On Wings of the Morning by Dan Verner

landing area regularly, so he was surprised at the unevenness of the field. The airplane thumped and shook as it made its way down the grass.
    They reached the place where they would start their takeoff roll.
    “Always look at the wind sock and take off into the wind,” Duncan instructed. Otto dutifully looked at the long white tube hanging from a pole by the hangar. No wind at all.
    “There’s no wind so we’ll just take off from here. When we land, I’ll look at the sock again and land into the wind, if there is any.”
    Otto nodded and looked forward. Duncan advanced the throttle and the Fleet bumped over the ground, slowly at first but more and more rapidly. They were moving along pretty fast and it seemed to Otto that the airplane was growing lighter as if it wanted to lift off the ground.
    He felt the stick move back and the aircraft smoothly lifted from the ground, all vibration gone, and they climbed into the sky. Otto wanted to shout for joy as they gained altitude. He looked back and saw the hangar and office growing smaller and smaller. Wilson came out of the office and waved at them. Otto waved back.
    The silver aircraft banked to the right. Farmland lay all around them, different shades of green in the slanting afternoon sun. Otto saw their farm and the cattle calmly grazing. He remembered when the noise disturbed the herd, but they had made the adjustment and didn’t even look up as they flew over.
    So this was real flying, Otto thought. He had dreamed about what it would be like for so long, and now he was doing it and it was even better than he imagined. It was like he was floating and free, up there with the clouds and birds. It was a wonder that anyone ever wanted to land.
    The wings seemed to reach out for the horizon and Otto felt as if he could hold his arms out and touch the horizon on either side. There was nothing between him and that distant line, and he reveled in the sense of freedom and release.
    Sparky straightened them out and shouted to Otto, “You take the controls. Just try to keep her straight and level and right-side-up.”
    Otto grasped the stick more firmly. He felt the airplane nudge over to the right and brought the stick back to the left. The craft lurched to the left and he corrected to the right, this time skewing in that direction. He could hear Duncan laughing behind him.
    “Just a gentle touch, kid. This ain’t no cow you have to push on to get her to move.”
    After a few minutes Otto was able to hold the airplane in a reasonably straight line.
    “Look down, kid,” exclaimed Sparky. Otto did, and gasped. The ground was a lot closer than it had been. “You’ve got to watch your altimeter or you’ll fly right into the ground. I have the controls.” Otto felt his stick move with authority as Duncan pushed the throttle forward and they climbed for altitude. He wracked the Fleet around in a hard turn that had them practically standing sideways on their wings. Otto looked down at the ground sliding by. His stomach heaved.
    Sparky straightened the ship out and lined up on the field. He cut the throttle and they glided in on a smooth line for the landing area as if they were on a rail.
    Otto watched the ground tilt toward their craft, and Duncan pulled back on the stick just before they would have flown into the ground. The ship stalled just above the ground and settled with a single bounce on the grass. Then they were rolling, slowing until they were moving along at a walking pace. Sparky pressed part of the right rudder pedal that controlled the brake on that side and the airplane turned toward the hangar. He advanced the throttle and soon they were parked in front of the hangar. Otto climbed out of the cockpit.
    “Now, that last little bit right before we landed is called a flare,” Sparky told him. “You stall the aircraft right above the ground; it quits flying and if you do it right, you settle to the runway nice and easy. I bounced it once, not too bad, but a good