Tom Cruise’s F-14 maneuver slammed him to the deck and what the pilot said next was unforgettable

Tom Cruise was left with his head slammed to the deck during an F-14 maneuver, and what the pilot said next was unforgettable.

If you know anything about Tom Cruise, it’s that he’s not averse to doing some risky stunts for the sake of his movies.

But even for him, this was extreme, when a maneuver in an F-14 plane left him reaching for the barf bag.

As if that scenario isn’t hysterical enough, what the pilot said next is the cherry on top.

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Tom Cruise had an unforgettable time with this F-14 maneuver

Tom Cruise has a lot of iconic roles under his belt.

In the 40 years he’s been in Hollywood, he’s been the industry’s go-to guy for action movies.

During that time, he’s taken on hair-raising stunts that left his ‘fingers separated from force’.

And that’s nothing compared to the time he was clinging to a plane mid-flight.

Perhaps his most iconic role came in Top Gun (1986) and its long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

When it came time to prep for the first film, he went up into the air in an F-14.

Flying the plane was Lieutenant Commander Lloyd ‘Bozo’ Abel, a fighter jet pilot from the US Navy.

To say that Cruise had an unpleasant ride would be a severe understatement.

Retelling the story years later on The Graham Norton Show, the Mission Impossible actor recalled how grim the experience was.

“We did a really heavy maneuver, pulled like nine and a half Gs,” he said.

“I had my barf bag [by the side of my leg], so I went down, and he decided at that moment to pull up.

“My head was literally touching the ground, he was going up forever!”

What did this pilot have to say for himself?

When the plane levelled out, Cruise demanded to know why his pilot hadn’t given a heads-up before pulling up.

“He said, ‘Yeah, they don’t call me Bozo for nothing’,” Cruise recalled, as the audience burst into fits of laughter.

In the years since, Cruise’s resolve has certainly hardened when it comes to flight stunts.

In Top Gun: Maverick, the pilots working on the film were pushed to the limit – resolving not to do a certain maneuver ever again.

But hey, there’s no business like show business, right?

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