Pilot Lite

Sky Combat Ace lets you channel your inner Maverick

I’ve always thought that the hour-long flight from LAX to McCarran would be more exciting if there was someone trying to shoot you down the whole time.

But now I’ve found something almost as fun. It’s called Sky Combat Ace, and it is amazing.

Located on an airstrip in Henderson, SCA is a genuine “Top Gun” experience (minus all the shirtless beach volleyball). Packages range from $400 to a couple thousand bucks. Our favorite is the Adrenaline Rush ($1,799) — a breathtaking experience that you will one day tell your grandchildren about. (Incidentally, your grandchildren will one day tell their grandchildren about it, too, but it won’t be a big deal because everybody will have their own spaceship by then).

You start off with a preflight briefing, where you learn about things like safety (booo!) and how to eject (yay!). Then it’s off to the airplanes, where you’re paired up with an SCA pilot with an awesome nickname. The pilot will sit behind you in the cockpit and take care of all the boring stuff, like not crashing into things.

Once airborne, you’re pitted against an enemy plane (piloted by either another novice or one of the SCA jocks) for three rounds of aerial dogfighting. You control “the stick,” maneuvering your aircraft behind the enemy and into gun range (SCA uses a sophisticated optical targeting system instead of actual guns — probably for insurance reasons). With your face unappealingly contorted by the forces of gravity — and with a little luck — you’ll spot the enemy, squeeze the trigger and laugh maniacally as smoke (yes, actual smoke) pours forth from his fuselage.

After that, it’s time for a bit of aerial acrobatics. You’ll learn to do barrel rolls, loops and something called a tail slide, which involves flying both straight up and straight down within the space of a few seconds. Your pilot might even finish up with something called a “tumble,” which feels kind of like falling down the stairs in an airplane.

The whole thing wraps up with a low-level flight over the Mojave Desert. For such a barren, inhospitable place, it sure does look beautiful. But, then, everything looks more beautiful when you’re not being shot at.