talk to me, Goose.
Charlie: Listen, can I ask you a personal question?
Maverick: That depends.
Charlie: Are you a good pilot?
Maverick: I can hold my own.
Charlie: Great, then I won't have to worry about you making your living as a singer.
Maverick: I'm going to need a beer to put these flames out. Yo! Great Mav, real slick.
[first title card]
Title Card: On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.
Goose: (checking out the plaque with names of the best of the best) No, boys. There's two "O"s in Goose.
Viper: I flew with your old man. VF-51, the Oriskany. You're a lot like he was. Only better... and worse. He was a natural heroic son of a bitch that one.
Maverick: So he did do it right.
Viper: Yeah, he did it right... Is that why you fly the way you do? Trying to prove something? Yeah, your old man did it right. What I'm about to tell you is classified. It could end my career. We were in the worst dogfight I ever dreamed of. There were bogeys like fireflies all over the sky. His F-4 was hit, and he was wounded, but he could've made it back. He stayed in it, saved three planes before he bought it.
Maverick: How come I never heard that before?
Viper: Well, that's not something the State Department tells dependents when the battle occurred over the wrong line on some map.
Maverick: So you were there?
Viper: I was there. What's on your mind?
Maverick: My options, sir.
Viper: Simple. First you've acquired enough points to show up tomorrow and graduate with your Top Gun class, or you can quit. There'd be no disgrace. That spin was hell, it would've shook me up.
Maverick: So you think I should quit?
Viper: I didn't say that. The simple fact is you feel responsible for Goose and you have a confidence problem. Now I'm not gonna sit here and blow sunshine up your ass, Lieutenant. A good pilot is compelled to evaluate what's happened, so he can apply what he's learned. Up there, we gotta push it. That's our job. It's your option, Lieutenant. All yours.
Maverick: Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, sir, but thank you very much for your time.
Viper: No problem. Good luck.
Maverick: I think I'll go embarrass myself with Goose.
Jester: That was some of the best flying I've seen to date - right up to the part where you got killed.
Goose: [flying above MiG upside down] Is this your idea of fun, Mav?
Hollywood: Gutsiest move I ever saw, Mav.
Maverick: That son of a bitch cut me off!
Goose: Come on, Mav, do some of that pilot shit!
Goose: Yeeha, Jester's dead!
Wolfman: Won this bullshit?
Goose: Didn't everybody?
Hollywood: Hell no, man. We got our butts kicked.
Wolfman: Thirty seconds. We went like this, he went like that. I said to Hollywood, "Where'd he go?" Hollywood says, "Where'd who go?"
Hollywood: Yeah, and he's laughing at us, right on the radio, he's laughing at us.
Slider: That was me laughing, dickhead.
Air Boss Johnson: Two of your snot-nose jockeys did a fly-by on my tower at over 400 KNOTS! I want somebody's butt, I want it now, I've HAD IT!
[storm out, then bumps into a Yeoman and spills coffee all over his pants]
Air Boss Johnson: DAMN! That's TWICE! I WANT SOME BUTTS!
[Maverick is in a dogfight with a MiG and is down to one missile left]
Merlin: This is it, Maverick!
Maverick: I'm gonna hit the brakes, he'll fly right by.
Merlin: Shit! He's gonna get a lock on us!
Maverick: [the MiG eventually gets a lock onto Maverick] NOW!
[Maverick slams the breaks and the MiG passes by, then Maverick locks onto the MiG]
Maverick: Got a good lock, firing.
[the MiG is then destroyed by the missile]
Maverick: Whoo! Scratch four!
Maverick: [to Cougar and Merlin while up in the air] Any of you boys seen an aircraft-carrier around here?
Iceman: Maverick, it's not your flying, it's your attitude. The enemy's dangerous, but right now you're worse. Dangerous and foolish. You may not like who's flying with you, but whose side are you on?
[after the final dogfight]
Maverick: Mustang, this is Maverick, requesting fly-by.
Air Boss Johnson: Negative, Ghost Rider. The Pattern is full.
Merlin: Uh, excuse me, something I should know about?
Air Boss Johnson: [gets his coffee] Thank you.
[Maverick does a fly-by past the Enterprise, causing the Air Boss to spill his coffee]
Air Boss Johnson: Goddamn that guy.
Maverick: You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead.
Viper: How ya doin'?
Maverick: I'm all right.
Viper: Goose is dead.
Maverick: I know.
Viper: You fly jets long enough, something like this happens.
Maverick: He was my R.I.O., my responsibility.
Viper: My squadron, we lost 8 of 18 aircraft. 10 men. First one dies, you die too. But there will be others. You can count on that. You gotta let him go. You gotta let him go.
Maverick: Standby, Viper's coming down.
Radio Operator: Maverick, you're at 3/4 of a mile. Call the ball.
Maverick: Roger. Maverick has the ball.
Viper: [to Maverick] You'll pick up your RIO when you get to the ship, and if you don't, give me a call. I'll fly with you.
Charlie: You're not going to be happy unless you're going Mach 2 with your hair on fire.
Carole: God, he loved flying with you Maverick. But he would've done it anyway... without you. He'd have hated it, but he would've done it.
Iceman: The plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies room.
Viper: Top Gun rules of engagement are written for your safety and for that of your team. They are not flexible, nor am I. Either obey them or you are history. Is that clear?
[Merlin sees the last two MiGs flying away at the end of the dogfight]
Merlin: Mustang, this is Voodoo 3. Remaining MiGs are bugging out.
[first lines]
Flight Captain: Good morning, Scott.
Iceman: Mitchell, I'm sorry about Goose. Everybody liked him. I'm sorry.
Charlie: Maverick, you big stud... Take me to bed or lose me forever.
Viper: In case some of you are wondering who the best is, they are up here on this plaque.
[turns to Maverick]
Viper: Do you think your name will be on that plaque?
Maverick: Yes, sir.
Viper: That's pretty arrogant, considering the company you're in.
Maverick: Yes, sir.
Viper: I like that in a pilot.
Iceman: [as Maverick's F-14 suffers a flameout caused by Iceman's jet wash] Mayday, mayday, Mav's in trouble. He's in a flat spin, he's heading out to sea.
Stinger: [to Maverick after the last dogfight] How's it feel to be on the front page of every newspaper in the English-speaking world, even though the other side denies the incident? Congratulations.
Cougar: I'm gonna break high and right, see if he's really alone.
Viper: [after the first hop with Jester ends with Maverick shooting down Jester at the hard deck and Maverick doing a fly-by near a tower] Gentlemen... You had a hell of a first day. The hard deck for this hop was 10,000 feet. You knew it, you broke it. You followed Commander Heatherly below after he lost sight of you and called no joy. Why?
Maverick: Sir! I had Commander Heatherly in my sights, he saw me move in for the kill. He then proceeded below the hard deck. We weren't below 10,000 for more than a few seconds. I had the shot, there was no danger, so I took it.
Viper: You took it... AND BROKE A MAJOR RULE OF ENGAGEMENT. Then you broke another one with that, uh, circus stunt fly-by.
[Viper sighs]
Viper: Lieutenant Mitchell... Top Gun rules of engagement exists for your safety and for that of your team. They are not flexible, nor am I. Either obey them, or you're history. Is that clear?
Goose: [after Goose and Maverick get chewed out by Viper] Thanks, Mav, that was really great. Oh, shit! Maybe I should become a truck driver. Mav, do you remember the number of that truck driving school that was on TV the other night, Truck America or something like that?
Goose: Great balls of fire!
Maverick: Jesus, this guy's good!
Maverick: I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by.
Maverick: Too close for missles, I'm switching to guns.
Slider: [Iceman shoots down a MiG] Splash that sucker, yeah!
Viper: Damn, this kid is good!
Wolfman: [watches Maverick leave the locker room and is talking on the phone] Hey, it's Wolfman. Yeah, Maverick just quit.
Viper: [after the dogfight with Viper] Okay, gentleman, knock it off. Let's go home, Viper has the lead.
