I finally saw it, good movie, and wanted to throw some stuff out:
I heard an interview with the owner of the company that did the aerial shots:
- Tom Cruise flew his P51 (shown in the movie) to the set each day (navy bases). I know previously, he has been forbidden to fly when he is doing a movie for insurance reasons, but I am guessing on this, there was so much flying, they didn't bother (maybe an insistence by Cruise?)
- All the aerial shots where of actual planes (I think all F18's). For the SU57 and F14, those are digital models drawn over the filmed plane. I suspect they used the lighting of the actual planes to make the virtual ones look so good (3D renderings on non-organic objects can be VERY good these days).
The bad guys country seems to be pretty damn close to Iran! (maybe a bit of a warning?) Not only the refining uranium plant, but the F14's (US sold them some before the fall of the Shah).
Also of note is the Taiwanese flag was back on his jacket near the beginning. Previously it had been removed on the insistence of the Chinese. Apparently the Chinese have no interest in showing such American propaganda though, so it won't be released in China, so the flag is back. BTW, I think a great movie would be about the Taiwanese kicking some Chinese but in late model (N models, VERY capable planes) P-47s!
![Thunderbolt in Chinese/Taiwanese Service | Weapons and Warfare](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fweaponsandwarfare.files.wordpress.com%2F2019%2F02%2Funtitled-1copy.jpg%3Fw%3D584&f=1&nofb=1)
As far as the character owning a P51. If he bought a rough one back in the 80's he might have got in for the $100,000 range, but yes, even then, he would likely need some extra money to restore and fly such a plane.
The high mach bail out seemed.... unlikely. The fear of the 5 generation fighter might have been overstated a bit. The real fear of modern fighters are not really the planes, but the missiles. A modern heat seeker (e.g. Sidewinder) can not only track targets from all angles (e.g. head on), but, given the right avionics (e.g. helmet mounted all angle designation) can be launched toward targets at any angle, even to the rear of the launching plane(!). The missile have insane G capability (turning) and are highly resistant to flares. As noted a 5th generation fighter (not really known if the SU57 can actually do this) does give you the ability to launch those off axis shots.
The fear of the modern missiles could have been used as a good plot point. The modern dogfight is obsolete because victory is mostly a matter of spotting and targeting the other guy first, so stealth and range of attack are paramount. Of course.... you cannot shoot what you cannot see, so flying VERY low will likely make it difficult for even the best avionics / missiles. That may have actually been an idea, but they went with the Starwars Deathstar run to be more "cinematic".
And yes, F18s are limited to 7 g's (lightly loaded). The primary reason is not airframe, but Human Factors. The lack of the reclined seat the F16 has, makes pulling high g's far more difficult physiologically so the plane is not built to take it.
Apparently the SU57 is a pretty big disappointment. Supposed to be a stealth design but has a suspected to have a radar cross section 5,000 times larger than an F22 (!) and pretty similar to the F18
![sukhoi su 57 t 50](https://aerocorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sukhoi-su-57-t-50-730x487.jpg)