Last Updated on September 17, 2023 by ADMIN-TOM
When Orville and Wilbur Wright built and flew The Wright Flyer in 1903, it was the world’s first successful flight of a powered heavier-than-air flying machine. It wasn’t pure luck that enabled Orville to make the first powered aeroplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The flight lasted 12-seconds and managed to fly a distance of 36m, approximately 120ft. This achievement was the product of a four-year program of research and development conducted by Wilbur and Orville Wright starting in 1899.
I’m no historian nor am I a betting man. But I would like to bet that both Orville and Wilbur used some form of cushioning on the pilot’s seat. Bumping along a beach in a home-built aeroplane could not have been much fun on the men’s posterior.
These days we take travel by aeroplane for granted. I’ve just spent a total of eleven hours sat in an aeroplane travelling first to Jordan and back from my home in Cyprus. Followed by a flight to the UK and back. Easy-Peasy? No, not really. Apart from the fact the tickets and gate passes were slightly screwed up by the online agent, there was a major problem with the seating on the aircraft. The seats were hard!
I haven’t flown anywhere in about four years. My last flight was on a Qatar Airlines plane to Australia. That was a long journey from Cyprus to Qatar, then onwards to Perth in Western Australia. The seating was basic but adequate.
This time I used RyanAir. Cheap and cheerful… well, cheap, but the seating was basically pressed into seat shape plastic with the absolute minimum of padding. As I said in the second paragraph, I would bet the Wright brothers took care of their posteriors. RyanAir, on the other hand, 120 years after the first powered flight, seem not to have taken much notice of their passenger’s comfort.
These flights I’ve just taken were a test to see how I would cope while still in recovery mode from Cancer. I did well, with the exception of my bottom. I lost a lot of weight while on chemotherapy and my bottom is more bony that padded. To say I have sore derriere would be an understatement. However, I’m a survivor. If I can beat cancer I can endure the pain of RyanAir’s terrible seats.
Now, as it’s lunchtime and I’m having a beer to kill the pain. Bottoms-up!
Copyright © Tom Kane 2023
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The Brittle Sea – Free Historical Fiction eBook
The fateful journey of the Titanic sets off a chain of events that will leave a legacy of treachery, deceit and heartbreak.
Magda Asparov travels from Ukraine, oblivious to the danger she is sailing into when she boards the Titanic to sail to a new and rich life. With an arranged marriage to Matthew Turner, a corrupt wealthy American businessman, waiting for her in America, and a manipulative independent spirit, Magda knew what her destiny would be.
But when the Titanic goes down, Magda survives and awakens with no memory of who she is, where she’s from, or where she was going.
Rescued by Captain Richard Blackmore of The Lady Jane, the ship’s steward names her Maggie.
Maggie learns to navigate the unfamiliar waters of her new life, but must confront the secrets of her past while falling in love with Richard Blackmore.
Believing Magda survived the Titanic sinking, Turner has set his vengeful henchman, William Harker, the task of finding Magda. Harker relentlessly pursues Magda and, as the search intensifies, Blackmore finds himself in the crosshairs of danger.
With suspense and psychological thrills, The Brittle Sea by Tom Kane is book one in an exciting historical drama trilogy.
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