A California man probably wishes he’d popped an air sickness pill before popping the question to his gal pal on a small plane.
Darrell Hamilton Jr., 26, planned a perfect flight above Reedley, Calif., on Feb. 11 — complete with a boxed ring, hand-carved sign on the ground and cameras to capture the big moment.
The Fresno TV station video editor surprised Rheanna Lopez, 35, a hairstylist and nature lover, telling her that they’d enjoy a romantic flight to view the Blossom Trail.
But nausea stalled his plans and the stomach-churning outcome was all caught on a YouTube video Hamilton posted.
“I started to get motion sickness because I was messing with my electronics too much,” Hamilton told The Post. “That’s when I felt sick real fast. It didn’t help that the pilot kept tilting the plane to give us a good view.”
Things were touch-and-go for Hamilton as the pilot looked for the sign in his cousin’s back yard. The hopeless romantic turned all shades of green as he geared up for the right time to pull out the ring.
“I held it as long as I could. I remember feeling really horrible and wanting to hurry up to find the sign,” he said. “I just wanted to get it over with. We found my cousin’s property and I told her, ‘Do you see anything in the back yard?’
“She kept looking but I couldn’t wait any longer,” he said.
Finally, he winged it — tapping her on the shoulder and thrusting the boxed ring at her.
“I didn’t even ask her — I just showed her the ring and took a deep breath,” he said.
Rheanna barely had time to break out in a smile before he dropped his head between his knees and began hurling.
“She was really surprised. She was caught off guard and had mixed emotions because I started throwing up,” he said. “She didn’t know what to do. She was concerned about me.”
Rheanna played empathetic flight attendant, patting her stricken beau on the back and handing him a sweater to wipe his face.
The pilot asked Hamilton if he wanted to continue the flight, but he said he wanted to fly back to Reedley Municipal Airport as soon as possible.
Asked when Rheanna said “yes” to his silent proposal, he thought for a moment and said: “I don’t even know if she really said ‘yes,’ to be honest. I just know she was really happy.”
The lovebirds avoided a smooch, opting instead to kiss their own fingers and tap them together before the plane landed — not a moment too soon for Hamilton — as Rheanna wiped tears of joy from her eyes.
Amid all the commotion, Rheanna never spotted Hamilton’s backyard sign from 1,500 feet up — missing his embarrassing typo. Instead of writing “Marry me,” he wrote “Merry me.”
“That was the least of my worries,” he quipped.
