TOP GUN PHENOM 300
Stars of the blockbuster movie Top Gun: Maverick may be Tom Cruise and his Boeing Super Hornets. But an Embraer business jet played a key role. Words: Conor Feasey
Fast Movers – The Embraer Phenom 300 camera ship sporting custom-designed nose camera, lines up with the stars of the show – Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
Stars of the blockbuster movie Top Gun: Maverick may be Tom Cruise and his Boeing Super Hornets. But an Embraer business jet played a key role. Words: Conor Feasey
Fast Movers – The Embraer Phenom 300 camera ship sporting custom-designed nose camera, lines up with the stars of the show - Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
TOPPING THE 1986 classic movie Top Gun seemed like mission impossible. But its sequel Top Gun: Maverick has already grossed more than $1.4bn worldwide and received rave reviews from audiences and critics. Part of the reason lies in the stunning aerial sequences – many of which were filmed from an Embraer Phenom 300 business jet.
Like most things in aviation, this story starts with “the need for speed”. Jonathan Spano, owner of the modified Embraer Phenom 300, had originally bought an aircraft to streamline his business travel. “I began buying aircraft to grow my company, Traffic Management Incorporated, because it made the business more open to opportunities in other parts of the country,” he tells Corporate Jet Investor in an exclusive interview.
“Naturally, we got a bigger plane and then an even bigger plane until we got the Embraer Phenom 300. There is no better single-pilot jet, in my opinion.”
“We want you to help us make Top Gun: Maverick”
After buying the Embraer, Spano found time to return to his teenage love of filmmaking having gained an avid interest in helicopters. “I saw an opportunity to bridge my love of aviation and filmmaking and get back to doing creative work.” Spano partnered with a legendary Hollywood camera helicopter pilot and ariel coordinator, Fred North.
“This was my gateway into the business, and I started working with him on several projects before he one day said to me: ‘They are making another Top Gun movie in two years. I think we should modify your Phenom 300 to use the same camera systems we use in the helicopter.’”
The team used a fully gyro-stabilised gimbal camera system, which is remotely operated from the cabin of the aircraft. “Fred said that if we installed this on the Embraer, there was a good chance that I would be chosen to work on the project.” David Nowell, who was aerial camera coordinator on the original Top Gun, was also instrumental in the platform’s build.
Camera ready – Kevin LaRosa Jr, Top Gun: Maverick aerial coordinator is ready for action – standing in front of the CineJet, a modified Aero L-39 Albatross Cold War two-seat jet trainer.
Modifying the aircraft was no easy feat. “We spent about 18 months in the development of the platform. About a year of that was just in design and certification. The actual augmentation of the aircraft probably only took three months.
“It just about worked out. When we finished the platform, they had already started filming. So, we made it just in the nick of time to do the aerial scenes that you see now in the film.”
Most aircraft owners will say that their aircraft is unique, but Spano has a stronger claim than most. “It's the only FAA certified jet with these camera systems,” he says. “There are other jets out there that are certified but are experimental aircraft and only carry one camera in the front. The only two people onboard the aircraft would be the pilot and the camera operator.
“Whereas mine, because it's a business jet, can have two camera operators – one in the front and one in the back, a director, a technician, a whole crew of people in the aircraft and increased range too. So, we can stay up probably three times as long as other aircraft and go further. It really is one of a kind.”
The aircraft was certified just in time. Since Spano, North and Nowell completed the project, the FAA changed its certification programme for aircraft. What took them 18 months to complete and certify would now take about six years.
Piloting the modified business jet was stunt pilot and aerial coordinator for the film, Kevin LaRosa Jr. The California based pilot comes from a strong aviation lineage. “I’m a third-generation pilot, second-generation stunt pilot and aerial coordinator for the film and motion picture industry,” he tells CJI. “All I ever wanted to do was to follow in my father’s footsteps. I soloed helicopters and aeroplanes at 16. I got my licence in both helicopter and fixed wing at 17 and next got certified in my first jet at 19.”
LaRosa worked as an assistant to his father in the film industry before following his advice to leave and gain the vital experience needed to become successful in the business. After holding fixed wing roles with the Department of Defense and in varying industries piloting helicopters, the time arrived for LaRosa to take the jump to the big screen.
Armed with camera film, the Phenom 300 slides into the fighter’s six o’clock position.
Phenom Embraer 300
Speed 598mph
Ceiling 45,000ft
Range 1,917nm
Cost $9.45m (list price).
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
Speed 1,190 mph
Ceiling 50,000ft
Range 1,275nm
Cost $52m.
Kevin LaRosa Jr.
“I was 28 years old and had acquired about 5,000 hours of flight time and a good amount of experience. It was time to make the leap of faith and leave the comforts of a full-time job and become an independent contractor to the studios,” he says. “I haven’t looked back since.”
Like Spano, LaRosa caught wind that Top Gun: Maverick was in the works. Of all projects he had worked on, joining the production team for this movie became his Holy Grail. “I remember the day I got the call,” he says. “I was in my backyard and one of the executive producers called and said, ‘Kev, we want you to help us make Top Gun: Maverick.’
“I played it cool on the phone. But when I hung up there was a big old yell of joy because it really was a dream come true. From there, my role in Top Gun Maverick evolved from not just the camera jet pilot, but the aerial coordinator of the entire movie, and in charge of all the flight sequences and helping with the creative storytelling of the air-to-air sequences in the movie.”
LaRosa helped to build another aircraft used on the project. The CineJet, a modified Aero L-39 Albatross Cold War jet trainer, was used to film the dog fight and low terrain sequences. But LaRosa remains full of praise for Spano’s work on the Phenom. “Jonathan was the creator and mastermind behind the Phenom 300 camera jet. He did an incredible job,” he says.
“There was a big old yell of joy because this was a dream come true”
Together with the rest of the team, the Top Gun co-pilots accumulated hundreds of hours of flight time. “I think in total we got more than 200 hours of aerial shots whilst on the project,” says LaRosa.
But from all the aerial filming, there was one scene that stood out for both LaRosa and Spano. “I flew the Phenom 300 for the approaches to the USS Theodore Roosevelt super carrier,” recalls LaRosa. “We are probably the only civilians ever to be approved to fly that close in a private jet. So, that was incredible. I’m not sure if we’ll see anything quite like it again.”
Spano agrees. “As a civilian, to be able to do an approach to an aircraft carrier, I don't know if it's ever been done. Let alone done with a business jet. It's once in a lifetime stuff for sure. It really is amazing to have participated in something that was revolutionary in business aviation and film.”
Jonathan Spano, owner of the modified Phenom 300.
The idea of their private jets being used to film aerial sequences for the silver screen might seem like a tempting business prospect for some. But it is not for the faint hearted, says Spano. “You know what they say: if you want to make $1m in aviation spend two first,” he jokes. “No sane person takes an $8m aircraft and spends nearly two years and seven figures on a project like this.”
To misquote criticism of the film’s hero Maverick, some might claim his ego was writing cheques that his body (and bank balance) could not cash.
“Had it not been for a big feature film like Top Gun, it would take 10 years to pay back my investment,” says Spano. “It truly was a passion project. It was not a good business decision – I did it because of my passion for aviation and film.”
Just another day in the (L-39 Albatross) office for aerial film co-ordinator Kevin LaRosa Jr.
