Watched this again, gosh I love this movie.
I love that it opens with Mav tightening screws on his P-38 all by himself and then closes with him doing the same but then Rooster enters the frame to help him out, then he notices Penny's daughter, then sees Penny herself to complete a full-fledged family in contrast to Rooster's previously scathing comment that he had no wife or kids to mourn him when he dies. Then add them flying off into the sunset and you truly have the perfect ending. I really hope they let it be.
I also like the little Labyrinth Easter Egg by having Bowie playing on the jukebox the first time Connelly is introduced in her bar.
And I don't know that I picked up before that Maverick said that his tenure as Top Gun instructor was "almost" 30 years ago, setting the events of this film at 2015 at the latest and therefore taking Penny's age out of the danger zone, lol.