How to choose cruise altitude

[salty]

9 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Heresy!

To a true Mooniac saving time/fuel/money is sacrosanct.  There's no such thing as a "few" gallons, or minutes.  

Battered brains, rough ride.....yeah, but save 30 seconds!  

Lol. this is why I asked the question. But, being a new pilot and having an old engine, I feel like altitude and economy outweigh speed.

[salty]

Well, made it to asheboro alive, though not without some difficulty. Lots of smoke underneath a low cloud level. I had to stop and reassess before finishing the trip. Will head back out soon....

[Raptor05121]

You mentioned you were in FL? Where abouts?

[Mooneymite]

23 minutes ago, salty said:

Well, made it to asheboro alive, though not without some difficulty. Lots of smoke underneath a low cloud level. I had to stop and reassess before finishing the trip. Will head back out soon....

Smokey around Asheboro?

What a coincidence!

[salty]

Wow. What a long day. Used two flight planners  and they both gave me a little over 3 hours each way, but reality was over 4 hours. Should have made it a two day trip, didn't get home until after dark. But we made it back alive with a cute little puppy. 

Edited March 25, 2017 by salty

[salty]

5 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

Smokey around Asheboro?

What a coincidence!

They were doing a huge controlled burn up wind. On the way out, some yahoo got stuck in it but wasn't smart enough to turn around like I was. He had to get vectored for 10 miles before he broke free, and he wasn't IFR. He got the dread number to call after he got out. 

[salty]

5 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

You mentioned you were in FL? Where abouts?

North of tampa. X05

[Mooneymite]

Just now, salty said:

They were doing a huge controlled burn up wind. On the way out, some yahoo got stuck in it but wasn't smart enough to turn around like I was. He had to get vectored for 10 miles before he broke free, and he wasn't IFR. He got the dread number to call after he got out. 

Atlanta had a lot of smoke yesterday.  I understand it was from a "controlled burn".  I wonder......

[salty]

Oh. Back on topic, I ended up flying 9500 on the way up, and 4,500 on the way back to stay under the clouds. Had a bit of a freak out when I noticed the ground disappearing in front of me after dark and had to rapidly drop down to 3000 to get under a cloud that wasn't on any weather report. But everything worked out in the end. 

[Raptor05121]

There is a MASSIVE forest fire between Lake City and Jacksonville. It's not a controlled burn. Last time I flew to Daytona, the smoke trail looks like it was up to 6,000 feet and blowing south for at least 150 miles. USFS has a B200 and BAe146 running drops on it daily.

[larryb]

I typically fly my J at 10,500 to 14,500. I get around 150 kt TAS regardless.

I use GP for winds, but find that they are generally 20kt worse than forecast. If it's a headwind, it's 20 kt greater. If it's a tailwind, it's 20 kt lighter. You would think the wind at 5,000' would be less than at 10,000', but I often find the winds don't change much in that range. I've stopped going lower looking for less wind. There have been times I've gone lower only to find my ground speed decrease due to the thicker air (at my chosen fuel flow of 8.6 gph) and no improvement in headwind. 

I now use the Mountain High oxygen system with headset mounted canula. It is much more comfortable and pretty much eliminates the urge to fly lower than O2 levels.

Larry