Still Air Descent

I parked the orange bike beside the bottom newel post and carried the dry maple seed up to the third stair tread. Zero crosswind indoors. Optimal conditions for a baseline drop test. Leaning over the rounded lip of the riser, I pinched the seed stem between two fingers, centering it above a flat cardboard shoebox lid on the floorboards. Released grip. The fibrous wing bit into the still air instantly, snapping into a level clockwise spin. It registered eight steady rotations on the way down, touching down softly right on the cardboard's printed logo. Predictable flight envelope. Data logged.