How 'Top Gun: Maverick' made those groundbreaking aerial scenes soar

Before filming "Top Gun: Maverick," with actors taking real G-forces in Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets sporting Imax-grade cameras, cinematographer Claudio Miranda pulled a Tom Cruise and climbed into the cockpit himself.

Running months of camera tests and experimenting with in-cabin rigs, the Oscar-winning "Life of Pi" director of photography was searching for the right combination of technology, precision and artistry to capture the visceral effects of high-intensity aerial flight on the human body. He wanted to put the audience in the pilot's seat like never before as Cruise's Maverick took to the skies again, decades after the original "Top Gun."

So he strapped into an L-39 Albatros jet, the same aircraft Miles Teller, Glen Powell and their castmates trained in to prepare their minds and bodies for the real thing. "I only went four Gs," said Miranda, smiling at the memory of his own flight missions, "and that was enough for me."

In the feature films Miranda and director Joseph Kosinski have collaborated