Sky Dock
an excerpt

As soon as the plane started to drop away, Haley ran to the top of the ramp to watch nervously waiting with twitching palms to give the signal. As the plane gathered speed and the professor whooped for joy Haley said another prayer hoping against hope as the wheels reached the end of the run way. As the plane hit vacant air and the canvas of the wings stretched taut in empty space, Haley trembled watching the craft rise into the air, nose pointed to the heavens, reaching for the stars.

“Oh please…” Haley whispered.

For a heartbeat of time she held out hope, but then, in a blink of disaster, the wings faltered under the weight of the hull and the plane rocked wildly from side to side trying to stay aloft. Her heart wrenched as she watched the professor try in vain to recover the flight, as the engine failed in bursts. Amid the distant cursing of the old man, Haley watched as the nose realigned itself with the ground, and several months of tireless tinkering plummeted into the murky waters of the swamp with a great splash of green.