I was fortunate to experience Thunder on the Rock air show this past weekend at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station from two different angles.

With exceptionally beautiful Whidbey Island weather Saturday, I mingled through the crowd.

The static displays attracted young and old, while pilots proudly discussed their aircraft. The “consumer faire” bustled with browsers while the Kids’ Fun Zone was a veritable playground paradise for anyone under four feet tall.

All heads cranked back as military jets sporadically passed overhead while folks mumbled, “I’m glad they’re on our side.”

Even adults couldn’t believe the airborne antics of stunt pilots who performed seemingly dangerous maneuvers that bordered on lunacy.

In fact, they were perfectly in control.

On Sunday morning, I had the opportunity of trusting my life to one pilot, although I bailed on the opportunity to fly in a stunt plane. I’m not that brave or daring. Nor do I have that strong a constitution.

I did, however, experience a very pleasureable, smooth ride on a vintage World War II “Twin Beech,” two prop-engine, five-seat plane owned by a former AmericaWest pilot from Stockton. Calif.

Taigh Raney offered to do a bit of a “rollercoaster maneuver” right after takeoff, but I politely declined. The Twin Beech was by far the smallest aircraft on which I’d ever been, and I didn’t want anything that would make me any more nervous than I already was.

In fact, my first thought upon seeing the Twin Beech was that my SUV is bigger. Before takeoff, I actually murmurred aloud that I couldn’t believe I was going up in that plane.

But I was soon put completely at ease by an incredibly smooth take-off and banking to the left. The Whidbey Island landscape looked beautiful from above, and the morning mist and fog added to that beauty. It was a sight I’d never before seen and I won’t soon forget.

As I clicked away at the shutter, it occurred to me that this was a rare opportunity indeed. Most of the 74,000 people who came out to the base for the airshow got one view, from below.

It was a thrill to look down to the ground and see the rows and rows of precisely-parked aircraft. The white Thunderbirds jets were parked side by side in a perfectly straight row. How do they do that without the benefit of painted parking stalls?

Even more of a thrill was the realization that I was taking a flight back in time. The nearly 60-year-old aircraft was originally used as a World War II navigator-training plane. During the 1950’s it was modified for use as a photo reconnaissance trainer. No wonder it had glass windows in the floorboards.

But even more of a distinction is that throughout the 15-minute flight this average civilian person got a really cool ride in an old Navy aircraft above a U.S. naval air station. I was up in restricted airspace!

And to top it all off, thanks to Raney’s expert flying skills and his desire to give his passengers a good, positive experience, I got over my fright of flying in an aircraft that I perceive to be smaller than my car.