"Greetings!"note
- The climactic dogfight with the MiGs, especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his Heroic BSoD at the beginning of the dogfight when he nearly goes into a flat spin, the same thing that caused Goose's death, and Maverick dodging a MiG by braking then blowing him away with one last missile.
- The aerial cinematography as a whole, which is still stunning to this day. This is a movie that could easily be done with CG substitutes in this day and age, but there's something awestriking about knowing you're watching real fighter jets the whole way through.
- The Fighter-Launching Sequence in the opening deserves a mention. The entire intro is basically a love letter to the F-14A Tomcat, with amazing shots of the carrier crew prepping the fighters for launch, and then, as the engines light up, Danger Zone kicks in. It's only outdone by the awesomeness that is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat itself. A carrier-based supersonic interceptor with the most advanced avionics and weapons of its time, including the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system. The workhorse of United States Naval Aviation, it served until retirement in 2004, providing fleet interceptor protection as well as being modified for ground-attack roles in its latter years.
- Maverick and Goose's encounter with the MiG harassing Cougar in the opener crosses this with Funny. Flying his Tomcat inverted within a few feet of the MiG is about as effective a demonstration of just how good a pilot Maverick is as the film-makers could have used. Then Maverick deploys the middle finger.
- In a hop in which Viper shows up as one of the simulated aggressors, Maverick gets defeated when he underestimates the teamwork of him and Jester. But before he goes down, he genuinely gives Viper a run for his money with that chase of his; Viper admits to himself that Mav really is that good of a pilot. And just minutes ago, all of Maverick's wingmen were pissing their pants over Viper's presence...
- Duke Mitchell's Dying Moment of Awesome, as related by Viper. Even though his F-4 was damaged, he was surrounded by enemy planes, and he could have retreated back to the Oriskany, Duke stayed in the fight and saved three of his squadron before he finally went down.Viper: He was a natural heroic son of a bitch, that one.
