The instructor stood on the edge of the counter, looking down at the tile floor dozens of inches below. The plane was in good condition, considering… the material used in its construction was chosen both for its light weight and because it was not generally harmed by falls of even several feet. It was completely undamaged, barring the fateful alteration that had been made moments before the fatal flight began.
The pilot was another story. That poor broken figure had been a being of flesh and blood, not of paper. It was a tragedy, an utterly senseless one. The instructor had said the same exact words countless times to many would-be pilots at the moment of takeoff, but nobody else had ever taken the instruction “unfold your wings and fly” quite so literally.
