Extended full-power in small pistons

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:

I'm amazed at all the complications of piston engines on small aircraft. Big
jets used to have a flight engineer with a whole panel of controls and
instruments, but they managed to eliminate that with various forms of
automatic and engine design changes. And yet the same has not happened on
small aircraft: you practically have to be a mechanic to be a pilot, at least
in small piston aircraft. It seems like a hazardous distraction--a pilot
should be able to dedicate himself to flying, not to tweaking an engine.

That's because you don't know what you are talking about.

It was the big radial piston engines that had the "whole panel of controls
and instruments".

Turbines by their intrinsic design just don't have that many things you
can adjust in operation.


--
Jim Pennino

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