So after the long and roasting trip to the island sanctuary, Davin and I rewarded ourselves with delicious ice cream and a quick stroll back to the hostel.
We had landed about 3:00ish to give me plenty of time to get ready for the 4:00 pickup for my next adventure: piloting a stunt plane!
I piled into the van with a group of six skydivers and a spectator and we were ushered 20 minutes up the road to Motueka airport. Once there I strode over to the hangar with the UFly Extreme: Pilot Your Own Stunt Plane signage to begin my anticipated hour or so of training.
Once inside, I was greeted by the pilot/instructor and his wife, the administrator of the mom and pop operation. We exchanged pleasantries and I suited up for the flight. "Good," I thought, "the training will be practical." as no training consoles were to be found.
Properly attired, I got a few snaps of me and the plane before being ushered up the step ladder and into the front seat of the Pitt Special. I looked inside to find not a large and flashy control panel, but four seatbelts and a joystick.
I slithered into the delicate aircraft and was fastened and ready for action within a minute or two. A quick rundown of the scant controls and we were ready to go. We were taking off within 10 minutes of my arrival.
A swift liftoff and less than 60 seconds passed before I was guiding the plane gently left and right into the white puffy clouds. As the reality of the situation kicked in I became awestruck by my surroundings. There, far below, was the entire island that had taken so long to kayak around, now pocket-sized and the Tasman Sea stretching far beyond that.
After an incredible look around, I was being guided through the barrel roll. Stunningly simple, the 15 minutes in the air rushed by in a series of loop-de-loops, cuban-8s, four-point rolls and surreal gasps of amazement.
I was walking on air for the rest of the day, and the pilot and his wife even drove me back to the hostel, regailing me with stories of their business and stopping to offer me a beer with my dinner of mussel burger from Fat Tui.
The experience was absolutely unbelievable and I am still at a loss for words to describe it.
My offering in place of a poetic description is the video located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvZQXAqj2iU
A small sample of the full-length DVD that is in the mail to comemorate my flight.
One final note - the DVD accompanies a certificate with my name and signatures of the owners, very similar to the Zorbonaut license, except that the 15 minutes I put in with the Pitt Special actually counts towards the practical hours of a pilot's license. Official flying lesson: check!
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