‘This one’s a trainer,’ she told James, as she straddled a seat close behind. ‘I’ve got duplicate controls in the back.’

James was looking at three smartphone-sized instrument screens and a dozen switches and buttons.

‘Where are the rocket launchers?’ he joked.

Tovah’s voice came through a microphone in his helmet. ‘Guess which one you press first?’

James saw a circular red button marked start directly in the control stick between his legs. When he pushed it there was a barely perceptible whirr from the engine above his head.

‘Now go to menu, launch, take-off and set parameters to three and weather to good.’

James followed the instructions until the left-hand display flashed up a green go sign.

‘Now gently raise the throttle lever, which is down on your right.’

The little propeller behind Tovah’s head grew noisier as the microlight plane started rolling.

‘Good,’ Tovah soothed. ‘Now all the way up, full throttle. And when you see sixty kph on the speed dial, you need to gently pull the control stick towards yourself.’

James wasn’t exactly sure where the speedo was, but the microlight had been designed for special forces rather than professional pilots and the screen started flashing yellow as soon as he hit sixty.

‘Is this too much?’ James asked, feeling the control stick shudder as the nose began to lift.

‘All good,’ Tovah said. ‘Now watch your altitude. The island rises, so unless you want to hit a hillside, you need to bank gently left once your altitude hits seventy metres.’

James had been on plenty of passenger planes, but the microlight was completely different, with the ground vanishing below, windscreen almost touching his face, open sides, tiny engine between his legs and the barest thrum from the propeller.

‘This is so cool,’ James said, banking the tiny plane as he looked down at the others and their motorbikes shrinking to insignificance.

‘Now throw the stick left as hard as you can,’ Tovah said.

‘Seriously?’ James asked.

‘Do it,’ Tovah ordered.

As James threw the stick a red square flashed on the screen and the words Input Modified.

‘The PX1 has the same kind of avionics you’d find in a large airliner,’ Tovah explained. ‘If you aim for the ground, or try and do a barrel roll, the computers will override the input. You’ll be taught how to fly in override mode and do things like emergency landings, but for regular flying, you take off, program your destination into the GPS, then sit back. The only time pilot input is needed is for landing, and take-offs from short or uneven runways where you need to correct for bumps.’

‘It feels so natural,’ James said, marvelling at the sunlight catching the ocean, but also feeling vulnerable in a way he never had in a regular plane.

‘Now let’s finish the circle and take her back to the strip.’

‘Can I land it?’ James asked.