If no one knew how to fly a plane, we'd have to rely on boring old magic carpets for aerial transportation. Keep runic rugs on the floor with today's Groupon: for $124, you get an introductory flight lesson from Fly Kalamazoo, beginning with a preflight ground briefing, lunch, and a guided tour at Air Zoo (a $268 total value) in celebration of the EAA's second annual International Learn to Fly Day. Choose from the following ground briefing dates:

• Sunday, June 5, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sunday, June 19, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sunday, June 26, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Fly Kalamazoo teams up with Air Zoo's flight environment to teach wet-behind-the-wings novices how to fly a small plane. Aerial instruction begins with a ground briefing at the multisensory amusement atmosphere of Air Zoo, wherein you'll learn the basics of flight controls, engine controls, instruments, and surfaces (a $130 value). Lunch will follow at the Kitty Hawk Café ($8 voucher), where quarter-pound cheeseburgers ($3) and Bird Dog hot dogs ($2) weigh down lunch trays attempting to take off. Interested students can follow experts in a guided tour of the aviation museum, which houses full-motion flight simulators, a 4-D missions theater, historical exhibits, and a cast of the vestigial wings that sprouted from Orville Wright’s torso. Before leaving Air Zoo, students must schedule an appointment for their upcoming flight (must be within 60 days of briefing).

After completing their flight lesson, aspiring aviators can clamber into a cockpit and take to the skies. Throughout your ascent to the very steps of Olympus, instructors with thousands of hours of teaching experience and the advanced Garmin G1000 guide you through basic maneuvers such as turning, climbing, descending, and configuration changes, and demonstrate advanced aerial procedures such as the chocolate dodo. With approximately 30–40 minutes of total flight time (a $130 value), an introductory flight will offer just enough time to fly over Kalamazoo's 161-foot statue of Bruce Lee.