**It has been widely reported that Cruise actually flew these aircraft in the movie**
I not going to look it up, but I recall over a year ago seeing an interview with a Navy pilot that was doing the actual flying while TC was in the back seat. He said no way was TC allowed to fly the jet. He was trained to turn his head as though he was flying it. He also said TC did pretty well, only passed out a few times when pulling the ‘g’s.
Thank you. So Cruise flew IN the aircraft but did not FLY the aircraft.