Pegasus Flight School (Phgasos pthsh hcoleio) Part1

The orginal version of this story was actually written for me by the original author, K. McCleaft, who is a good friend of mine. I was so impressed by it as an original piece of work, that I asked if we could work on it together and adapt it to be published here (in four parts). I'm glad to say he agreed, so here is the result..............

Pegasus Flight School (Pegasos ptisi scholeio)

Part 1

“Ah ha! I see you brought the carrot I asked for !” Pegasus says with a chuckle. His head lowers as he bites it off somewhere below where my fingers curl around it. He munches happily for a few moments and then lips at my hand and fingertips with his dexterous lips, prying them open to get the remainder of the carrot from me.

Finishing his munching he raises his head and continues ; “Ohh ! That was a sweet and juicy one….sorry, its just a thing of mine. Ever since my creation, the ones that have ridden me have always brought to me a gift. With some it was a golden bridle, with others carrots. It doesn’t matter what it is, so long as it is given in kindness. Kind of a good luck thing. Pilots always have some good luck charm or sacrifice to ensure they have a good flight. Did you bring the leather strap and goggles I asked for as well?” Pegasus looks at me, his pupil, very carefully, nosing the goggles and the strap with his muzzle as if inspecting them, before finally nodding his head in acceptance.

“Very good.. Since this is your first flight, we will do things a bit differently today. We will have a short explanation of the flight dynamics of your mount, its relative limits and some of the control systems that are integrated into him. It just so happens that your mount today is also your flight instructor and flight systems coordinator. In other words, you don’t want to annoy your airplane.” Pegasus briefly gives me a playful smirk, before returning to the serious facial expression and tone of an instructor.

“I will now quote from the flight manual : Your ‘Pegasus Mark 1’ is equipped with three flight modes: Full Manual, AP and AP-Assist. I will now briefly explain these terms.”

“Full Manual. Most people never get the hang of fully manual flight. There are too many variables to consider while flying”.

“ In my experience they can end up dumping themselves very quickly off my back, not a good idea that ! Even if they don’t do that, then as the manual again says’; “The flight can be rather jerky and ungraceful”.

“Full AP. This is rather like ‘Hands off the reins and hold on tight’!”

“AP-Assist. This is the most rewarding for both the rider and the mount. Slight cues can lead to a complex set of maneuvers that will perform the task in a relatively safe manner for both the rider and the mount. When any mode of AP is engaged, your mount has the final say in what is going to happen. This means that he could exceed the design limits if he feels that it is safe to do so without your intervention, or he can refuse to execute a command if he feels that it would unsafe to do so. In aggressive maneuvers it is best to hold on tightly with your legs and grasp firmly on the mane. The forces involved in some of the maneuvers can make the rider unsettled and unstable.”

He stops for a moment, stepping slightly towards me. “You can read all this fully later, a practical demonstration will put it all into perspective first”. I know he can see the expression on my face!

“You look worried ? No need to worry ! When you mount, I will instruct you to run the leather safety strap beneath my belly like a girth and attach the ends of the leather around your ankles to secure yourself safely. In later flights, after we talk about flying mounts and dismounts, we will not use this strap. By that time the muscles in your legs, back and arms should be strong enough to keep you steady even while in inverted flight. At low speeds you can sit upright with very little difficulty, however at moderate speeds you will need to crouch down in a very low “two point” position. At high and extremely high speeds you will need to nearly lie down forward, flat on my back whilst hooking your feet behind into my flanks. While this is not comfortable for either you or me for that matter, it does stop you from being blown off my back in winds that can exceed hurricane velocities. It also allows me to maintain those speeds much easier without the added drag and turbulence your body causes.”

“In the first chapter of the manual you will read” ; “In time you will be able to anticipate the movements and merge yours with your mount so that they act as a complete unit”.

“For now, don’t be to upset or frustrated if you feel as if you are loosing your grip with my back. The strap will hold you securely and in truth, with the exception of a few demonstration maneuvers, you will never experience a combined force less than zero G’s. By the way, ‘G’ is the force of gravity. One ‘G’ is what you normally feel standing still. My wings don’t do so well in the negative ‘G’ region. The best equivalent feeling I can give you is to have someone standing on your out stretched arms. As you can imagine you will get very tired quite quickly. However, if you hang your body from your outstretched arms, you can stay there a long time, even if you add more weight. The same happens when you are flying. If you have to heave your weight over your head, you can do it, but only for a very short amount of time. It can be very useful at the right time. The best advice I can give you is to make certain that you remain centered on my back. There is a good reason for this. If you are off balance and I transition into a climb, you will have a tendency to lean or fall in the direction of your imbalance. This will pull on the reins in the opposite direction of your fall, making me bank away from you. Your leg will push against the ‘wrong’ side making a sharp yaw that will move my body out from beneath you. So, grip with your knees tightly. Ok? At this point, the worst thing that can happen is that you fall from my back and the safety strap will catch you and prevent you from falling free. You will be upside down beneath his belly, but a quick bank and negative G’s will force you upright again. OK, you will be bit shaken for sure, but unharmed. Just relax and go limp if this happens, I will be keeping an eye out for you.”

“Ready to go? The first thing we need is the bridle..” Pegasus smirks at me, noticing the scared expression on my face. Reassuringly he adds, “Don’t worry, I have only lost one person before and that was under Zeus’ command. Poor Bellerophon was being a fool and thought he was a god. I only wish Zeus would have asked me to dump him rather than sending the wasp. It stung me in a very uncomfortable spot I can tell you !” Shaking his head he adds, “But than again, I was young and probably wouldn’t have listened. After all Bellerophon was my rider. I had to listen to him, right?”

Shaking his head from side to side and then walking over to a tree, he noses it a few times then grabs the golden bridle hanging from it with dexterous is lips. Walking back over to me he places the bridle into my hands.

“We will need this” he says. “Go ahead and put it on me.”

Pegasus gives an equine smile as he watches me. He can see that the bridle feels very light in my hands as it weighs only about a quarter of what a horses leather bridle weighs. He watches me as I gaze at the reins, cheekpieces, noseband and browband. Instead of being made of leather, the entire bridle made of thousands of strands of golden thread woven together. There are Greek words embossed all down the length of the reins and over the noseband and browband. Most of the words are faded and undecipherable but some of them catch my inquisitive eyes as they look much newer than the rest.

Pegasus snorts, clearing his nostrils before lowering his head, knowing what power the bridle has over him. Gladly accepting the bridle as I slide it over his nose, Pegasus closes his eyes for a moment, opening them a few seconds later to reveal a second clear eyelid that shines with a strange amber cast. His eyes now look distorted and enlarged behind what looks like protective covers. He doesn’t make a sound as I slide the reins over his neck and rest them on his withers. His neck arches proudly, head pointed at the ground as he stands there bridled looking like a strong winged Lipizzaner, waiting for me to mount.

“Are you ready now?” Pegasus asks, his body tightly compressed, forcing his back to arch slightly, his muscles tight as he stands in the proud pose that the Muses taught him.” I will now lower my wings like a ramp so you can mount easily.” His wings stretch forward and back, fluttering a few times before lowering both of them, letting me climb up and get on top of him. His wings still lowered, Pegasus smiles and looks back, watching as I place myself firmly in the slight dip of his muscular back, just behind his withers.

“Ok.. See about putting that strap on your legs and make yourself comfortable. We will then see where you are on my back, OK?”. Pegasus moves his wings a bit forward, making it easier for me to reach my legs and place the straps tightly around my ankles.

“No.. No !! That’s too tight.. You don’t want to be pulling on your legs like that ! You cant use them like that ! Make it rather loose as the wind will take up the slack while we are flying. The strap just needs to act as a safety line, that’s all.” Pegasus smiles and nods his head as he feels the strap loosening up and dangling in an arc beneath his belly. “Ok.. That’s much better now.. Are you comfortable there?” Pegasus feels me still moving about slightly, trying to center my body on his back as if I was riding a normal horse bareback. Folding his wings up against his side, I can feel where the hard bones of his wings where they rest against me on his back.

“Ok.. That’s pretty good, actually. Just be careful not to move your legs forward too much. You don’t want to get in the way of them flapping, but if my wings do catch you, the least that will happen to you is that you will get a bad bruise.”

Pegasus quickly shakes his head from side to side as if there was something that went into one of his ears, before taking a few steps forward into the open field.

Back to the Index Next Page, Part 2