Reporter Jen Bishop, from the Southend Evening Echo, was given the chance to live like a lottery winner. Who was she to refuse...?

Looping the loop in a plane the size of a small car wouldn't have been myidea of fun a month ago.

In fact, despite having a pilot for a father and having no problem withheights, I am a self-confessed scaredy-cat.

So when Lotto gave me the opportunity to spend the day as a millionaire,I've no idea why I decided to go on an aerobatic flight.

My day of luxury started with a ride in a shiny white stretch limo, whichpicked up me and my friend.

Action girl Jen

The interior of this eight-seater Mercedes was almost as big as my livingroom, and there were enough buttons to control climate, music, and thetelevision, to confuse even the most technically-minded.

On one of the four seats lay a hamper full of gourmet treats and a bottleof champagne on ice.

But I decided alcohol probably wasn't the best thing to drink prior toaerobatics, as my stomach was already looping-the-loop with excitement andfear.

During the hour's drive to Stapleford Flying School near Romford, we keptthe tinted windows up, and watched with amusement as people tried to catcha glimpse inside.

When we pulled up at Stapleford there were certainly a few raised eyebrows.

Chris and the driver revelled in commenting on how small the planes were,while I instinctively started to chain smoke, realising you could almostfit one of these Cessna 152s into the back of the limo.

Thankfully my pilot, Tony Glover, was friendly and calm, and put me at easeas we walked out to the plane.

There wasn't a sick bag in sight, but, safe in the knowledge I haddeliberately skipped breakfast, I hoped I wouldn't need one.

As soon as we got up speed to take off I suddenly cheered up, and before Iknew it I could see Ongar and Brentwood below, like a huge patchwork quiltof fields.

By the time we reached 3,000 ft to start the aerobatics, I was now moreexcited then scared.

We started with two loops, flying downwards to get up speed, then doing acomplete circle backwards- twice.

Tony told me to look out of the roof and I suddenly realised I was lookingat the ground.

I went from feeling as light as a feather to feeling something like I wasgoing to explode, as I was forced back into my seat when the G force kickedin.

The next manoeuvre - a Half Cuban - involved doing almost a full loop beforetwisting the plane at the end.

The Stall Turn was next, and that was probably my favourite, with the leastfeeling of potential exploding.

We got up speed before turning the plane on its side and just hanging therefor what seemed like ages.

Halfway through my legs, which were now strangely no longer under mycontrol, flung up in the air.The final manoeuvre was the slow roll, and Tony explained this oneinvolved 'negative G'.

But by the time he'd explained this, that we would be twisting the planeround on its side in a complete circle, I was most concerned aboutre-checking my seatbelt, as all my body weight would soon be pulling downon it.

At least the plane was so ridiculously small I knew I wouldn't go very farif the belt did fail.

But it felt brilliant, and that slow roll will go down as one of the mostamazing experiences of my 21 years.

I couldn't wait to tell everyone how much fun I'd had, knowing they wereexpecting me to come back covered in vomit.

It was definitely time to crack open the champagne, but the sad thing is, Iam still scared of the bang the cork makes.

Then it was back in the limo for a comfortable cruise home and lunch, andwe finished our journey with a cruise along Southend seafront, windowsdown, music blasting and putting the boy racers to shame.

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