I Got To Live My Top Gun Fantasies By Flying Stunts In A Plane And I Only Blacked Out Once

One of the most thrilling films in recent years is Top Gun: Maverick. Top Gun is just a great romp in general, but that edge-of-your-seat action is largely thanks to the film’s practical effects and charismatic actors. Yep, real F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets were used for that movie, not green screens. Recently, I got experience a taste of that Top Gun adrenaline for myself. I got to fly an Extra 330LC stunt plane, where I took the controls and performed a variety of stunts on my own, including barrel rolls and loops. You can get this opportunity, too!

Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of taking to the sky. My favorite aircraft included the ‘Queen of the Sky’ Boeing 747 and the Bombardier CRJ-700. I logged hundreds of hours in Microsoft Flight Simulator X years before I would even ride in any plane as a passenger, and decades before I would fly a plane for myself.

It’s hard to say where my obsession for flying machines came from, but the original Top Gun was certainly an influence. There was just something about watching jets tear across the sky into the wide blue yonder. Supercars are fast, but fighter jets are on a whole different level. The fastest jets are marvels of engineering. They’re machines that can split past the sound barrier or perform high-G maneuvers. Some can even take off vertically like a helicopter.

I took to the sky for the first time as the pilot in command of an aircraft back in late 2020. It was a dream come true, and before the Cessna 172’s wheels touched terra firma, I decided to follow my wonder and pursue a private pilot license. I’ve been learning so much in my piloting journey in the time since. Unforeseen circumstances took me out of training for four years, but now I’m back in the saddle and have nearly 40 hours of experience in a beautiful Skyhawk. One day, maybe I’ll be in the flight deck of a passenger jet. Who knows where life will lead?

As a fanatic of everything that drives, flies, rides, or sails, it is my life’s mission to take command of as many vehicles as possible. I’ve had this sort of idea rattling around my head to do a sort of “Dirty Jobs” series, but with all of the different vehicles that make the world move. I haven’t done that yet, and I’m not even sure how I’d do it, but I have been crossing lines off my bucket list.

I’ve had the privilege of driving a vintage diesel-electric locomotive, riding the most powerful personal watercraft, driving all sorts of cars and trucks, driving a transit bus, driving a school bus, and even doing hot laps in vehicles like Harley-Davidsons and motorhomes on a track. I’ve done epic burnouts in 700-horsepower pickup trucks, leapt through the air in an electric Volkswagen crossover, and sped around the desert with Tanner Foust in comically fast side-by-sides. While I didn’t get to pilot it, I even got to fly in one of Goodyear’s airships. I’ve also gotten to ride in Ford’s iconic Tri-Motor. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to do half of this stuff if it weren’t for David Tracy and Jason Torchinsky.

But throughout all of my journeys, one thought has remained rattling around my brain: Just how is it like to fly stunts in a plane? I’ve watched Top Gun, and I go to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh every year. I see pilots with amazing skills put on seemingly gravity-defying stunts. Sadly, it seemed that the only real ways to experience this for myself would be to enlist into the Air Force or become a stunt pilot. The dream of doing barrel rolls and loops in a plane seemed impossible. Or, so I thought.

Top Gun Without Being In The Air Force

As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who thought it would be fun to have regular people experience aerobatic flight without joining the military. Richard “Tex” Coe grew up like many aspiring aviators, and he didn’t just want to fly a plane; he wanted to be one of the best. He wanted to see what you could really do with powered flight. So, he began flying as a teenager, and in 1997, Tex joined the U.S. Air Force. His dream was to soar in an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Tex racked up some incredible bullet points for his flying career, including over a thousand flight hours in F-16s, more than 300 combat flight hours, and a promotion to USAF Major. Somewhere along the line, a thought hit Tex. One of the coolest parts of his job was flying the F-16 and getting rare opportunities to give passengers the rides of their lives. For those select few people, they got to feel the raw thrill of a fighter jet, from high speed and high-G maneuvers to aerobatics.

Unfortunately, as Tex realized, these experiences were largely locked away from the general public. If you wanted to experience 8 G, you had to sign up for the military. Tex thought that was a bummer, and that there had to be a way for regular people to get the Top Gun experience but without having a callsign.

In 2008, Tex left the Air Force and opened a flight school. He taught students how to fly fixed-wing planes and helicopters, but this was just a regular flight school. These students weren’t doing barrel rolls or anything like he did in the military. In 2011, Tex decided to take his flight school further. He opened Sky Combat Ace, a flight school where you get to experience the thrill of being a fighter pilot. But for an added twist, since the pilots are real flight instructors, the students would even get to do the stunts themselves.

So far as I can tell, Sky Combat Ace (SCA) is the only company that offers this experience. There are flight schools where you can get a discovery flight in an aerobatic plane. There are even places out there where you can get a flight in a jet trainer if you’re loaded with cash. But I couldn’t find any other place that really embraces the sort of cheesy and silly Top Gun theme.

My lovely wife, Sheryl, bought me an experience at Sky Combat Ace as a birthday present last year. I never told her that I had this dream of doing aerobatic flight. I guess you can say she really knows me.

Suiting Up

On Saturday, December 20, Sheryl and I descended into the Las Vegas area. Sheryl told me that she wanted this to feel as much like a press trip as possible, so she got us a nice room at the Rio and paid for all of my expenses. I giggled to myself about how I’d write a disclaimer about automakers paying for things, but this time, I’d write that my wife did all of that.

Anyway, the morning after, a driver for SCA rolled up and whisked me away to the North Las Vegas Airport. Once inside, I was the first person there and technically had the whole FBO to myself. The SCA staff gave me a brief on what was about to happen, performed all of their checks on the aircraft, and then got me into a jumpsuit.

The SCA FBO is a wonderful place. There’s a theater where you watch a video to learn about the history of SCA and the stunts that you’ll be doing. There’s also a fully stocked pilot lounge where you can relax before or after your flight.

After I took in all of the sights, Sheryl had an important decision. She had to give me my callsign. Her choice was “Diesel” because of my propensity for all things diesel. Admittedly, I might have even huffed diesel fumes when we first met, and I was younger and dumber. I liked it.

Things escalated rapidly from here. We had a quick photoshoot in front of the aircraft, and then I got strapped in, literally. The aircraft was a 2016 Extra 330LC, registration N269KD. Now, I’ll get to the aircraft in a moment, but I have to tell you what it’s like to get into this thing.

The process of entering the aircraft started off not too differently from some other aircraft I’ve climbed over. Only, this time, I wore a parachute. My SCA trainer, “Fungus”, watched as I climbed the wing. Then, I sort of just threw myself into the cockpit.

What I wasn’t expecting was just how insanely uncomfortable this interior was. The seat felt like it had no padding, and it forced me into a weird sort of reclined position. Then, I had to put on a harness with a literal ratcheting system that held me in the seat. There was some decent pressure on various points on my body, and I could not really adjust myself. Once I was in, I was basically strapped down like a motorcycle on a trailer. I wasn’t going anywhere. Oh, and part of the reason I was in an uncomfortable position was that right in front of my crotch was a fuel tank.

This harness was there for a good reason, because the plane I was in wasn’t a normal aircraft. This was an Extra EA-330LC, a plane so crazy that the best way I can describe it is to say it’s probably like a Mazda Miata with an LS V8. It’s lightweight, overpowered, and ridiculously strong. The aircraft is a variant of the Extra EA-330L with more extensive use of carbon fiber in its wings and fuselage, a top speed of 253 mph, and a load factor of plus or minus 10 G. To illustrate how crazy this plane is, the pilots at SCA told me that the planes they flew in the Air Force could handle only 8 G. If the Cessna I fly is like an old pickup truck compared to this thing.

That was one of the reasons why SCA went with these stunt planes. Not only can they pull harder than the jets the firm’s pilots flew in the Air Force, but they’re also cheaper to run. Thus, it’s also cheaper to offer flights to the public.

The 330LC is also a proper hot rod. The aircraft weighs 1,455 pounds empty and only 1,918 pounds when loaded with two people and fuel. It climbs 3,200 feet per minute, can roll 420 degrees per second, and soar 16,000 feet into the sky. The Lycoming AEIO-580-L1B5 under the long cowl is a 9.55-liter horizontally-opposed six that weighs around 450 pounds and punches out 330 horsepower.

What I’m saying is that there is a reason why the Extra 300 and its derivatives are the gold standard for stunt flying and aerobatics. These planes are seemingly masterpieces and perfectly engineered for their job. Chances are, if you go to just about any air show, you’ll see at least one of these things.

As the SCA guys were prepping the aircraft, I got a feel for the controls. I was shocked by how smooth, direct, and perfectly weighted my inputs were translated from the stick to the control surfaces. That’s not to say that the Cessna 172s that I fly aren’t direct, but the stick in this aircraft was buttery smooth, almost like the joystick on a high-end gaming controller. You could probably steer this aircraft with only a single finger.

Kick The Tires And Light The Fires

Starting up the engine was an experience on its own. If you think the Cessnas at your local public airport are loud, try sitting in an Extra. SCA uses passive noise cancellation headsets, namely the old-school David Clarkes that pilots have been using for decades. Old DCs are child’s play compared to today’s active noise-cancelling headsets like the ones from Bose. If you care about your hearing, you’ll pay the extra cash for active noise cancellation. However, SCA’s pilot told me that DCs have one upper hand over ANC headsets, and it’s that they tend to have a ton of clamping force on your noggin, which is great for high-G flying.

At any rate, the DCs couldn’t really muffle the noise of the mighty Lycoming. This engine was so loud that a trainer Cessna 172 is Volkswagen Phaeton quiet inside by comparison.

It was also here that I witnessed a fun quirk with some taildragger aircraft that I never paid too much attention to before. Since your tail is on the ground and the cabin is tilted up, you can’t see anything directly in front of you. So, to effectively navigate the tarmac, you have to steer the aircraft back and forth enough to see forward out of the side of the canopy.

I didn’t really have time to wonder about this for too long, because once the engine got warm enough, we were thundering down the runway. My instructor asked me about how hard I wanted us to go. I said I wanted the intensity to be 11/10, basically as hard as he and the airframe could take. Look, I didn’t travel all of the way out to Las Vegas to have my hand held. I wanted full throttle action from start to finish.

My instructor obliged the second we got off the runway by yanking the stick back, rocketing us into the sky. We hit pattern altitude, or about 1,000 feet above the airport, in only a handful of seconds. Then, we turned towards the mountains and sped away.

Sheryl paid for a few experiences. One was the Afterburner, which SCA describes as:

The Afterburner Experience hands you the controls of a state-of-the-art aerobatic stunt plane, something that few even dream possible. This isn’t just a joyride; it’s your moment to step up, conquer the skies, and tackle gravity-defying stunts with an expert instructor pilot coaching you through every breathtaking move.

Whether you’re here to push boundaries, chase an unforgettable thrill, or achieve something extraordinary, the Afterburner delivers an adrenaline-packed journey you’ll be talking about for a lifetime.

She also got an upgrade to the flight for advanced aerobatics, which the company describes as:

Ramp up the adrenaline and fun with a full-on aerobatic profile that’s guaranteed to knock your socks off. We’ll build on the basic maneuvers, and dial things up to show you exactly what the world’s most advanced stunt plane can really do. Defy gravity with tailslides, turn your world upside-down with inverted flat spins, and flip out with the infamous lomcevak tumble – the closest thing to controlled chaos you’ll ever experience.

One final upgrade that I got on my own was the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Thrill Ride.

That one is exactly as it sounds. The pilot takes you into the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and performs stunts surprisingly close to the rocks. We did that early on in my flight, and honestly, I think I found my new favorite way to experience conservation areas. Forget scenic drives, doing an aileron roll through a canyon is unforgettable.

The scenery of Red Rock was a great start, but it was the stunts that really captivated me. We started off easy with an aileron roll. That was simple enough. I just had to keep the aircraft pointed straight and move the stick to the direction of my choice. What I found shocking about this was how ridiculously responsive the aircraft was. It took no force to nudge the stick to the left, and the aircraft began rolling before I even finished thinking about it.

For comparison’s sake, I’m going to bring up the trainer Cessna 172 here. Starting a roll in the Cessna works the same, but the aircraft takes some time to enter the roll, and the roll happens slowly. The Extra was like a video game. I flicked the stick, and it just rolled. To call it unreal would be an understatement.

With that mastered, we moved on to barrel rolls. Now this one is interesting because you might think that I just did a barrel roll. Ah, but not so fast. My instructor noted that, yes, a barrel roll does involve a roll, but a proper barrel roll also involves pulling the stick back a little bit, too. When done correctly, the barrel roll looks sort of like a corkscrew.

Next came the loop the loop, and this one was fascinating. To initiate this, I pulled back on the stick enough to send the aircraft racing into the blue sky. But this was more than a climb, as I had enough pressure on the stick to make the aircraft go inverted. Once upside down, I eased my pressure on the stick, sent the aircraft into a dive while inverted, and then completed the loop.

The grand finale, at least for the maneuvers I performed with my own hands and feet, was the hammerhead. Now this one was wild. To do this trick, I pulled on the stick and rocketed the aircraft straight up, completely vertically. Then, I let the airspeed bleed down to nearly the bottom of the airspeed indicator. Right before the aircraft entered a stall, I gave it full left rudder, pointed the aircraft toward the ground, and performed a dive before leveling out.

What was fascinating about some of these maneuvers was that I did not use the sky as a reference. Instead, I looked to the left or right side of the canopy and watched what the wings were doing and what angle of attack I was at. I also basically never used the instruments at all, except for the Hammerhead.

Then, my instructor got into the advanced stuff, guiding me through how to do a lomcevak tumble, a tailslide, and the insane inverted flat spin. The craziest was the lomcevak, which looks and feels like you’re crashing, but you’re totally in control.

Here’s a video that wasn’t from my flight, but gives you a good perspective:

Given the advanced nature of those stunts, I wasn’t allowed to do them by myself. But I was able to hold the controls and follow along as the instructor performed them. But the loops, barrel rolls, Hammerhead, and aileron rolls? Those were all me. I’m sure my instructor did plenty more stunts that I cannot name. What I will say is that it was a thrill ride every second of the way. I had G-forces pulling me in all sorts of directions, I flew inverted, and I got to see the area just outside of Las Vegas at silly fast speeds.

I Blacked Out

The grand finale was the high-G turn. Now, SCA will do this turn at whatever speed you want, but I specifically requested 11/10, so the instructor gave me the full high-G experience offered by SCA. It’s a sustained turn at 7.5 G to 8 G. Amusingly, I blacked out the second the instructor entered the turn.

I then stayed out until the instructor flew inverted long enough to wake me up. I’m told that what happened here was that the blood rushed out of my head, causing me to lose consciousness. Flying inverted helped pump the blood back in, allowing me to wake up. Honestly, the blackout was like hitting a hard reset button. I remember watching the aircraft just enter the turn, then a whole bunch of nothing, and then, all of a sudden, hearing the faint voice of someone saying “Are you awake?” through the darkness.

When I reviewed the footage later, it appeared that my blackout lasted around 10 to 15 seconds. That whole thing was wild because, to this day, I don’t remember anything that happened in that short span of time. I remember seeing the aircraft bank, then nothing, and then suddenly waking up and having to quickly figure out where I was and what I was doing. For a brief moment, I thought I had fallen asleep and was mad at myself. Then, I realized that, holy crap, I didn’t “fall asleep,” that was the high-G turn!

I also had another issue brewing in me. That morning, I had some caffeine, which was a mistake. As a rule, I never caffeinate before flying because my body is very sensitive to the stuff. But since that morning wasn’t routine, I had forgotten about that rule. Usually, screwing up and forgetting means I have a headache. I did get a headache during this flight, and it was part of the reason I wasn’t smiling as much as I wanted to. But there was something worse going on in my body. My breakfast seemed to want to exit. Uh oh.

I Threw Up

Somehow, I kept my composure and held it together through more stunts, the flight back to the airport, and landing. I even made it back to the hangar. Then, it was game over as soon as the canopy opened. Before I could get the airsickness bag off its handle, I ruined this poor aircraft’s interior, the headset, and the jumpsuit. I even somehow got some yuck on the propeller and engine cowling. I legitimately missed the bag by maybe a couple of inches.

Thankfully, the SCA team was super kind. They helped me out of the aircraft, helped me clean myself up, and made the plane look as good as new. Apparently, vomiting is a thing that sometimes happens on these flights. It’s why the pilot lounge is full of ginger candy and ginger ale.

My instructor said that he was impressed with me. Apparently, SCA has had professional pilots come in and get absolutely demolished doing only 5/10 of what I went through. Lots of people even say they want the full-throttle experience, but then ask the instructor to dial it back when they realize how intense it is. I went hard for the whole flight, which was an hour long.

Apparently, it’s also common to vomit after the full intensity experience if you’re not used to it. Indeed, my body felt like it was still going 200 mph when I was sitting still in the hangar. It was bizarre. I felt like I was drunk, but without any of the fun parts of it. My speech was even slurred. To help myself, I napped in the pilot lounge for about 45 minutes, which was enough to reboot my systems and get me thinking straight again.

Once I fired on all cylinders, I had to ask the pilot how the heck he didn’t black out. I get that not vomiting is just a part of doing this for years and hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. But how the heck did he not black out? He told me it was just a part of training and getting experience in the aircraft.

Two weekends ago, Michael Hunter, the expert airshow performer who founded Flight For Diabetes, hosted a seminar at my local EAA Chapter. I had to ask him just how he does all sorts of aerobatic stunts while staying awake. He told me that what he does is tense up the muscles throughout his entire body. What this does is slow the blood drain from your head, at least just long enough to get through the high-G maneuver without blacking out. So that’s neat to know for the future.

Worth Every Penny

Honestly, I don’t even care about blacking out and throwing up. This was a dream come true. I think I’m what you’d call a thrill junkie. In addition to all of the vehicles I’ve driven, I’ve also ridden some of the fastest rollercoasters. I don’t know, it’s like the only fears I have are spiders and either my beloved wife or beloved birds getting hurt. Otherwise, full send all day, every day!

My opinion didn’t change when I saw how much we paid for all of this. The SCA Afterburner experience is $799, and the add-ons pile quickly. You can also do recon missions, simulated dogfights with friends, flying under the radar, and even a full fighter pilot experience.

When all was said and done, I think we paid around $1,800. That included the Afterburner, the Red Rock Canyon scenic flight, the advanced maneuvers, and 58 GB of footage from a ton of cameras. I even got an entry into my pilot logbook. Eventually, I’ll cut through my 58 GB of video footage and make a video of all of the stunts.

It’s interesting trying to look at this from a money perspective. It costs me about $230 per hour to rent a Cessna and pay my instructor. This flight was also only one hour long, but several times the price. Yet, it was also a unique experience, one that I wouldn’t have gotten had Sheryl not paid for it. So, I wouldn’t say it’s a “deal,” but there are certainly worse ways to spend $1,800 in Las Vegas.

The whole experience at SCA was bombastic from start to finish. I love the silly theming, I love the jumpsuits and aviators, and I adored how kind and awesome everyone was. I also think it’s super cool how you don’t even need flight experience to fly a plane here. SCA’s pilots are real instructors, so you can walk in with exactly zero hours of training, actually fly stunts yourself, and walk out with a logbook with an hour of time in an EA-330LC. I think if you have the cash and the need for speed, do it, you won’t regret it.

As for me, I have checked another line off my bucket list. Now, I want to do bigger and crazier things. Maybe one day I can fly a Boeing 747 freighter before they’re all out of the sky. Maybe I’ll do some hang gliding, or hoon an actual racecar on a track. Really, this was so fun that the hardest part will be knowing that no rollercoaster could ever match flying a stunt plane. How the heck am I supposed to get my rush now?