The 757 and Mooney have vastly different ûperformance profiles, but planning a trip in ûone is remarkably like making the same trip ûin the other.

On the FBO porch one recent Saturday morning, I sat with the rest of the airport bums critiquing takeoffs and landings when a Lance pilot really dropped it in. The considered opinion of the gathered authorities was that a touch of throttle would have saved the day.

Later, the discussion turned to big jets and how to keep one from dropping one in. “Add a touch of throttle,” I suggested. My jet-flying colleagues will be quick to point out that jets don’t have throttles. Instead, they have thrust levers. But my point was that big airplanes operate under the same principles of physics as little airplanes. …