"Follow the coastline," the flight instructor says as he hands over the control of the aircraft to me while we hover thousands of feet above the Maltese islands.

I stare at him with a mixture of panic and enthusiasm and, as I tilt the control stick a few millimetres, the plane rolls onto its right and we fly over Comino's blue lagoon and towards Gozo.

The feeling is both thrilling and terrifying for the same reason: I am actually flying a plane.

I could only handle the responsibility for about 15 minutes after which I turned to the instructor, Jeremy Tan, and asked him to take over.

Now that we were in safe hands, I took the time to look around me. The photographer, Matthew Mirabelli, was busy taking pictures of the scenery from the back seat as we glided over the islands in the four-seater Diamond DA 40 plane.

We flew round the coastline and it was amazing how familiar sites look from up there.

Valletta looks so orderly, Grand Harbour and Citadella in Gozo so majestic, Sliema so overbuilt and crowded, church steeples project upwards and the coast road seems much closer to the sea than it feels while driving along.

The new protective shelter over Mnajdra temples resemble a giant, white sting ray perched on the rocks. The cliff faces are just breathtaking and the little islands, like St Paul's, stand out more than ever.

Fish farms appear to be all over the place, cars crawl everywhere like ants carrying crumbs of bread and tower cranes pierce the skyline.

In a nutshell, the island's beauty can be viewed from a whole new perspective... but so can the man-inflicted eyesores.

Of course, this private bird's eye viewing comes with the bonus trial flight experience offered by Diamond Flight Training that set up in Malta earlier this year.

The company invested over €500,000 in new aircraft and training facilities at Malta International Airport. It operates two aircraft, the Diamond DA 40 and the two-seater Diamond DA 20. The planes, equipped with the latest technology, are used for pilot training, pilot hour-building and pilot charters.

Training includes courses leading to a private pilot licence, night training and to attain standards set by the European-recognised Joint Aviation Authority.

Diamond Flight Training aims to expand its operations and is having talks with the Malta College for Arts Science and Technology to enter into a strategic partnership to promote and provide pilot training courses.

For more information visit www.dftmalta.com, e-mail info@dftmalta.com or phone 2125 7447/7925 7447.