Some women celebrate their partner’s birthday at a good restaurant. Others book a luxury hotel. And then there are those who choose to put him through extreme physical conditions — just like those experienced by Israel Air Force pilots during grueling training flights.
“I wanted to give my boyfriend a birthday gift that was truly extreme,” Naomi Edri, 28, a flight attendant with Israir and an aviation blogger, told Ynet. “I wanted to celebrate him in a crazy, unconventional way. He’s very into extreme experiences — and I love the world of aviation.”
She took her boyfriend on a fighter jet flight, for fun
(Video and Editor: Naomi Edri)
For Naomi, originally from Jerusalem and now living in Ashkelon, the smell of jet fuel and soaring above the clouds is her professional home. But nothing in her glamorous routine prepared her for a single flight — lasting just about 20 minutes — over green fields in the Czech Republic.
As is customary in 2026, the idea for a radical birthday gift did not come from a friend’s recommendation, but from a conversation with an artificial intelligence generator. “I told it: give me ideas for an unusual birthday for my boyfriend Max. I’m an aviation enthusiast — and it suggested a private fighter jet flight,” Naomi recalled.
At first, it sounded almost far-fetched. “I knew this existed in some countries,” she said, “but suddenly it went from an idea in my head to something real.”
To be precise, this was not a combat mission in a bomb-laden fighter jet heading to Iran, but a flight in a two-seat L-39 Albatros jet trainer, simulating a high G-force fighter experience.
“It’s a fighter jet flight, but technically it’s a training aircraft,” she clarified. “It’s not a plane that goes into combat and fires missiles — but a jet is a jet. Whoever flies it experiences the same loops and rolls, just without weapons.” In other words, everything a pilot’s body endures during a combat flight happens here too — minus the war and the years of flight school.
They booked the experience through Migflug, an international company specializing in extreme aviation experiences, offering such flights from various airfields around the world. After the initial excitement came the reality check.
“After booking with the guy in the Czech Republic, I told myself — wait, let’s consult our pilots at Israir and hear what they think.”
One of them, a reserve fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, provided particularly unsettling information.
“He told me: ‘It’s a crazy, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience — but don’t panic if you lose your vision.’”
That blunt sentence instantly changed the mood. “What do you mean don’t panic if I see black?” she recalled.
“He said I might see black or red, or experience tunnel vision — everything goes dark and you only see light at the end. He explained that during high G-force maneuvers, the blood shifts in your body: when blood rushes to your head, you see red; when it drains to your legs, you see black or gray.”
As if that weren’t enough, the seasoned combat pilot added another friendly warning. “He said I might faint or vomit, and not to panic — because afterward you wake up and everything’s fine. I’ve never fainted in my life, and that really stressed me out. I thought — what now? Am I going to faint at altitude? Throw up?”
“The Israir pilot told me explicitly: this is trauma for the body. It’s not something the body is used to,” Naomi said.
During the flight, the pilot performed maneuvers reaching four Gs — meaning that at those moments, the body feels four times its actual weight. “On the ground we experience one G,” she explained. “In the air — it’s a different story.”
In the Czech Republic, preparations were precise: flight suits, briefing — and the understanding there was no turning back.
“Two hours by taxi from the international airport and we reached the airfield in Brno. An amazing team welcomed us, explained what was going to happen, and gave us pilot suits, helmets and headsets.”
Then came the short flight briefing that sent adrenaline surging. “The pilot held a small model plane and showed us the rolls and maneuvers we’d be doing, and I kept thinking — just don’t see black.”
Max, the birthday boy, went up first. “I wanted him to enjoy it first.” After 20 minutes that felt like eternity, he returned to the ground.
“He got off with insane adrenaline and told me, ‘I feel like I’ve done every drug in the world.’”
Then came the nerve-wracking detail. “He said that at one point he saw only black, and then just light at the end of a tunnel, and felt like he was about to faint.”
When Naomi herself climbed into the cockpit, her fear peaked. “All the anxieties hit at once. My heart was at 200. I told myself: I can do this. My body is strong — it’ll handle it.”
The pilot was reassuring. “Before every maneuver he said: ‘We’re about to do an exercise — are you ready?’”
Each time, she followed instructions precisely. “I tightened my stomach and legs and held my breath. Exactly like our pilot told me.”
And her body? It cooperated.
“I didn’t see even a bit of black. No dizziness, no nausea. Nothing.”
When the flight ended, the feeling was unmistakable. “I got off the plane on a crazy high. It’s the most extreme thing I’ve ever done.”
But the effects didn’t end at landing.
“One of the pilots told me beforehand — the moment you get off the flight, you’ll either feel like you’ve been beaten up or like you have a massive hangover. And that’s exactly what happened.”
After the adrenaline fades and the body tires, what remains is the memory — a one-time, extreme experience you feel in every muscle, one that lingers long after the wheels touch down.
“Max said it was the best gift he’s ever received,” Naomi concluded. “Without a doubt — I’d do it again.”