There is a magic to capturing something “real” in a lens that still can’t be recreated with green screen. Maverick was such a wild ride because the action seems real, you are there. The original 80s Top Gun used great real footage but when watching it now you’re constantly aware it’s edited footage. Maverick looks real (because it mostly is real) and you feel like you’re in the aircraft because the tech to shoot a hi res film has gotten so small. I could watch behind the scenes stuff for Maverick or Fury Road all day, it’s nuts what they did.
Maverick's aerial director also did Devotion. Highly suggest that one as well. He was at Airventure last summer and showed some clips. Mentioned how they had issues at first getting the belly shots as the lens would get covered in oil from engine. They ended up buying dog bowls and rigging a contraption with a line to the cockpit so when they wanted to actually get video the pilot would pull the string, the bowl that was protecting the lens from the oil would fall away and they would get the clear images they needed.