Originally published in Jetstream Magazine by Daniel Mena.

It was a gray September morning at Hong Kong International Airport.

Typhoon Tapa had left me stranded in Macau for three days, but after some time with friends, I was excited to be in the air again. For most travelers at Gate 17, this was an ordinary hop to Shanghai – routine and forgettable. But for me, this was something far more significant.

I was about to board China's COMAC C919, a new, homegrown airliner that had entered service only two years earlier, and one that had carried ambitions reaching far beyond the runway.

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