# Pilots -- General Aviation: For a long flight over water would you prefer a twin piston or single engine turboprop?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilots-general-aviation-for-a-long-flight-over-water-would-you-prefer-a-twin-piston-or-single-engine-turboprop/920975>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 19, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilots-general-aviation-for-a-long-flight-over-water-would-you-prefer-a-twin-piston-or-single-engine-turboprop/920975 "2020-09-19T03:51:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 73

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilots-general-aviation-for-a-long-flight-over-water-would-you-prefer-a-twin-piston-or-single-engine-turboprop/920975/73 "2020-09-27T14:00:57Z")

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I now realize that we/I have managed to thoroughly hijack two different @Whack\_a\_Mole threads about airplanes. And that my long-winded post above really only makes sense to laymen within the context set in **WaM** ’s _other_ thread:

> [@Airplanes: Why aren't V-Tails more common?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplanes-why-arent-v-tails-more-common/919292):
>
> Most airplanes we see have a typical [vertical rudder and horizontal stabilizer](https://www.americanflyers.net/aviationlibrary/pilots_handbook/images/chapter_1_img_32.jpg) setup. Some planes, however, have a [V-tail setup](https://airfactsjournal.com/files/2012/06/Beechcraft-35_5.jpg). Get rid of the the three-bits above (vertical rudder and two horizontal stabilizers) and replace it with two stabilizers in a V-shape. In this configuration they do the job of the usual setup with less overall surface area and less drag. There is no shortage of examples of these. You see them on [small jets](https://oofta.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/jet1.jpg) all the way to [super-high performance military jets](https://media.techeblog.com/images/northrop-yf-23.jpg) of [var…](https://everythingisaircrafts.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/f-117_nighthawk.jpg)

So I’m guilty of using acronyms and ideas without introduction, just as I gently chastised @Gray_Ghost for. Whose name I also misspelled last time.

Oops on me.

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