MOLINE, Ill. — Sweating but smiling, Muscatine High School teacher Paul Hein talked about the awesome — and more awesome — moments of his flight with the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.

The best part of the flight, a longtime dream come true, came moments after the F/A-18’s wheels left the tarmac Wednesday at Quad-City International Airport in Moline and blasted into the sky.

“It just pins you back,” Hein said of the takeoff at a nearly vertical angle.

The veteran welding teacher admitted he blacked out during one turn for about eight seconds, but he didn’t vomit as occasionally happens during the flights where the pilots put the high-performance aircraft through many of the maneuvers they perform. The Blue Angels will fly during this weekend’s Quad-City Air Show at the Davenport Municipal Airport.

“I didn’t know where I was at,” he said, describing when he regained consciousness. “He talked to me the whole time.”

The man talking to him was Lt. Ben “Baxter” Walborn, who flew the No. 7 Blue Angel on three VIP tours of the Quad-City skies. Along with Hein was a Western Illinois University professor and a teacher from Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School.

For about 15 years, Hein, who grew up in Davenport and lives in Blue Grass, Iowa, has invited Navy recruiters to talk to his class. He has taught at Muscatine High for 28 years.

“I know it is not for everybody, but I want them to get the best information” about careers, he said.

Hein asked one of the recruiters to recommend him for a flight and his dream finally came true. He learned about his flight plan last week.

Hein has flown on an airliner, a U.S. Army transport for a trip to the National Guard unit in Dubuque, Iowa, and in a friend’s small Cessna, but craved a chance to fly in a fighter jet. A college friend joined the U.S. Marines and became a jet pilot. Hein would listen closely to stories when they met at reunions. Seeing the Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds at the air show made him want to find out what it would take to get in the backseat of one of their planes.

Equally excited about the flight was Hein’s family. As Petty Officer 2nd Class Austin Armstrong gave him instructions and strapped him into the cockpit, Hein’s wife, Theresa, paced back and forth, snapping photographs along with their daughter, Emily, and son, Chad. He managed to flash a smile and give a thumbs-up sign.

The flight took about 15 minutes, reaching speeds just below the speed of sound. The blackout occurred during a turn that was what Hein said was 7.5 G’s — or  7 1/2 times the force of gravity. They did some time upside down, too.

“When he put me upside down, I was out of my seat,” Hein said, “and they strapped me in tight.”

The duo returned for a fast pass over the airport runway and a sharp left turn before landing. Family and friends welcomed Hein back to earth and took more photos under the plane’s wing.

“That is quite an experience,” he said.

Finally, he realized how hot the flightsuit was and how worn out he was by the flight, asking to get out of the suit and sit down in the nearby hanger.

“I feel like I ran the Bix 7 ten times,” he said.