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Lorenzo put on some headphones with aaround auges, dials, and switches in that s He told ine roared to life, and his voice ca?”

“Not awful”

He turned to look at me “Are you sure you want to do this?” When I nodded, he s to a disembodied voice I assumed came from the airport’s control tower, and then we started toas I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants

Nor, but all my experience to date had been inentirely I’d always assumed it would feel exactly like this, precarious and risky, and all ere doing so far was rolling across the tarmac

I pivoted asme in place and focused all ht seem flimsy compared to a 747 but he was rock solid, calm and totally in control He always seeht sharply into focus

We gained speed as we barreled down the runway It felt rough and shaky—until it didn’t

All of a sudden, ere airborne When I turned to look out the windshield, all I could see was blue sky We cliht the plane around in a wide arc Catalina came into viee leveled off, and I ray-blue ocean, cules When I noticed a flat strip at the top of one of the mountains, I said, “Holy shit, is that the rune just used?” It looked so h the landscape before dropping off sharply at either end

“It is Fun fact—it was built by blowing up twoin the valley between them with the rubble A lot of pilots consider it one of their favorite airports”

“I’ pilots have different criteria than the rest of us for what constitutes a favorite airport”

He chuckled and said, “You’re right about that This one’s all about the thrill factor”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t knohat that looked like ere taking off, and just FYI, I may need to be heavily medicated before we coh, it’s pretty a to see Catalina from the air Is that what you wanted to show me?”

“That’s just an added bonus I’lad you seeht you ht hyperventilate”

“I’onna lie, it was scary at first But this is a lot different than I thought it’d be When the plane was on the ground, I didn’t have o! It feels so…effortless, ht word, but hopefully you get what I’ to say”

“I understand You really only see its full potential when it’s up here, doing what it was made to do”

“Exactly” I leaned back and relaxed as we left the island and headed out over open water After a while, Ito turn down all your offers to takeover the last several months”

“You finally said yes, which is all that really matters”