‘Top Gun’ Plane Gets Hollywood Ending Thanks to ADM

Denis Monette, starch technical specialist and AirForce veteran, doesn’t consider himself Hollywood material, necessarily, but he ended up playing an important role alongside ADM in the recent release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise hit movie “Top Gun.” 

 

Monette was involved in developing an abrasive-yet-gentle starch media solution that was utilized by the US Navy to take the Tinsel Town paint job off the U.S. Military fighter jet used during the filming of the new Top Gun movie. 

 

ADM’s EnviroStrip abrasive starch media was used by the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, to remove the top coat (and undercoats) from protagonist Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s F-18 fighter jet. 

 

“ADM’s EnviroStrip was loaded into a large, four-nozzle blast system to do the job,” Monette reports, as a technical expert on ADM’s EnviroStrip starches. 

 

Not only did ADM’s eStrip do the job, but it provided a sustainable option. Instead of using petroleum- based plastic media, the loose abrasive media product is derived from corn. 

 

“This is a great example of how ADM is producing a sustainable grain-based material replacing petroleum-based material and speaks of the wide range of applications in which the ADM BioSolutions portfolio is present,” said Lorena Meyenberg, product director, Starch for ADM. 

 

The F-18 used in the movie was expected to return to service on an aircraft carrier after being repainted to standard military colors. 

 

“The gentle nature of our media has proven its ability to successfully support numerous military aircraft paint removal requirements both at U.S. Navy JAX and several U.S. Air Force facilities,” said Cameron Drake, EnviroStrip sales director.