I've finished it (got it a little over a week ago).
And by hovercraft I mean the boat-like thingy (it hovers just above the surface) and by aircraft I mean the combined air/space-ship. And no, I never flew it without stabilizers.The hovercraft is very fun to use and run, the aircraft is a little more problematic with orienting yourself and to position yourself, especially since it's so big difference between high speed (not boosts, just high speed) and low speed. And I never used any boosts to beat the records (got 3 out of 4), that's cheating.
Oh, I missed some of the pearls too, which is a bummer, but that's life I guess. Another fun thing is to kick the gas out of those Alpha section guys.