Author's Note: Prompt suggested by CJ
N is for Neutral
Blade knew that Maru hated when he did this with a deep-seated passion…but Blade also knew that he wasn't going to give it up. It was too tied up with who he was…with what he was, and as many restrictions as ground-bound vehicles may put on their airborne brethren, aircraft were pretty skilled at finding ways to bend rules.
Airplanes really did have it the easiest. Their broad wings allowed most of them to glide unpowered, at least for a few minutes. Even planes like Cabbie might get lucky and hit a thermal strong enough to shut off their engines and just savor the feeling of unpowered flight. For helicopters, the air of feeling the air cradling their bodies was a far more fleeting feeling, but also so much more intoxicating.
Which is why Blade had taken advantage of a quiet moment in his early morning patrol to climb to his operational ceiling…and then shifted his gears to neutral and turned off his engine.
The first moments of free-fall were always gut-wrenching as the helicopter felt himself being dragged downward by the planet's gravity. Even at his great height, it was easy to see just how quickly he was plummeting, and Blade couldn't help but feel of dread. Then as quick as the free fall started, it ended as the air caught his wings autorotating his rotors.
Now all Blade had to do was relax as the world came up to meet him. He fiddled a little bit with his trim to keep his nose straight and flared slightly to increase the amount of airflow through his rotors, but he mostly just let himself fall.
As always, his plummet ended far sooner than he would wish. As the ground rose to meet him he dipped his tail to give his rotors just a touch more RPMs, then allowed his tires to kiss the ground. He landed a bit harder than he would have, but still with an impressive amount of grace given that it was an unpowered landing.
Blade took a few long breathes as he let the smell and feeling of the soft soil beneath him sink in. Slowly opening his eyes, he forced himself to once again place his engine into gear and slowly whine to life. There was still a large area of the park that needed to be patrolled and he needed to get back before Maru realized what he was up to…because Blade knew that there were just some things that a ground vehicle would never understand.
Endnote: The inspiration for this piece came from a couple of different directions. The first is my brother who is both a powered and a glider pilot. He has often spoken about how incredibly peaceful and alive you feel during unpowered flight. The second my personal experience learning to autorotate a helicopter. The final source comes from the Bald Eagle that preform an act called the 'Death Spiral' as part of the mating process. I hope that all of the pieces pulled together into a story that you enjoyed reading.
But now it is time to push on to the next letter of the alphabet. Who has a prompt idea for the letter O?