You’re correct, any young pilot from 1986 (32 years ago) would be an Admiral if he was still in the Navy. The max you can do is 33 years. I think the only ones that go beyond that are generals or admirals and they get an extension from Congress because they are deemed necessary. He’d be flying a desk, but it’s Hollywood so anything’s possible right?
Admiral? With his attitude he’d be lucky to make Lt Commander.
It’s not unheard of for general officers to keep their flying status up to date. For example, (since I recall it) of a crash incident from 30 years ago where the 16th AF Commander Maj. Gen. Winfield Harpe’s F-16 goes down. He was 53 years old.
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/06/world/us-general-dies-in-jet-crash.html