Believing in Dragons

Meet Captain Rob.

I've long since lost track of the number of times I've boarded a plane (I'm hugely thankful its the same as the number of times I've disembarked, lol), it must be into the hundreds, and sometimes it seems so routine that its easy to forget the marvel it represents.
I'm old enough to have ridden in the cockpit a few times before the door was locked - but of course I wasn't a blipper then. I've thought of flying lessons - but I'm so not mechanically minded - I really think I'd be bored (gliding is sensually different) - but there's also my nagging doubt about the truth of these wonderful metal birds.
Sure I "get" the theory of displaced air mass forced over the wings and creating lift - it seems hugely plausible in an age where we think everything can be explained - but my deep animal mind isnt totally convinced. Sat typing at 32,000 feet in a pressurised metal box moving at 8 times the motorway speed limit halfway to space.....well I often look up at my fellow passengers and wonder if really it's a collective belief that's making this happen, if we simply now label magic as science, belief as knowledge. We're told it can fly, we want it to fly, we believe it will fly - so it flies.
Perhaps today's aeroplane is yesterday's dragon.