Josh Einiger goes flying with the Blue Angels

BETHPAGE, New York (WABC) -- Ever wonder what it's like to fly in one of the amazing aircraft that grace the skies at the Bethpage Air Show? Eyewitness News Reporter Josh Einiger got the honor of flying with a member of the Blue Angels this year.

Before you can set foot near the Blue Angels flight line there's a lot of paperwork.

"I release and discharge the United States from death or severe injury," I read.

There are also lessons on breathing to counteract extreme G forces, and even what you should do if you have to eject.

So you put on a flame proof flight suit, and you're ready to go!

"I'm looking forward to giving you the flight of your life," said Lieutenant Tyler Davies, a Blue Angel.

Lieutenant Davies is my pilot. He's an Afghanistan combat veteran with more than a thousand hours in the F/A-18 Hornet. He's one of the elite Blue Angels who perform daredevil aerobatics at airshows across the country, and he's about to give me a ride.

It's impossible to put into words how it feels to cross the speed of sound, impossible to express the rush of being weightless. To call it breathtaking would be cliché, it was literally breathtaking. The G-forces are so strong they suck the air out of your lungs.

Yes, I did get sick and after about 45 minutes in the air we were back on the ground. And as thrilling as it was, I was pretty happy it was over.

"I put you through the wringer on some of those maneuvers we did, aileron rolls, we did inverted flight, we did a lot of very, very fun things and for you, never experiencing that before, it's definitely an eye opening experience so you actually did very, very, very well," Lieutenant Davies said.

I found myself concentrating so much on breathing, on not passing out, on not throwing up, quite frankly, that at one point I realized I forgot to look out the window. That's the most exhilarating part of this whole thing: the view.

The view from below isn't too shabby either!