Wing Structure
The fighting units of dragons are organized in groups known as Wings. A collection of three Wings is known as a Flight, and is the largest permanent organizational structure within a Weyr.
A Wing is led by a Wingleader. The Wingleader is responsible for ensuring that his Wing is capable of safely fighting thread. He also appoints Wingseconds and recruits newly graduated weyrlings. Ideally a Wing has two Wingseconds, which are also typically bronze or brown dragons. They fill the Wingleader’s position in the case of an emergency, and help to convey the Wingleader’s orders to the rest of the Wingriders. A healthy Wing contains thirty Wingriders and their dragons, of which more than 3/4 are blue or green. The smaller blue and green dragons do not have the stamina to safely fly an entire threadfall and must be rotated out in two or three shifts. If a Wing falls to fewer than 12 healthy dragon/rider pairs, the Wing is disbanded and absorbed by other Wings.
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Famous quotes containing the words wing and/or structure:
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A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
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Nor knowst’ou wing from tail
Pull down thy vanity
How mean thy hates”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“The structure was designed by an old sea captain who believed that the world would end in a flood. He built a home in the traditional shape of the Ark, inverted, with the roof forming the hull of the proposed vessel. The builder expected that the deluge would cause the house to topple and then reverse itself, floating away on its roof until it should land on some new Ararat.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)