Up,up and away

We set off after lunch on a Friday in the middle of July this year. We, that's three pilots, one guest, my HR manager, and Hu Daling, a representative of the State Physical Culture Administration. We had a late lunch at the Capital Club in Beijing, after which we set out on our journey to Datong. We were in high spirits, travelling in a Buick van, all of us together. An old Chinese friend of ours, George, who used to be a driver