Fancy flying?

Our obsession with flying stretches back to the beginning of time. For those that have, they say flying is like no other experience. They also say it’s one of the best experiences they’ve ever had.

Were you one of these kids?

Some of us grow up dreaming of becoming a pilot. An airline pilot, military pilot, any kind of pilot. Why? Because only pilots fly planes. Then we all grew up and got normal jobs. Real jobs.

Two things happened while we were all busy growing up and forgetting about flying shiny planes. The bucket list was born, and flying planes became accessible to real people with normal jobs, not just highly skilled pilots and seriously rich people. In fact, you need absolutely zero skills to have a flying experience.

Only one question remains: ever wanted to fly?

The beautiful thing about a bucket list is that it’s precisely that, a list. It can have many things on it. So how does a flying lesson sound ? Or, if that scares the sheep out of you, how about sitting at the controls and pretend you’re flying a plane? I bet you’d rather do that than the bungee jump idea.

Of course, flying isn’t all about piloting a plane. Some people enjoy being in the sky, not being responsible for the aircraft’s ability to stay in the air. If you were to hand-pick a flying experience, what would it be? Where would you fly? Would you like to be in a modern jet-engine plane or an old one with propellers, like you see in the movies? Imagine eating a picnic and sipping champagne, watching the sunset over your entire home and county. Imagine telling your mates you’re going to fly over their house this weekend. And, if you were that kid, you’re going to be the one at the controls, flying a plane, just like you said you would.

Is it that easy to fly?

Flying experiences offer a wide range of activities. People have been jumping out of planes for fun for years, so the scope for what you can do in relation to flying is hard to define. Obvious restrictions include you not being allowed to just buckle up and (try) fly off on your own. There are dozens of independent airports all over the UK who offer flying experiences, and each offer something slightly different. Buying a flying experience as a gift has become popular now. Like most things, you can choose an experience to suit your budget. Packages range from around what you’d spend on a night out to thousands. Flying time can be anything between 20 minutes to five or more hours. Other than being in reasonably good health, there’s nothing stopping you sitting at the controls when that plane takes off. Just don’t expect to be allowed to touch them.