It's become clear that "Top Gun: Maverick" is now the blockbuster movie of the summer, with the Tom Cruise action film breaking records worldwide, and a Georgia pilot played a key role in making the movie so realistic.
"They were looking for a couple of scenes that required altitudes far lower than normal fighter pilots would fly, and so someone had the good idea to contact the Blue Angels," said retired U.S. Navy Commander and Blue Angel Frank Weisser.
Weisser, an Atlanta native, currently living in North Georgia, had just rotated off the Blue Angels team when Hollywood came calling.
"To do this filming, it ended up being about eight months over multiple filming sessions," Weisser told WDUN's Mornings on Maine Street.
In many of the movie's iconic scenes, Weisser is the one at the controls with Cruise in the back seat, but he says the longtime actor had no trouble stomaching the extreme motions of the airplane.
"He is a private pilot and flies his own airplanes, everything from a P51 to a Gulfstream," Weisser explained. "So he was very comfortable in the plane, and all of the flight that he and I did together, he was a champ."
After several stints with the Blue Angels, Weisser now spends most of his time running Heaven's Landing in Rabun County, where he flies private planes and corporate jets during the week to maintain his skills.
"One of the truths about aviation is it doesn't matter what you're flying," he said. "It's awesome."
You can hear the full interview with Weisser by clicking the SoundCloud link above.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2022/7/1119250/meet-the-georgia-pilot-who-soars-in-top-gun