Recently I had the pleasure of being a passenger in a small private airplane. The pilot, the owner of the airplane welcomed me then instructed me to just sit in my seat while he went through his pre-flight check list that was printed on a laminated card. So I just sat there while he spent about ten minutes checking the exterior of the plane, the quality and amount of fuel, fluid levels, the settings and workability of the controls, and various instruments. Finally he looked around, hollered