In contrast to his love life which was sailing smoothly, Maverick's flying sessions and Top Gun lessons weren't anywhere close.
"I feel the need, the need for speed!" Maverick uttered wherein Goose chimed along.
It wouldn't be that way for long.
------
We're in the air again.
Iceman is in the first place, and Maverick is just two points behind.
In this exercise... Maverick, Goose, Hollywood, and Wolfman are teamed up.
Maverick and Co. spot the "bogeys," and then Viper's voice comes over the radio.
Whoa! Wolfman can't believe it. True head-honcho Viper was finally taking part.
Goose reacts much the same, while Maverick cracks a joke.
The boys follow Viper and Jester... until Viper peels off and goes his own way.
Hollywood and Maverick are chasing Jester. While Maverick spots Viper, not being able to resist breaking off from their team formation.
Despite Goose and Hollywood's advice, Maverick decides to chase Viper.
Oops.
The chase is on, with Viper continually eluding Maverick, and both pilots praising the other ("Damn this kid's good," says Viper).
Viper continues to lure Maverick somewhere, repeatedly saying in multiple shots "Come on, come on, that's it, come on."
Maverick is really close to getting Viper in missile lock and then all of a sudden another plane shows up.
Maverick is in missile lock, and he can't believe it. He and Goose turn to see Jester on their tail: "Bingo, Maverick's dead. You're outta there kid."
Jester exclaims as payback.
A really big mistake on Maverick's part.
------
The hop is over, and the Top Gun pilots are waiting for the showers.
Maverick is in a towel, and he seems upset that he made such an error.
Jester comes in and praises him, but then scolds him too: "That was some of the best flying I've seen yet, right up to the part where you got killed. You never, never leave your wingman."
Then, it's Iceman's turn, who also takes a dig at Maverick: "Maverick, it's not your flying, it's your attitude. The enemy's dangerous, but right now you're worse than the enemy. You're dangerous and foolish."
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Maverick seems to know he's let Goose down again, and during Iceman's little speech, he approached his pal.
Goose tries to look at things in a positive light, reminding Maverick that Viper got Iceman before he and Jester got them.
Maverick knows he was stupid, and tells Goose it'll never happen again.
Goose says he knows it won't.
Goose's way of saying "I know it won't because I'll quit if it does?"
-----
This can't be any more poignant when hop 31 came along.
Jets are starting to take off again.
Jester says that it is now hop 31, and graduation is in two weeks. The Top Gun trophy is still up for grabs.
Soon, we're in the sky. Two F-14s are next to each other.
Then we see them up close.
One is Iceman. He looks to his left and glares.
Then we see Maverick smiling back.
The subtext is clear: it's on!
For Maverick, it's about having fun. Iceman is way serious, and this isn't a joke for him.
"Bogeys" are spotted, and both Maverick and Ice try to move in. Iceman cuts Maverick off, much to Maverick's annoyance.
Iceman can't get a good shot at the big bogey, and Maverick and Goose keep telling him to hurry up and shoot or get out so they can try.
Finally, Iceman concedes and gets out of the way.
Maverick and Goose, however, get caught in his jet wash. This is a serious, serious situation, and their plane enters a flat spin.
Maverick can't control the plane, even though he tries. Soon, both of the plane's engines go out.
The force of the spin makes it impossible for Maverick to pull the eject cord. He tells Goose to get out.
Goose tries, and tries, seemingly unable to grasp the handles.
Finally, he's able to grasp them. He pulls them. The spinning and jolting suddenly stop, and it gets very quiet. We see the cockpit lid come off, and then we see Maverick and Goose eject.
Goose ejects right into the cockpit shell. This is not good.
We see his body parachuting into the ocean. It looks like he's dead.
"Gooooooooose!"
Next thing we know, Maverick is screaming his name, pulling his body to the surface of the water.
Maverick knows it and so do the viewers. Goose is dead!
A Coast Guard helicopter arrives and rescues the fellas. With one last glimpse of Goose's body being pulled out of the water.
-------
We see the outside of an emergency hospital. Then we see a sink, set up for shaving.
Maverick was depressingly cleaning up. Viper comes in, wearing his nice white dress uniform.
Ostensibly, he's there to check on Maverick, but the things he says to Maverick smack more of a pep talk.
Maverick says Goose was his responsibility, and Viper gives him a short lecture about how if you fly jets long enough, something like this happens.
He talks about Vietnam and tells Maverick he needs to let Goose go.
------
How could he let go though?
Tragedy struck. It was him that took an unnecessary risk that resulted in the death of his partner.
We see Goose's wife, sitting in a very comfortable chair, her son in the chair in front.
Maverick enters, goes into Goose's room and starts picking up some stuff: his sunglasses, a picture of him and Maverick, his dog tags.
He tries to go into the room where Carole is, but he can't do it and breaks down against the door.
Finally, he gets it together and goes in to be with her.
Carole says through her tears, "God he loved flying with you Maverick." Then she gets up and hugs him.
Goose would have flown without Maverick, she says.
This seems to be her way of saying Maverick needs to keep at it, even without his partner in crime, Goose.
-----
How could he let go?
This event just sinks him into depression and a guilt-ridden phase where he seriously thinks of quitting the force.
Even when Navy official declares that the F-14 crash was caused by a "disruption of airflow into the starboard engine."
It goes into more detail, but the final verdict is the key point: Maverick is not at fault.
He is restored to "flight status" and can go back up anytime.
It was no use.
Even with the whole of Top Gun trying to get the reckless but admittedly-talented flyer to condition again.
Even when they kept sending the Maverick up to the skies. New RIO and jet in tow.
Even Iceman tried to break the ice.
Unfortunately, Maverick seems to have lost his edge.
Mirroring the worrying fate that Cougar from the opening sequence went through.
With a large duffle bag, the broken man walks out and the news broke...
Maverick just quit Top Gun!