"Hold this bucket," Trent Smith says with a mischievous gleam in his eye. It's pretty much the standard welcome for anyone about to board the family's 1957 Beechcraft Bonanza.

The Sooners' all-world tight end has already pre-prepared the single-engine, four-seater for take-off. He's peeked inside its nose for nesting birds. He's triple-checked the circuit-breaker alignment and tapped all the gauges and dials and nobs. There's just one more task to do before he speeds down the runway of the university's Max Westheimer Airport: He closes his eyes and crosses himself.

A few minutes later, the aviation management major is 3,000 feet above the Sooners' Memorial Stadium. As the plane settles in, the sensation is buoyant, like being on a raft. "I love it up here," he shouts over the engine's woosh and hum. "It takes me away from everything." It also gives him a great view of everything. After 220 in-flight hours -- he's been known to fly home for lunch in Clinton, Okla. -- Smith reads the terrain like the laces on a spiral. The pilot turns guide and shows off each golf course, farm and school in the 405 area code.

Fact is, Smith's so comfortable in his cockpit he's willing to lateral. "Here, take it," he says, and passes the yoke (you know, the steering wheel) to a baffled passenger. "Keep an eye on that," he says, pointing to a little round screen that replicates wing alignment. Easy for him to say. For a novice, though, it's impossible not to get dizzy staring at the tiny screen. The plane slowly noses downward. Smith laughs calmly and switches to autopilot. While his cargo regroups, he outlines his avian family tree: Dad Darrell, a former lineman with the semipro Oklahoma City Wranglers, and his father owned their own planes. Trent's mom, Carolyn, her dad and his grandfather were pilots too. Even little bro Tyler flies. Wings are part of the Smith genetic code.

As he begins the final descent, Smith points to a sticker near the yoke that reads GUMP, DAMMIT! "Pilots love acronyms," he says. "Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture Control, Propeller Setting" is the procedure for readying to land. Dammit is what happens if you forget the GUMP part.

Or a passenger forgets the bucket.

Bruce Feldman is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espn.com.