[hayden55]

Pulse and glide seems like it would do very little in an airplane. A friend the other day was rebuilding a motor that some newbie pilots burned a cylinder out on the other day and he was explaining it to me. The airplane was a beechcraft bonanza. Basically they prop it for a speed range they want with an adjustable prop you can tune it to bite just enough at x speed to be most efficient and then drop it down a bit, and then they will lean the motor out for the altitude and speed they chose until it will barely maintain the cruise and call it good. But if you go to far you burn pistons and overheat motors. Kinda odd how most airplanes for people outside of the 1% still just use 1960s technology. Makes them more affordable and reliable though.
So with that said if you have it able to make just barely enough power to maintain speed it seems like that would do pretty good already. The only thing i would be worried about is piston speed and pumping losses like the throttle body not being completely open.
I agree its an interesting idea though as airplanes get horrible gas mileage. At least the straight shot trips make up for it.