Great explanation. But if there is no air for most of her wings, what is she using to generate lift? And is there even enough air on Earth to generate enough lift?

@TrevorD -- Well, when standing, she pretty much towers above most of the atmosphere anyway. I suspect all the air she needs to generate lift comes from the action of raising her wings in the first place, the motion draws in air which piles up below her wings. That accumulated air when driven away again will provide lift. I think mostly, though, upward motion is gotten from about a quarter of the planet when she makes her leap! Otherwise, I think her wings just catch the solar trade winds and she can be on her way!

...and thus began The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper-ess.

Beautifully written, you have a knack for story telling!

You, good sir/madam, are a poet.

I hope this answer ends up with more up votes than mine. It's better than mine.

As others have said, this was a fantastic reply and I'm very grateful that you took the time out to write it. It's how I imagined the event would occur in my head and then some!

+1 but I think it should be Dragon Based Global Warming ...

@aslum -- Not complaining, but how do you arrive at that? "Man Based" only get like 8 hits while "Man made" gets 1600 thousand+ hits.

What country size of dragon wouldn't cause the entire world to become inhabitable? Brazil sized dragon?

Rubbish! The Earth's atmosphere has been going up and down in temperature for millennia! There's no evidence that these environmental anomalies are being caused by just one dragon!

"Dragon-Made Global Warming" Dracolytic?

+1 for Summation There won't be an environment left to have an impact on.

I don't see this as a "terrible" impact on the environment ... it removed the human race and stopped their widespread damage. It might be considered an improvement if anything was able to survive.

@colmde -- You're such a denier! The evidence has been obvious for millennia! What with their poisonous effusions, noxious breath and breathing fire and flame all over the place: it's a wonder dragons haven't caused the planet to go all greenhouse already!

@RedSonja -- dracolytic means the breaking down or disintegration of a dragon. If the inhabitants of this world knew beforehand the nature of the calamity, they might very well wish for a dracolytic solution!

@TrevorD I think it just stands on its hind legs so that half of its body is in space and it can float.

@UKMonkey the core may be able to survive, but not unscathed. Everything else will return to the "uniform ball of molten rock" phase of Earth's history. There might be enough water left to kickstart a new cycle of carbon-based life. Eventually.

"Officer! Officer! Did anyone get the Number of that Beast?!?!?"

"the northern half the Asiatic plate will tilt precipitously upward as her full weight further depresses the southern half" - disagreed. I don't think rock has nearly enough flexural strength to do that kind of shenanigans. It'd snap long before separating from the layer below it. And that's ignoring any cohesion it has to said layer below it.

@JohnDvorak -- Hmm. I suspect you're right on that. Do you think it might could lift, even a short distance, before snapping?

If it's going to lift, it will be because seismic events through the mantle (think water waves), not because the continental plate has any kind of structural integrity to it.

@JohnDvorak -- I think a dragon more than half the volume of the entire Asian plate & all its contents will cause at least some seismic events through the mantle. Will work on this ... give me a sec!