It's a rare day that a pilot of a light general aviation airplane doesn't head for a destina-tion with a full tank of fuel. The only barrier to this practice is almost always going to be some kind of performance consideration, such as a short runway, a full airplane, a hot day, or a combination thereof. If you fly a one-hour flight, you will probably still have close to three hours of usable fuel on board when you land. Contrast this with the airlines. If you have ever been on an airline flight that's had to divert, you have probably been made all too aware of the fact that the amount of fuel in the tanks for holding is often a very small amount relative to the rest of the load. Why is-this? After all, it costs money to have to take the passengers someplace other than their intended destinations.
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