When he first played Pete “Maverick” Mitchell inside the 1986 movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise was simplest 23 years old. With the big name turning 60 on July 3, a brief calculation suggests that fans have been telling Cruise, “I feel the want, the need for pace,” the catchphrase from his first large movie for nicely over 1/2 of his life.

This yr’s sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, which made $1 billion, has only given humans greater chances to use the quote once more, in headlines, evaluations, tweets, gifs, and other locations. But the actor, who loves planes, cars, and bikes as a great deal as his Top Gun individual does, has never heard that line repeated back to him when he’s been pulled over for rushing.

In an one of a kind interview for PEOPLE’s Top Gun special edition, Cruise was requested if a site visitors cop had ever stated “Need for Speed” to him.

Cruise says, “No,” and then fast provides, “I desire they could!” It doesn’t seem feasible. Never? Maybe he in no way drives faster than the restrict?

“I do pace from time to time,” he says. “Sometimes, I get stopped. But I also spend a number of time on racetracks, on bikes, and in helicopters, so I get a number of that stuff out.”

All via Top Gun: Maverick, that love of speed and flying is apparent. Navy pilots flew the navy jets wherein he and his co-stars have been filmed, but Cruise flew his personal vintage P-51 prop aircraft inside the scene in which Maverick takes Penny, performed via Jennifer Connelly, for a experience within the clouds.

“I wanted this film to be a love letter to aviation again in 1985,” says Cruise. “It’s approximately a way to fly. Not simply the tough parts, however also the lovely parts. I parachute. I fly rapid. I fly chopper planes. I do hints with they all.”

He has a actual need for velocity. On his 60th birthday, he went to the Grand Prix of Great Britain to observe Formula 1 races. But he loves flying for greater than simply the thrill of it.

“It’s poetic to observe what man has accomplished and what he’s capable of and spot the arena from that factor of view,” says Cruise, who got his pilot’s license after the first Top Gun film.

“I’ve flown in places in which birds flew proper up to me. We’re at the identical plane. I imply, it’s just really quite. It has a feel of strength and grandeur. I observe the sky, the stars, the sunsets, and the sunrises.

I used to sneak out my window and climb up at the roof to study the celebrities once I changed into a kid, so as to be in a plane and be able to do the equal thing is just top notch. I can’t believe it.”