How to Fly
Part 1
Basic Flight
Now that you have constructed a saddle, strapped it around your dragon, and mounted your dragon, you are ready to take flight. Unlike the multitude of rules that you must follow when dealing with dragons in order to ensure your continued existence, there are only two rules concerning flight, they are golden ones: hold on tight and slow down.
Your dragon will initiate flight by running, fast. This is the part where "hold on tight" becomes very useful. Flight is not recommended for the faint of heart, though this is Berk, and I'm not so sure any Vikings here are "faint of heart." The species of dragon you own determines how long the acceleration will be. A Zippleback might take five strides, whereas a Night Fury doesn't even have to run at all, as they are capable of vertical takeoff. Regardless of the duration of running, it will be a bumpy ride. After your dragon takes to the skies, which it will do by jumping, the ride will smooth out a bit.
After your dragon has left the ground, it will spend some more time gaining altitude. Do not attempt to steer at this point, as it is likely that you will run your dragon into the ground, in which case neither you nor your dragon will be very happy. Wait until your dragon's head becomes about level with its tail, and then you can begin to steer.
Steering is simple. Shift the weight of your body to the side you want your dragon to turn to, and your dragon will respond by- gasp- banking towards that side. Sometimes, your dragon will turn without you telling it to do so- if you don't react to an obstacle, your dragon certainly won't slam into it if you don't steer out of the way. Dragons are not stupid, and will kindly compensate for your pitiful lack of reflexes.
Moving your dragon up or down works on much the same principle as steering- to dive, lean down, to climb, pull up. I have said this before- if you're a beginner, please don't try anything fancy. It would be rather embarrassing if you tried rolling your dragon, and instead, just fell off. For the first few days, it would be smart to just practice the basics- up, down, left, and right.
For all you speed freaks out there, if you suddenly feel the urge to have your dragon break the sound barrier (an urge that, considering that Berk is a Viking colony, is fairly common,) lean forward. Your dragon will respond by flying faster, but please remember to have it slow down after a while. Dragons can be difficult to control once they get going, and though it would be extremely amusing to watch young Vikings fall off dragons moving faster than a lightning bolt, it would also be not-so-amusing when you break your spine, so please slow down.
Finally, when you land, you must also make sure that your dragon is moving slowly. The time needed to decelerate increases rapidly (by my calculations, it seems to be go up in squares) when speed goes up. Even if you're flying slowly by the time you're touching down, make sure that there is nothing in your dragon's way- dragons remove obstacles by running them over, and if that obstacle is a person that doesn't move out of the way fast enough, you may have manslaughter charges pressed against you. A clear path in front of your dragon is rather vital.
Dragons are the fastest modes of transportation Vikings have ever discovered. The potential for idiocy is staggering. For the love of Thor, use your common sense. When you're traveling at such high speeds, collision hurts. I guarantee it.
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