Unless youre someone like Sean Tucker or Patty Wagstaff, or one of the Blue Angels, you probably spend most of your time in the left seat of an airplane flying it straight and level. I know I do, since Im usually going somewhere, even if its only a quick flight to and from a nearby airport to warm the oil before changing it. Meanwhile, we spend a lot of time worrying about the aerodynamics associated with stalls, slips, spins and such, even though we rarely find ourselves performing those maneuvers.
Despite all the necessary and detailed discussion of maneuvering flight, many pilots are not well-versed on the options available to them when trying to cover the distance between Point A and Point B. Sure, climb to altitude, set power, set the autopilot, pop open a soda and, hopefully, listen to something other than ATC for a few hours. But how best to balance groundspeed against fuel consumption? At what speed should you be flying to stretch your fuel supply? And-something pretty basic-how to transition from a climb to straight-and level? Lets take a look.
