Ready to lose one now? If not, you’d better ūreconsider your options.

Once upon a time, I experienced two engine failures on takeoff on the same day, in the same airplane, on consecutive flights. I showed up early in the morning to teach soaring, and the schedule for the day was pretty full.

My favorite aircraft at the field, a J-3 Cub, had undergone some maintenance on the previous day and needed a test flight before returning to service. It was my joy to have a quiet morning to myself on the grass airstrip before the day turned busy. The mechanic had signed off the aircraft logs on the previous night and I didn’t find any items on the preflight of concern.…