We keep complaining that the performance of the aircraft we fly and the engines that powers them have changed but little since the 1930s. The only major progress in light aviation seems to have been in avionics and electronic gadgetry. But perhaps that is just as well. Microsoft's Bill Gates allegedly claims that "if the car industry had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we could now be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 mpg," The riposte from the motor industry is, "Okay Mr Gates, but how would you like to own a car that crashed at least once every couple of days?" This analogy has been taken farther on various Internet sites and expanding it into GA one could say that if an aircraft really was as technically advanced as a PC:

Its resale value would drop 75 per cent the day it was bought and would dwindle to zero within two years.

Every new aeroplane you bought would have a bigger engine but wouldn't fly any faster. It would also be fitted with lots of extra new features that are of no possible use to 99 per cent of pilots.

If you complained about a fault (high fuel consumption, leaking cabin seals, poor climb performance or whatever) you would have to ring a phone help line, select the touch tone number for the fault involved, listen to several renditions of Vivaldi's Autumn and then follow an automated voice's instructions about how to fix the plane yourself. And when the repair didn't work the voice would suggest you should get in touch with your avionics manufacturer or avgas supplier.

The engine would frequently stop in mid-air for no obvious reason when you were performing a perfectly normal maneuver. Once you got it running again, you would usually be required to return to your airfield of departure and start your trip over again.

Occasionally when you tried to switch on the transponder you would be told power supply was critical and you would have to turn off the radios, ADF, VOR or pitot heat before you could use it.

All warning lights, enunciators and dials would be incorporated into one device. This would flash the simple message Land at once; something is wrong. And after you got down you would still not know what the fault had been, if it was still there or whether it was safe to take off again.

Simply installing a new item such as a GPS or even new upholstery could be enough to cause the entire aircraft to refuse to function any more,

All in all, it does appear we should be quite grateful that our aircraft are not quite as technologically advanced as PCs.