by Paul Bertorelli

With a perfectly straight face and as sincere a smile as could be expected at 6:30 a.m., the counterwatcher at Signature Flight Support honestly thought we should be sanguine about paying $3.10 a gallon for avgas. “That includes our 50-cent weekend discount!”

Well, whoopdy-do. Splash some water on our fun meter; it’s about to overheat. While recovering from the raw thrill of paying $102 for 30 gallons of gas, we’re left to wonder why aircraft owners put up with both high fuel prices and shamefully inefficient engines and airframes. Surely, there must be a better way. But are airplanes really that inefficient compared to a truly piggish SUV, say…