When Ted Nesmith, certified instructor and owner of Top Dog Ultralights, came into the newsroom and proposed my writing a story about his business, I was all for it.

When he asked if I wanted to go for a ride in the aircraft --or rather on it -- (seeing as how there is no distinction between the inside and outside of an ultralight) I was excited, a little nervous, but excited.

I have to admit, when he left the building I looked him over with a skeptical eye, searching for visible scars or limps, anything indicative of a recent crash landing.

He seemed pretty healthy and could still stand upright, so when 8 a.m. Thursday morning rolled around, I subdued the queasy, butterfly feeling in my stomach and strapped myself to the back seat.

A few minutes after lift off all my worries faded away along with the ground beneath our feet. The landscape turned into a patchwork quilt of lakes, fields, and building tops beneath us.

Unlike an airplane's three to one glide ratio, ultralights have a much slower 10 to one glide rate (10 feet in distance for every one foot drop in elevation), Nesmith explained and then demonstrated by pulling the engine back to idle.

Because of this, if the engine was to ever cut out, the pilot could gradually float down to an open field like a hang glider. This is reassuring considering the fact that you are strapped to only a cushion and a few bars of metal with no more than a seatbelt.

Nesmith continued to explain through the intercom system that ultralights also trap air much better than airplanes, which makes for a smoother ride. "Very rarely will an ultralight drop several feet at a time. Usually you will just have a few bumps if you get into thermals," said Nesmith, guiding us over Totten Lake like a prehistoric bird looking for prey.

Once I had settled into my cushion and somewhat released the death grip I had on the two metal bars that ran parallel to my body, it was time for some heart-quickening maneuvers.

After determining that neither one of us was in a big hurry to land, we shot back up to several hundred feet where I was instructed to hang on tight so that Nesmith could display some of the maneuverability of such an aircraft.

Pulling hard at the control bar and simultaneously working the foot throttle, Nesmith dipped us into a stomach-raising downward spiral, like a roller coaster without a track. "I could do this all day," he said. And, as a matter of fact, now he does.

After finishing his duty in the Marine Corps as a helicopter crew chief, Nesmith has flown several different types of planes. Roughly four years ago he began flying ultralights and since that time he has logged over 2,000 flight hours and carried approximately 500 passengers.

As a certified Aero Sports Connections (ASC) instructor, he insists that teaching people how to fly is his biggest thrill. "My average student is 65 years old," said Nesmith, whose oldest student is 84 and youngest is 13. "It takes the average student 6-8 hours of instruction before they are ready to solo," he continued.

Once a students is ready to fly alone, Nesmith gives them the use of his plane for their solo flight. "If I am confident enough in their abilities to let them fly alone, then I should be confident enough to let them use my ultralight," he says.