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SPRINGFIELD — Cincinnati Bengals placekicker Shayne Graham was in awe as he looked down on Paul Brown Stadium.

His bird's-eye view came from the cockpit of an F-16 "Fighting Falcon" jet Tuesday, July 15, during an orientation flight with the 178th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard based at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.

"There are a lot of things, adrenaline-wise, I've done on the field," said Graham, the second most accurate field-goal kicker in NFL history. "Those things are never to be compared. But this (flight) is by far the coolest, most fun thing I've ever done."

Pre-flight prep

Graham, who arrived here in his fire-engine red Lamborghini, was dressed in an "Olive Drab" flight suit when he met the media in the pilots' lounge before strapping on his flight gear.

"I've had myself talked in all day to thinking I was cool and everything was fine," Graham said. "But now that you start hearing the planes taking off and it's about that time to get going, I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to lose my lunch.

"I'm not really nervous. I'm just anxious to get up there and actually experience it."

See you in about an hour?

"Hope so," Graham said.

In the cockpit

Lt. Col. Joe "Woodstock" Schulz was at the controls in front of the two-seat "Viper" with Graham directly behind him.

At 1:40 p.m., Graham — helmet on, harnesses tight, oxygen mask secured — gave a "thumbs-up" signal.

Twenty-four minutes later, the "Fighting Falcon" zoomed down the runway, elevating at five G's — five times the force of gravity.

Ahh, the takeoff

"Your whole body feels like you've had 1,000 pounds of concrete poured on top of you," Graham said, "because it just pushes down on your body and presses you into the seat so hard when you're shooting upward.

"Literally, you couldn't move. If you tried to pick your hands up, you couldn't. They were glued down because of the pressure that was on you."

The F-16 can withstand up to nine G's, but Schulz didn't push it.

"Five G's is plenty for that particular maneuver," he said. "It looks good and it doesn't kill somebody right on the initial go."

Hour-long flight

The two traveled 40 miles southeast in training airspace.

"We took a little detour over Cincinnati on the way back so Shayne could see his workplace, then came on home," Schulz said.

"We flew right past my house (a luxury condo), down the river and right over the top of both stadiums (PBS and Great American Ball Park)," Graham added.

Mutual admiration

Schulz, a huge Bengals fan, called it a "privilege" to fly with Graham because of the player's support of the military.

Graham returned the compliment by turning recruiter, trumpeting the Air National Guard.

"Everyone has different aspirations for what they want to do in life," Graham said. "This is a really good program to get in. I can't imagine how much fun I'd have being able to do something like this every day. It's just amazing."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253 or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.