Stories tagged “flight”
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26F
John had never flown before. When he was a kid he would lay in the cool grass near his home and watch the birds effortlessly sail between tree and power line and back again. And he loved to blow on dandelions and watch the feathery seeds aimlessly scat...
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One-point-four-zero-five times Ten to the Tenth Power
Man was never meant to fly. I know that. Intimately well, actually. Hell, that’s why I decided to prove them wrong. Yeah, it didn’t work out so well. Who would have thought the issue would be how to get down? Also, it’s boring as hell...
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The Choice of Flight
So my fist met his face, and I almost felt the need to apologize, like someone might if a dog jumped on a neighbor. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what my fist was doing. It never behaves like this. It won’t happen again. But was I sorry?...
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Man On The Moon
“Control, this is Orbital Mission 003. Do you copy?” “We copy that Orbital, you are closing in on the landing site, correct?” “Copy that control, I don’t see the landing site beacons.” “There is no contac...
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Flight 1518
“What?” The disheveled old man grimaced while pointing towards the window seat, “I said, ’That’s my seat.’” As I rubbed the tiredness from my eyes, I rose up and stumbled out onto the aisle. The old man stepped...
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Mid-Flight
“Do you have any cookies?” I asked. The steward dug through the plastic bag sitting atop the drink cart. “I’m sorry sir, we’ve run out of cookies and all we have left are peanuts.” Not only am I seated a step away fr...
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Pegasus se eerste vlug
Toe Pegasus nog baie klein was het sy ma hom eendag op haar rug gesit en opgevlieg na die hoë wolke. “Hou goed vas” het sy gesê “jy kan nog nie vlieg nie!” Bo in die wolke het Pegasus met ’n paar vriende gebaljaar tot sy...
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Stall Speed
Pitch, power, airspeed. Pull back on the yoke and the nose comes up. Reduce throttle to maintain altitude, the airplane slows down. Balancing pitch and power, the horn comes in, low and reedy, then stronger, louder, insistent. You keep raising the nose...
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Aloft
Three days from the sea lies the city of Gezze. Gezze has no roads, no alleys, no footpaths. The buildings are squeezed one beside the other, so close together that the sunlight does not reach the ground floors of the homes. The citizens, therefore, do...
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Almost Home
Ms. Ecstatic stepped out of the in-flight lavatory and took her seat next to Mrs. Jones, who had been in Japan for the past several months. She was elated to be going home, as was apparent from her incorrigible smile. She couldn’t wait to see her...
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Learning to Fly
In 1973 my younger brother and sister were flying with me as unescorted minors from Ohio to Texas on American Airlines. In those days, the flight attendants were called “stewardesses” and they marked unescorted minors with wing pins. The nice lady ...
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Diversions
Harold ended the call and abruptly threw his cell phone into the wall, shattering it. I run an airport, for crying out loud, he inwardly fumed, not a Ritz-Carlton. There was a knock at the wall. Jenny Saunders was standing in the doorway with a pained,...
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flight
Malcolm had a secret. It wasn’t a big secret as secrets go but it was one he kept fastidiously from Rey, the coffee girl and in fact everybody at the office – that is, if you could call the little cubicle at the Border Watch an office. If y...
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In the Present
“You trying to see my aura again?” Kyle asked with a smirk edging onto his face through the gradually slowing breaths. So, he’s in the present. “Maybe,” I answered, trying to be evasive. There wasn’t much point to it...
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The End of Lake Herman Road
At the end of Lake Herman road the salt marsh gave way to a water-bound repository for sea faring relics. The behemoths of metal and paint rested in stoic silence amidst the late afternoon fog, waiting for time to pass and fate to be meted out. Their e...
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Leaving the ground
I plant my feet I left the ground And it was that easy, really. I’m absolutely serious. You have to have some determination, and some pretty serious leg muscles, but you can do it. I did it. Anyone can do it. An ocean of green springtime crops di...
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I am Death From Above
I am death from above. I am a destroyer of cities, wielder of fire of the gods, hell’s own instrument of vengeance against the enemies of my masters. I am a steel-clawed hawk of oblivion, master of the sky, bringer of the sun to earth, nemesis to...
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Up in the Air
I can fly. Holy shit, I can fly. I’m really up here, above the city, looking down what must be 20 or 30 stories to the streets below. No one can see me against the night sky, as I’m zooming between buildings and around corners, barely able ...
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Death Above the Trees
The beast had lost, and it knew it. It let out a bellow, beginning to slip backwards out of the air as the hindmost pairs of its feathery appendages fell out of rhythm. Slowly, the weight of its armored carapace began to drag it down towards the forest...
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Who races pigeons anymore?
Dr Brannigan smiled as she lifted the pet carrier out of the car. It squawked. Ogden was just as excited as she was. It was his big day after all. She joined the milling crowd on the hilltop. Some had already released their entries from their cages, le...
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Twenty Five Thousand Feet
I mash my foot to the floor, and the hum of the engines grows into a full roar. The atmosphere whistles around the small canopy of my Tesla X800 as I push it to the max. Both turbines are roaring behind me now, leaving twin streaks across the sky. The ...
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Flight 364
“Flight 364 to Phoenix, Arizona is now boarding. Please wait until your group has been called, thank you.” Cassie glanced up just in time to see the very prim looking gate attendant set the phone down with a firm click. She anxiously checke...
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The Pilot
He rode his bicycle in the hills, straining his knees to keep his course straight, his arms outstretched like wings, and felt the air beneath him. He ran through flocks of nestled sparrows in the cobbled square, driving them into the sky. He lay in the...
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For A Lady I Know
My last sentiment Meant merely cents To her high dollar flight And chauffuer caller that night. I feel without when I’m with her— She’s in doubt sniffing drugs as her thoughts wither.
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Where Dreams Take
“I had the dream again.” The words hung in the still August air, hardly able to drift to Mabel’s ears. She let the statement take its fluttering course to the earth of quiet acceptance. To signal the death knell of the thought a small...