She chose full throttle, but the shattered branches had splintered the inflatable wing over their heads.

‘It’s ripped,’ James shouted. ‘You’ve gotta land it.’

The ground happened before James finished his sentence. The combo of Kerry applying power and uneven lift from the ripped wing caused the plane to jolt violently sideways. The undamaged portion of the wing caught the ground, ripping off the main strut holding the wing in place and sending the carbon fibre tub into a pirouette.

James’ back jolted as the now wingless plane did a 180 before finally touching down. His neck snapped back and his knees banged the seatback. Kerry screamed as the tub hit the ground sideways, tearing up the grass strip and ripping off two landing wheels.

‘Kerry,’ James shouted, squeezing his intercom button. ‘Mayday, mayday, mayday. Hitting hard!’

Sodden grass got ploughed up, acting as a natural brake. One of the carbon fibre wing struts snapped, showering James with shards. The screen in front of him went dark and he lost all sense of orientation until he felt a crash of shrubbery, followed by the tub smashing brutally into a tree stump.

‘James, what’s going on?’ Tovah shouted.

When he opened his eyes, James realised that the carbon fibre tub had come to rest against a tree. He was strapped in, facing the ground. There wasn’t any pain, but when he looked around the back of Kerry’s seat, he saw her slumped unconscious, with her legs trapped inside the microlight’s deformed nose.

‘Get someone out here,’ James shouted, as he fumbled with his safety harness. ‘Kerry’s hurt and I think it’s bad.’

Down at the landing strip, Kyle and Ryan were just hopping out, high-fiving after a textbook landing. Lauren and Bruce had landed a few minutes before and stood under a canopy, folding their deflated wing, as Tovah charged out of the control hut.

‘Mayday up at 4B,’ she shouted. ‘James and Kerry.’

Looking shocked, Lauren went for one of the dirt bikes and almost set off, before realising that Bruce was trying to mount behind her. While Lauren and Bruce bolted, Kyle hurried inside the hut and grabbed an emergency medical pack.

‘You want me to come with?’ Ryan asked, as Kyle pulled the pack up his arms and straddled the nearest bike.

‘Secure the wings,’ Kyle shouted.

A strong gust had already caught their ultra-light plane and Ryan charged over to stop it tipping as Kyle set off.

Bruce clutched Lauren’s waist for dear life as the pair sped helmetless up a gravel path. They skirted the perimeter of the Olympic pool, then blasted up a narrow dirt track with only a small headlight showing the way. Bruce tried to console himself with the idea that Lauren was a professional driver, but kept getting horrible mental images of his skull smashing on trees she was missing by centimetres.