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November 2nd

LukeThe lobby of Soar Aviation at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey is a tasteful oasis of beige hues, as, well-spaced arrand piano

No one ever plays that damn piano, but that’s beside the point

This posh waiting roo private planes out of Soar, one of the five cohts at one of the busiest strictly private airports in the world

And since I’h this lobby about three ti contrast to what I used to seeas a commercial pilot out of Newark International Airport

Basically, I get paid to fly around in the clouds

You’d think after being a pilot for eight years, the novelty of flying would wane, but it doesn’t Every time I sit in the cockpit and prepare to take off, I’ht school

Lobby left behind, the tarmac feels like home under my feet The moisture of dew is still ripe in the air, but after years of flying out of this airport in the s, I know it’ll be burned off within the next thirty h in the sky to put some heat into the air I doht checklist, and then head for the stairs that lead to the inside My phone buzzes in et to the top, so I pull it out quickly and check the screen to find a new textThatcher Kelly: Luke,a little late this ic with air traffic control?After leavingon with Soar—a cohts for a lot of very wealthy clients—I’ve had the pleasure of flying Thatcher Kelly and the rest of his friends—billion-dollar-bank-account friends, mind you—around for the past two years

Apparently, I’ve also beco late Which, frankly, is a lot Thatcher Kelly runs on Thatcher Kelly time No ifs, ands, or buts about itMe: Sure I assu Wes Lancaster, sir?On this fine MondayThatch and several of his closest friends to LA And Wes Lancaster, the owner of the New York Mavericks and investor in a lot of high-profile restaurants, will be on today’s flight

Wes is a stickler for tiets pissedThatcher Kelly: Ah, don’t worry about that broody bastard He can handle running a few minutes behind schedule todayI’ the one to have to tell hi exactly?Thatcher Kelly: About twentyMe: Okay I’ a twenty-minute maintenance delay of some sortThatcher Kelly: If I weren’t already et onpropose to you, son Consider dinner on htI smirk, slide my phone back into my jacket pocket, and step inside the Bombardier Global 7500—my aircraft for the day It’s a sleek piece of est, fastest aircraft in Soar’s inventory

Trevor is already in the cockpit and setting up his nest We’ve been through a hell of a lot together, including doing quite a bit of growing up After graduating froht school and took the first jobs we could find as pilots He worked for FedEx, and I started cli the ladder of the commercial airline world, but finally, with our jobs at Soar, we’re back together He can still be a pain in the ass, but he’s one of the best pilots I could hope to fly with

“Morning,” I greet, and he glances over his shoulder to grin at me

“Hey, man”

“Just so you know, Thatch is running behind”

Trevor shakes his head “And what’s our excuse for today’s delay?” he asks,pretend postponements on behalf of Thatcher Kelly If he weren’t such a cool-ass guy, we’d probably get really tired of his shit, but I guess that’s Thatch’s charisic It’s iet paid really well too

“Let’s go with GPS maintenance,” I comment and stash — to air traffic control and ht charts

While I enter the data about our flight into the coh our checklist