'Before we go flying, I should ask what you would feel comfortable with,” asks Tauranga Aero Club member Murray Rogers.

It's a good question. Why on earth would anyone want to be stuck 4000 feet up in a Cessna 152 Aerobat with a screaming, bearded journalist with a fondness for swearing?

'Go hard and give it all you've got mate,” I reply, full of bravado and with feet firmly planted on Tauranga Airport's runway.

Murray wears a polo shirt and shorts and looks like he's just stepped off a golf course, but his Aviator sunglasses and the sly smile on his face immediately makes me think of Top Gun.

Earlier I learned the 59-year-old's flown for nearly four decades and won the Advanced Aerobatics category at Regional and National Air Rallies multiple times, which alleviates most of my fears.

My courage goes straight out the window though – which I double and triple check to make sure it won't fly open – as we start bouncing down the runway.

At two, maybe three feet off the ground, my stomach feels like I've left it on the runway and I start tugging at my seat belt to the point where no air is left remaining in my lungs.

But fears of this being my last ever interview dissolve as we climb into the sky over the shipping yards on Hewletts Road and the cruise ship docked in Tauranga Port.

Murray guides the plane around Mauao with a big swooping right-hand turn and the next thing I know we're over the main beach at Mount Maunganui.

I make a living out of words, but in this moment they all go on strike.

The clear skies, with wisps of white clouds, stretches out forever over a seascape that would make English painter William Turner put down his paintbrush in shame.

'Okay David, let's start off with a simple loop-de-loop,” Murrary crackles over the intercom. 'Here we go.”

The sound of the engine revving makes the hairs on my back stand up.

The horizon disappears as we go up and over. I can feel the blood rushing out of my head and into my feet. Strangely enough I don't feel like throwing up - I want to scream out in absolute freedom.

The plane levels out and Murrary asks, 'what do you think of that?”

All I can offer is a string of incomprehensible sentences, mumbling and eventually a very understated, 'that was awesome.”

After 10 more minutes of loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, stall turns and other wonderful manoeuvres with equally wonderful names, it's time for us to head back.

Murrary guides the plane along the coast line and we head inland over Arataki and Bayfair towards the airport. Some locals in those areas might want to consider tidying up their backyards.

As we come down there's a sinking in my heart because opportunities like this do not come around too often – not unless I get my pilot licence through the Tauranga Aero Club of course.

Back on solid ground my face hurts from all the blood sloshing around in the cup that is my cranium, and a maniacal smile that stretches around to the back of my head.

'I think of aerobatics as like riding a rollercoaster,” says Murray as we're walking to the hangar and the image of him as a kid racing about an adventure park excitedly pops into my mind.

Thank you very much Murray and the Tauranga Aero Club for the amazing experience, I absolutely loved discovering a life above the clouds.