[Age Up] Ground School

“Okay children, gather around, gather around. “ 

Nerodia was starting to learn that some days trying to get a bunch of hatchlings together for some ground schooling was a lot like as the Humans would say- herding cats. The bright red-pink Tropeonathus had her entire body and wings covered in banding, with a flower petal-like midline running along. She, too, was one of the cats by just existing as a  hatchling. She gave the cutest little hops as she wandered over to sit down in front of Mako, an adult male Tropeonathus. “Mister Mako, what are we learning today?” She'd ask curiously. 

Mako is blue in color, with a bold, darker sable and a creamy underside. His entire self has a pattern of tabby swirls, and his snout having a dark dimorphic marking on the tip. From his snout along his dorsal line is a black marking, adding that little edge to him. He's quite pretty, actually. He is also the cat herder and works to gather around the rest of the hatchlings, some standing out in the small crowd more than others. “You're learning how to fly today. “ He'd answer, glancing to Nerodia. 

“But we already know how to fly? “ Asked another Tropeonathus, this one was green with a bit of darker Merle on their back and butt. They had a light green midline that intersected a pink, banded-like collar and there were hints of a dimorphic markings starting to fade in on their snout and feet. The young little male was named Electra. 

“You do know how to fly, you know how to fly instinctually. I want to teach you how you can understand the flight and fly intentionally. “ Mako would patiently explain. 

“If we want to fly what's the difference between instinctually and intentionally? Aren't we wanting to fly either way?” Another baby Tropeonathus would ask. This young little lady was named Uzuragi, she is very blue in color. She has lighter blue unders and fawn spots with a darker hood spotted in the head with sunspots. If you squint hard enough at her you can see some freckling. 

“Instinctually is you just doing,and if you practice enough intentions, those intentions can become instincts. “ Mako would answer the young hatchling as he glanced to her as well. The Tropeonathus looked at the small hoard of hatchlings in front of him and he did a head count to make sure everyone was there. They were, which meant it was time to get into things! 

“First thing is first, there are four elements to flight. Thrust, Drag, Lift and Gravity. “ Mako would start, running down the list of topics to cover to start this lesson. “Gravity is what keeps you here on the ground, it's the pull of the world around you. If you pull a really tight loop or maneuver and you feel heavier than normal and you must try harder to fly, that is also gravity. If you push a bit too quickly and you feel like all of the blood is rushing to your head, that is gravity working on the opposite direction, negative gravity. “ 

“Why does gravity make us feel heavier if we're doing a crazy loop but not when we're standing here?” Uzuragi would ask. The explanation was confusing and she would probably benefit from seeing it in action. 

“Because when you pull that crazy loop and you feel heavier that is a force of gravity being multiplied. G-Forces work in the way that standing here is gravity at rest and it is one G. One times the force of gravity. While two Gs is two times! At two Gs you weigh twice as much as you do at one G. “ 

“So with enough Gs I could weigh as much as a Utahraptor?” Nerodia would ask quizzically. 

“Under sustained G-Forces, yes, actually!” Mako would confirm the young Tropeo’s question. It put a puzzled but interested look on Electra's face. 

Mako would continue, wanting to err on the side of caution. “But that is against you, you have to work even harder to be in control during that period of time. The force could pull the blood from your head and put the squeeze on your body, or it could even put all of the blood in your head and hurt your head!” 

“That sounds scary. “ Electra would comment, sounding a bit put off now. 

“It can be. Mako would agree. 

“Is there a way we can make it less scary?” Uzuragi would ask, tilting her head some. 

“Practice and conditioning. “ Mako would state and you could hear the encouraging smile in his voice. “The more you work at something the better you tend to become at whatever it is. While there are still bodily limits, you can mitigate some of the danger by working towards bettering yourself. 

Okay that made enough sense. 

“Okay but if gravity exists how do we fly?” Electra would ask. 

“You produce enough lift to overcome it. “ Mako would state, getting a sort of stare from the hatchling and maybe another one in the small crowd. “All of the elements I mentioned earlier are what govern flight. They all work in unison. To overcome gravity and weight you need to produce enough lift, and lift is created as the air flows over your wings and your body. The birds you see soaring high over fields and low over water, their wings are large and shaped for lift. Different wing shapes can have different effects, for instance: if you tuck your wings against your body you produce less lift, you might even fall out of the sky immediately. Sometimes you can find extra lift from wind, or from air currents. The albatross, they ride different airs to stay aloft. The eagle over the field uses thermals to help it stay airborne without needing to flap, hot air rises, cool air sinks. You can always use this knowledge to your benefit. Look at the terrain around you, different land heats differently, there will be a difference between the forest and the field next to it. “ Mako would explain, looking among the group of hatchlings. 

“What if we get fat?” Nerodia would ask a bit suddenly. 

“If you get too fat you might not be able to fly at all. “ Mako would answer her. 

The elder would continue. 

“Have you ever noticed when an eagle catches a fish it has to flap its wings a lot more than usual in order to fly away with its meal? When it flaps its wings it is creating thrust, and it is using the extra thrust to overcome the extra weight of the fish. Sometimes the weight of the fish is too much and the eagle has to swim to shore, a poor day to be an eagle. “ Mako would hope using a common and real world example would help teach the kids about weight and thrust. “Any time you want to climb higher in the sky but you don't have that extra speed and lift to do so, you must use thrust. This means you must flap your wings to create that needed thrust in order to climb higher or to carry more weight than you produce lift for. “

“Okay but what is drag? Don't we drag sticks and things to the nest?” Uzuragi would ask, her turn to pitch in for this episode of twenty questions. 

“You do drag things to the nest, but some words have more than one meaning. In the case of flight drag is a  force acting against you. If you cannot overcome drag you will not be able to fly. “ Mako would answer, jumping in to talking about drag now instead of thrust. “Drag is a natural force against you, because you create resistance to the air you are trying to fly through. For the most part you can overcome drag thanks to your own aerodynamics, and by using thrust. Drag can be a useful thing, it isn't always bad. By changing the angle of your wings as you fly your wings can stop creating lift and instead start creating drag. This can actually act as a natural brake and slow you down so you don't land too fast. “ 

“What's ‘Aerodynamics’?” Electra would ask, his head tilting one direction then the other. “That's a big word. “ 

“Well.. “ Mako would address him. “Aero just means air, and dynamics is something in motion, how something moves. So aerodynamics is just the way the air is moving and in this case how you move through the air. Because of the way your wings and body are shaped the air will move differently along you in different parts, faster moving air above you and slower moving air below you will create the effects of lift. “ 

Mako would continue, looking between the hatchlings as he'd keep talking. “For flight to work well you need to take into account all of these factors. For instance if you damage your wings, say, you get a hole in your wing or some mean monster rips up your wings you can no longer produce as much lift because the effectiveness of your wings has now been reduced. You will experience more drag. With the loss you also will struggle to produce more thrust as flapping won't be as effective or might not be effective at all. If your wings get too damaged you can't fly. Also if you were to break a wing that is a sure fire way to ground yourself. So you hatchlings need to be especially careful you don't get hurt. Our biggest benefit is we can fly, flying is our easiest way to travel, hunt, collect, and is our biggest means of escape from danger. If you were to get grounded, even temporarily, it can lead to your own death. You little ones are fortunate you have adults looking out for you, for the most part you don't need to fear anything. Don't let that make you careless, though. Danger can happen in the blink of an eye, and you little ones will never be completely safe. This means both outside dangers like weather and predators, but also yourselves. Try not to be clumsy, neglectful and complacent, the world can be a very unforgiving place. “ 

“What if we're meaner?” Nerodia would pitch in, she stood up and hugged up trying to make herself look big and scary even if the effect wasn't reached. 

“I'm afraid, Nerodia, you can't be scarier than nature. I want you to do your best to not let yourself be a fool. “ Mako would address the young hatchling, carefully picking a hand up so he could pat the hatchling on the back before he used it to brace himself again. “Also-” he would look among the group of hatchlings, Nerodia, Electra, Uzuragi, and the others before he looked beyond them and took in the scenery behind and the oncoming weather. There were some other flying in the distance, riding the air currents ahead of the storm. “It seems there is weather coming in, so I think we should cut this lesson short and everyone should go back to your nests. “ 

“Awwww!” Was the complaint in unison from the crowd of pterosaurs. But they would listen to him. 

“Bye Mister Mako!” Nerodia would say her goodbye as she turned around and skittered off. 

The rest of the kids would say their goodbyes one by one. 

“Remember we have more flying lessons tomorrow!” Mako would shout in reminder to everyone as he seemed to remember what he'd forgotten to say before sending everyone home. 

“Okay Mister Mako!” Nerodia would shout at him to let him know she heard him, though she never did stop running off. 

“And don't forget, I'll ask about the four fundamentals again tomorrow so I hope you paid attention to this lesson!” Mako would try again to collect up his thoughts before everyone was gone. 

“Okay Mister Mako, I'll try not to forget. “ Electra would comment before he took his own leave, giving one last look to his teacher before he scurried off himself. 

Uzuragi would be one of the last kids to leave, her giving a proud look to Mako. “I'm gonna learn those fundamental things and I'm gonna be the best flyer you ever saw. I'm gonna be better than you!” She’d declare before she'd hop off before Mako could even consider a response. 

He watched until they were all gone before heading for his own nest, he sure hoped the kids remembered what he said. Flying lessons are important! 

With that their lesson on the four fundamentals of flight and how lift, drag, thrust and gravity (or weight) and how that could mean the difference between flying or walking concluded.