Air Heads

If you think all the excitement has gone out of flying, try spending an afternoon with Fighter Combat International. Based at Williams Gateway, a small airport in Mesa, Arizona, the company offers flights piloted by former U.S. top guns and air-combat instructors for $345 and up.

You'll climb into a German-made Extra 300L aircraft — a plane purpose-built for aerobatic stunts — and hang on tight as your pilot takes you on knuckle-whitening maneuvers at speeds of up to 400 km/h. There's even a chance to engage in mock dogfights, complete with the sound of simulated gunfire and the release of plumes of smoke when you score a "hit" on an enemy aircraft.

After the fray, pilots will demonstrate some of the slicker moves required in air combat, including tail slides, inverted spins and loop-the-loops, subjecting you to more eye-popping G-forces than you ever thought possible. And just before you regain terra firma, you'll enjoy a fly-past at just over 9 m above the terminal deck, so that friends and relatives can take pictures. The flight home by Boeing or Airbus may seem interminably tedious by comparison. www.fightercombat.com