The Cessna 185 holds 92 gallons of gas. There are times that I like to take
that much fuel, like on floats into the interior of British Columbia. But
for just cruising around, I like to have FUN, and that means a light
airplane for the $200 hamburger.

I know -- we've had this discussion.

Mary and I, however, decided long ago that we simply weren't ever going
to be caught short on fuel. Every year, a number of pilots kill
themselves by running out of gas, perhaps because they were enjoying
the added performance of a light plane -- and we figure that's one risk
we can easily eliminate simply by keeping the tanks full. Since our
plane can easily haul four 200-pounders, plus 84 gallons of fuel, we
always top off the tanks after every flight.

True, it diminishes performance slightly, but (unless we're on fire) we
feel you can't have too much fuel on board...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"