In the seven or so years that I've been flying, I've put in more than 2, 000 hours at the stick of single-engine piston airplanes, including a Beechcraft Bonanza, two Cessnas and, most recently, a sleek Cirrus SR22 that I've owned for 18 months.
When aeronautical engineers started perfecting the jet engine (a process that took a few decades), they dreamed ofairplanes that would move much faster and carry much heavier payloads.