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Miranda paced the distance across the fine sand of the Sonoran desert to the Chinook CH-47F. At ninety-seven meters she reached the cargo bay door. Told to land a hundred meters from the A-10’s initial crash site, the pilot had been very precise, placing the helicopter’s center at exactly a hundred.
She was tempted to run a tape measure to see just how accurate that assessment was.
Unlikely for such a pilot to commit an error in releasing the cargo hook.
The cargo hook lay beside the aircraft—the pilot had left the cable dangling long rather than reeling it in, and set the hook down in plain view before shifting to one side to land so precisely.
Or had the pilot intended to place the hook at a hundred meters and was therefore three meters out of place?
Either way: careful.
The ma
