P&E EFFICIENCY START YOUR NEW CAREER IN AVIATION Make AOPA's Job Board your first stop CREATE a profile so employers can find you. SET UP job alerts so you never miss a new opportunity. SEARCH over 1,500 active listings from hundreds of the top employers in all sectors of the industry. Go to jobs.aopa.org for your next career move. Slow burn Quick calculations for fuel conservation B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N 92 | AOPA PILOT August 2017 aren't no-wind conditions. How fast should you fly to ensure you complete the flight while burning the least amount of fuel? Aeronautical engineers are wizards at coming up with complex mathematical formulas for aircraft performance-but all those numbers and symbols can be devilishly difficult to put into practice. Fortunately, there are some straightforward guidelines to follow, and they aren't much harder than figuring out the proper tip to leave for the waiter at an airport restaurant. First, your airplane's maximum liftover-drag speed (L/D Max) is the same as its best glide speed. Say you're flying a Citabria 7GCBC with a best glide EVA VASQUEZ YOU'VE ENCOUNTERED A stronger-thanexpected headwind on a long flight and want to reduce your fuel burn to ensure you arrive at your destination with adequate reserves. You're about two-thirds of the way to your destination, and it's the nearest airport, so you can't divert or turn around. The mixture knob is as far out as it can go for the leanest possible fuel/air mixture. You're flying VFR as high as the cloud ceiling allows for the best possible true airspeed. You know your airplane's longest range in no-wind conditions can be had by flying at the maximum lift-over-drag point on the total drag curve. But that number isn't marked on airspeed indicators, and thesehttp://jobs.aopa.org