In the Clouds
I watched the small, yellow-winged Sparrowhawk roll up under the great whale I was inside, quickly match speed with the silvery leviathan, wiggle its stubby wings and set its probe rod into the steel trapeze and then stall out, nose up and tail down. It was a superior job of brave and steady flying in an aircraft that belonged in a museum. The rig retracted, an aluminum ladder came down and the leather-clad pilot climbed quickly up to the catwalk within the air ship Annapolis. Once I was sure...