Adventures come in all shapes and sizes.
For some of us, sitting down and reading an engaging book is the ideal adventure, while for others of us only something such as skydiving or rock climbing will do.
If you fall into the latter category and you find yourself searching in vain for the next great thrill, you might consider pursuing the flying adventures that are offered by the aviation adventure industry.
By flying adventures, we're talking about piloting a real military fighter plane while performing an array of aerobatic and tactical maneuvers, and you don't even have to possess a pilot's license.
When you take an aviation adventure flight, you'll receive abbreviated ground training the focuses on flight maneuvers and air safety, and then you'll take the cockpit of a high performance fighter plane with an experienced fighter pilot riding along as your copilot.
Your aircraft will have dual controls that allow the trained pilot to take control of the aircraft if needed.
To simply say that the pilots in the aviation adventure industry are "experienced" doesn't tell the whole story.
In addition to being licensed pilots, they've flown multiple real life combat missions, have thousands of hours of flight experience and often have experience piloting airliners and other forms of transport aircraft.
However, the greatest indication of the level of safety that you'll experience during your flight is the fact that the pilots in the aviation adventure industry also offer advanced training to experienced pilots in such disciplines as upset recovery, instrument recovery and aerobatic flight, all of which focus on maintaining control of aircraft under the most adverse conditions.
With your air safety placed in the hands of a fighter pilot, you can focus on carrying out military or air show style flight maneuvers without being afraid to make mistakes.
If you choose one of the military style flying adventures, you'll be given the opportunity to experience simulated air combat, which consists of aiming a real gun sight at enemy aircraft while firing simulated bullets, not to mention performing a variety of tactical air combat maneuvers, such as high speed low altitude flybys.
If you choose an aerobatic flight adventure, you'll experience what it's like to be a pilot in an air show.
As you're high performance aircraft emits smoke streams, you'll focus on executing such adrenaline inducing maneuvers as accelerated flat spins, knife-edge spins and tail slides.
The flight adventure packages offered by the aviation adventure industry can be customized to fulfill your ideal flight adventure.
The packages typically range from around $500 to roughly $4,000, with the low end comprising single day flight adventures and the high end comprising multi day flying sessions.
Flying adventures are a great way to give yourself that ultimate thrill that you've always searched for, but they also make excellent gifts for anyone who's interested in aviation or would like to do something incredibly exciting and new.
Whether you have yourself or someone else in mind as you explore the aviation adventure industry, one thing is certain: piloting a high performance fighter plane is an experience that won't be forgotten.