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Ordinary auto maintenance shops use modern sophisticated computers to analyze engine status and performance. New cars and trucks use computer circuits to control ignition timing, fuel flow and mixture, among other parameters. Drivers do not need any specialized knowledge or skill to operate their automobile engines efficiently and safely. Pilots are in a much different position. Aircraft maintenance shops use tools little different than they were a half-century ago. Aircraft piston engines have seen little or no improvement in decades. In fact, some argue aircraft engines are less reliable and durable than they were even a few years ago. Unless several physical laws are repealed, substantial improvement of aircraft piston engines does not appear to be imminent.

I need to wrap my head around how people run out of gas in airplanes.” Ive been saying that to myself (and my editor) for over a year, marveling at how almost half of all known engine failures are due to fuel mismanagement. Most of those result from fuel exhaustion: attempting to fly beyond the fueled range of the aircraft, or more simply, running out of gas. Very frequently the pilot almost makes it, landing just short of the planned destination. How could a pilot take off with less fuel than needed to complete a trip? Shouldnt it be a pilot imperative to have enough fuel not just to meet the preflight planning requirements of FAR 91.151 or 91.167 as appropriate, but also to be certain there would always be enough fuel on board to make it safely to an airport, regardless of the conditions encountered en route?

Any instrument-rated pilot should know, as a double-I we knew well would stress, “While youre flying straight and level is a good time to get set up for the approach.” Sage advice, but that was back in the days when pilots of most personal airplanes considered themselves fortunate to have a working DME. Moving maps hadnt been invented and the first GPS satellite had yet to be launched. As long as we had current plates-which was most of the time-and a record of a VOR check having been performed in the preceding 30 days, we were good to shoot almost any approach this side of a CAT IIIa ILS, including the then-feared-but-now-rare NDB procedure.

Ever watch an airplane float down the runway before the wheels touch? Mooneys and other clean, long-winged planes are prone to this, especially when their pilots carry a little too much airspeed down the final. How about someone doing a soft-field takeoff, who staggers into the air, nose-high, while bystanders start taking bets on whether the plane will end up in the trees? Both are encountering ground effect, which is basically some free lifting energy produced when an airfoil-whether fixed, as with an airplane or glider, or rotating, as with a rotorcraft-is within a certain distance from a surface, but both also are mishandling it.

No matter what and where we fly, our speed usually is of interest. Sometimes, were just out loafing, watching the clouds above us and the cars below us. Other times, were trying to get somewhere and for any number of reasons want to do it as quickly as possible. In fact, a personal airplane often is an ideal traveling tool, one ensuring the fastest door-to-door travel times this side of a Star Trek transporter beam. Speed usually is a good thing.

Aviation engages us in various checks and balances, all in the name of safety-ours as well as those on the ground. Consider the checks faced by aircraft owners and pilots. We have annual inspections and 100-hour checks for aircraft commercially engaged. The goal, of course, is assuring the airworthiness and safe operating condition of the aircraft, spinner to tailcone. Humans also face an “airworthiness” check, the medical exam. The intervals vary, too. Beyond our own “airframe” inspection, our favorite aviation agency also requires a periodic demonstration of our competence every two years called the flight review.

Using a single-engine airplane for long-distance, literally cross-country trips, usually isnt a good choice. That is, of course, until you survey all the other choices-including the airlines-and decide the flexibility and utility of using a personal airplane is the only way to go. Often, of course, the flight is the trips purpose, not the act of getting to a destination. Watching various landmarks and other magnificent scenery slide underneath the wings-albeit relatively slowly-makes up for the time it can take, especially when headed west into prevailing winds.

We in the general aviation (GA) community are fond of poking fun occasionally at the FAA. Most of the time, its to highlight a perceived and sometimes real tension between the community and the agency. Frequently, this takes the form of tired clichs such as, “Im from the FAA and Im here to help you,” or another mythical phrase such as, “Were not happy until youre not happy.” When I was FAAs lead GA executive in the early 2000s, my favorite became, “Weve just upped our standards, now up yours.”

One of the rewards from operating personal aircraft involves meeting and overcoming challenges, particularly those self-induced by targeting an outcome and nailing it. Many pilots feel an understandable sense of accomplishment with spot-on flight planning. “Got it within two minutes!” one close friend exclaimed a few weeks back about an ETA. Others get seriously into predicting their fuel consumption, then comparing their flight-plan numbers to those on the fuel truck. My aviation upbringing valued many factors, but my mentors were a little like drill sergeants over accurate landings. That meant nosewheel (or tailwheel) on the centerline, inside the touchdown zone, ideally within an airplane length of the threshold paint.

A year ago and mostly for fun, I decided to obtain an add-on glider rating. For any private or commercial airplane pilot, an add-on glider usually can be accomplished in three or four days, provided the weather cooperates. You dont even need a current medical certificate or a drivers license. It also is one of the least expensive add-on ratings an airplane pilot can attain. Flying gliders is fun, but after flying single and multi-engine aircraft for almost 50 years, glider training also helped me to look at airplane flying techniques with fresh eyes. Here are some of the things I learned.