Fouga Magister: Boys Night in Naples
“We’ve got to fly something cool tonight. Something foreign. Italian. The Fouga Magister.”
Ben’s an enthusiastic guy. Charming too. But above all, interesting. Not really sure what he does day to day. He once told me he had spent two weeks fishing in the South China Sea. A few months later he was chartering hot air balloons in Cappadocia. Whether these are hobbies, jobs, or both, is unclear.
I get a text asking if I want to jump into flight sim tonight. It feels bad saying no to Ben. It also feels good saying yes. So I say yes. And he insists that we fly something cool, exotic, different. A jet. Specifically Italian.
“Buy the Fouga Magister. It’s really cool. And it’s on sale. God, it’s amazing.”
So I do. That’s a rave review. It’s all I need. I’m easily convinced. I have no impulse control.
Ben tells me he’s already loaded up in Naples. I’m searching for Naples on the map. Which one? Obviously not Florida. Okay there we go - the one in Italy. I load in.
Ben picked bad weather. Not low visibility, or rain, or high winds. Bad weather as in I want Microsoft Flight Sim to look good and Ben picked clear blue skies. Pretty boring, honestly. We spend 15 minutes getting the time and weather adjusted to something a little prettier. Looks do matter.
He takes off. I take off. The jet handles nicely and it’s fun to fly. And it looks awesome. We’re zooming around at 350 knots. Fine Italian speed.
Time to slow down and try some formation flying. I’ll let Ben do the work while I fly level. Properly trimmed it’s not that hard. Ben getting into formation on the other hand is a different matter.
“Get behind me. A bit higher. No not that high. Okay try lower. Speed up a bit. Shit can you slow down?”
We’re finally in formation. We get a slight bank in there. I get some stellar shots.
It’s late. Ben probably has to wake up early tomorrow to pour concrete. I want to check out the new X-Plane beta. So it’s time to land and we spend the next ten minutes trying to find each other while simultaneously navigating to some airport nearby that Ben keeps mentioning but I have yet to see by eye or on a map.
He crashes into the water. I pretend to do a water landing. The simulator tells me that I crashed, too.
I google “Fouga Magister.” It’s not even Italian.
Fucking Ben.