The Hollywood Icon Who Taught Tom Cruise to Pilot Airplanes

Tom Cruise did not just hop out of Top Gun with a cool call sign and call it a day. He apparently walked off that set determined to actually fly for real — and Kurt Russell says he was the guy who helped get Cruise off the ground. Yes, Snake Plissken taught Maverick how to handle a cockpit.

Kurt Russell got Cruise started

Russell told Entertainment Weekly that he could tell Cruise’s aviation obsession was the genuine article as soon as they sat down together. Russell has serious chops himself — he flew for about three decades, across a bunch of different planes, though he is not current anymore — and after Top Gun, he took Cruise up in his own aircraft and showed him the early ropes. From there, Russell says he did what he could to point Cruise in the right direction, and it clearly stuck.

Russell also gave Cruise a nod for the skill he has picked up over the years, calling him a 'good stick man,' and said he loved seeing Cruise jump back into Maverick’s boots after all that time.

Then Sydney Pollack picked up the tab

The flying education did not stop with Russell. After The Firm in 1993, director Sydney Pollack literally gifted Cruise flight lessons. That training compounded over the years and eventually showed up right on screen — Cruise’s real-world piloting is baked into movies like American Made and, of course, Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise paid it forward

That aviation bug has a way of spreading on his sets. Glen Powell, who squared off with Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, says Cruise personally bankrolled his path to a license.

'For Christmas, Tom bought me an iPad with my flight school downloaded and prepaid. After months of flying, studying, and testing… I’m the real deal.'

So where’s Russell now?

He is staying on the ground these days, but still having some fun. You likely caught him in that Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl spot that nods pretty hard at the Top Gun vibe. Not a bad way to circle back to the hangar.