The Essence Of Flight

摘要

While visiting France a few years ago, I found an Aero Club that would let me fly with one of their pilots. At the club I was introduced to M. Bus, a retired businessman. My French was barely better than his English, but we spoke the common language of aviation. The airplane was a Piper Archer, examples of which I've flown all over the U.S., and the preflight went smoothly until we checked the fuel level. You're probably familiar with the small metal "tab" in many fuel tanks indicating a partial fuel level. This Archer's fuel level was well below the tabs. "That's not enough fuel," I said. In French, "fuel" is "essence."