If you’ve ever dreamed of filling the shoes of Top Gun’s Maverick or Iceman for a day, then a sleek modern L39 Albatross jet fighter is available to provide you with the ride of your life, Craig Donaldson writes
If you’ve ever dreamed of filling the shoes of Top Gun’s Maverick or Iceman for a day, then a sleek modern L39 Albatross jet fighter is available to provide you with the ride of your life, Craig Donaldson writes
Originally used by the Soviet military to train pilots for flying MiG 29 fighter jets, the L39 Albatross is a current production jet that can reach speeds of up to 910 km/hr or 0.8 mach (80 per cent of the speed of sound). Australian company Top Gun Flights offers flights aboard the L39 jet fighter for individuals, corporate gifts or incentives and team-building experiences.
Each mission begins with a comprehensive pre-flight briefing. Conducted by pilot Mark “Scotty” Scott, a former F/A18 Hornet pilot for the RAAF and member of the Roulettes, the briefing covers ground and flight safety, safety equipment, flight plan and an outline of planned aerobatic manoeuvres.
After suiting up in a rather cool fire-retardant pilot suit and clambering up on board the sleek jet, Scotty makes a few last minute pointers (“Don’t touch anything in red!”).
After lining up the jet with the runway, Scotty guns the jet engine and the thrust pins you firmly back in your seat. The jet nimbly takes off and gently ascends for half a minute, until the pilots casually announces: “OK, we’re just going to gain a bit of altitude.”‘Just’ is somewhat of an understatement, as the jet rockets up on a steep incline at more than 200 metres per second.
Once the jet plateaus out for some aerobatics, Scotty invites you to feel what 4G (four times the force of gravity) feels like in a loop. After tilting the jet’s nose down for a minute to gain extra speed, Scotty invites you to place your hands on your thighs and try and raise them when he gives the signal. He pulls back firmly on the stick and the jet responds by quickly climbing skywards into the first half of the loop. The Gs come on hard and fast as your cheeks experience a sudden reverse facelift. At Scotty’s signal, trying to lift your hands from your lap is nigh on impossible. And at the peak of the loop, the horizon is directly ahead – clear, blue, and upside down.
After coming out of the loop, next in line is a roll, and in one short, sharp flick of the stick to the left, Scotty rotates the jet 360 degrees on its axis in a matter of head-spinning seconds. One of the more merciless aerobatic manoeuvres at Scotty’s command includes the notorious ‘Cuban Eight’, but there’s no onus to go beyond comfort levels and each flight is tailored to its passenger.
Scotty takes it steady for a few minutes and then offers an invitation to take the controls. Why not? Recalling the handy suggestion not to touch anything in red, the jet is remarkably responsive with tilts of the stick sending you banking steeply to the left or right. Next stop is the runway – and Scotty lands the plane capably.
And as you walk shakily back across the tarmac, it dawns on you that a flight aboard the L39 is truly an experience you will never forget.
Fact file: Top Gun Flights
Packages: Aerobatic mission (20 minutes) A$1,795.00. Aerobatic mission plus low-level strike mission (30 minutes) A$2,295
Flights are conducted from Camden Airport daily with two sessions per day (9am and 1pm), and a DVD of each flight is available.
Tel: 1300 887707. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.topgunflights.com.au
