service ceiling

[aaronk25]

Did a step climb in the natural aspirated J to FL210 then to FL230 going east bound from MN to New York. Huge tail wind like 100kts so it made sense. By myself, fl210 didn’t take too long. Ran 2 hours to burn off some fuel then got approval from ATC for slow climb to FL230.
A “C” ain’t to far behind a J in power and it’s lighter too. You will make it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Skates97]

7 hours ago, Yetti said:

Is there anything that would say what the best altitude to fly at.   I kind of like to watch the ground go by,  I think 6500 is about the highest cruise I have done and 7500 on a RTS flight.  Usually when there is a longer trip to do the cloud cover is low.   What's the break even point for going higher vs how long the flight is?

Try using www.1800wxbrief.com

It's free, put in your numbers for your plane, climb rate/speed, cruise speed, descent rate/speed, fuel burn in different stages of flight and then save it for the future. There are a few different apps that make it easy to file a flight plan on there or you can just plug it in on their website. Then you select the time of departure and there is an optimize button to evaluate the altitude you chose. It will give you flight times and fuel burn for two levels above and below what you filed. Ie: if you filed 7,500 it will give you 3,500 5,500 9,500 and 11,500. It bases it on the winds aloft forecast. I've found it to be accurate to within about three to five minutes of my actual flight time. 

[kerry]

I general fly 10.5 and 11.5 cross country.  When crossing the sierra's I climb to 14,000.  When clear of the range I go back to my cruising alt.  Going 10,500 to 14,000 I seem to get about 300' per minute climb with just me aboard.

[StinkBug]

I've had my C to 15k on a day when the DA made it about 18k. It took a while to get there, but flew pretty decent. Also climbed to 14k coming out of Denver heading west bound later on the same trip. With a little planning it's pretty rare to actually need to get that high though, even out west. 

[Yetti]

6 hours ago, Skates97 said:

Try using www.1800wxbrief.com

It's free, put in your numbers for your plane, climb rate/speed, cruise speed, descent rate/speed, fuel burn in different stages of flight and then save it for the future. There are a few different apps that make it easy to file a flight plan on there or you can just plug it in on their website. Then you select the time of departure and there is an optimize button to evaluate the altitude you chose. It will give you flight times and fuel burn for two levels above and below what you filed. Ie: if you filed 7,500 it will give you 3,500 5,500 9,500 and 11,500. It bases it on the winds aloft forecast. I've found it to be accurate to within about three to five minutes of my actual flight time. 

I have seen that and reviewed the numbers. never did the planned vs. actual to see if made sense.  Will give it a whirl.

[Jerry 5TJ]

8 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Solo I can get the fl17 in under 13 min.

Wait--Your C model will average 1,300 feet per minute to FL170?  

Even for Mooneyspace that's an impressive claim.

Perhaps you mean in your K model Rocket conversion?  

 

[Yooper Rocketman]

15 hours ago, Yetti said:

The winds aloft part I get, I was looking more for some flight optimization formula.   If the winds are xx knots and the flight is xx amount of miles then it makes sense to climb to this high

I've always used the formula that my cruise time should at least be equal to my climb and descent time.  The Rocket likes altitude for speed vs. fuel burn.  The Lancair REALLY likes fuel down low!

Tom

[aviatoreb]

3 hours ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

Wait--Your C model will average 1,300 feet per minute to FL170?  

Even for Mooneyspace that's an impressive claim.

Perhaps you mean in your K model Rocket conversion?  

 

I don't have a C. Yes I mean my Mooney Rocket.  It can climb a bit faster still but after 10k or so I need to tip the nose down a bit to keep it cooling enough as the air thins.

[Yooper Rocketman]

1 hour ago, aviatoreb said:

I don't have a C. Yes I mean my Mooney Rocket.  It can climb a bit faster still but after 10k or so I need to tip the nose down a bit to keep it cooling enough as the air thins.

Ya...........that's because you have a 10 blade prop  :>)

[aviatoreb]

7 minutes ago, Yooper Rocketman said:

Ya...........that's because you have a 10 blade prop  :>)

Oooooh come on even your poky lil' 3 bladed rocket can do the same....

How long does it take your REAL airplane to climb to FL17?  3 min? 4?

[Hank]

16 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

 . . . FL17 . . .

I'm just a lowly C pilot, but I could have sworn that Flight Levels in the US don't start until FL18??? But maybe Rockets with secret paint jobs get special handling, like the SR71s do when descending to FL60? 

[aviatoreb]

31 minutes ago, Hank said:

I'm just a lowly C pilot, but I could have sworn that Flight Levels in the US don't start until FL18??? But maybe Rockets with secret paint jobs get special handling, like the SR71s do when descending to FL60? 

Ive been to Europe...  they say FL06 even.

[Yetti]

6 hours ago, Yooper Rocketman said:

I've always used the formula that my cruise time should at least be equal to my climb and descent time.  The Rocket likes altitude for speed vs. fuel burn.  The Lancair REALLY likes fuel down low!

Tom

I was told that an F4 burns as much fuel taxiing as it does in cruise.....

[Hank]

5 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Ive been to Europe...  they say FL06 even.

That varies by country, even in the New World, hence my comment above "in this country."

I've lived abroad, but live by US customs and practices here.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Hank

[aviatoreb]

Just now, Hank said:

That varies by country, even in the New World, hence my comment above "in this country."

I've lived abroad, but live by US customs and practices here.

Well I’m in northern new york  like 15 mi from Canada.  Maybe we say fl17 when we live 15 mi from Canada.

[Mooney1]

My personal record. SL to FL400 in 20 minutes! 

 

Disclaimer, I did have 3 engines pushing. 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Mooney1

[aviatoreb]

1 hour ago, Mooney1 said:

My personal record. SL to FL400 in 20 minutes! 

 

Disclaimer, I did have 3 engines pushing. 

Well - if we are changing hardware. Let's get a REAL rocket: Saturn V rocket will do 82 seconds to 40,000ft:Altitude: Time after launch
10000ft: 42sec 
20000ft: 59sec 
30000ft: 72sec 
40000ft: 82sec 
50000ft: 90sec 
65000ft: 99sec 
80000ft: 107sec 
100000ft: 119sec 

[jetdriven]

Nah. It won't run lean of peak 

[Hank]

And the fuel burn is rather expensive . . .

[aviatoreb]

11 hours ago, Hank said:

And the fuel burn is rather expensive . . .

Kind of noisy too.

[steingar]

7 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

Kind of noisy too.

and really hard to get spare parts.

[aviatoreb]

1 minute ago, steingar said:

and really hard to get spare parts.

...but it is a HIGH PERFORMANCE machine!  82 seconds to 40,000ft ain't too shabby.

Slightly less expensive - can't the fighter jets do 20,000fpm (for a little while...with a running start...vs standing start for the Saturn V).  Job are you here?

[peevee]

Just now, aviatoreb said:

...but it is a HIGH PERFORMANCE machine!  82 seconds to 40,000ft ain't too shabby.

 

kinda one time use tho

[gsxrpilot]

3 minutes ago, peevee said:

kinda one time use tho

Govt contracts... makes sense.

But try to make a profit... and you've got Musk reusing his rockets over and over again.

[peevee]

11 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

Govt contracts... makes sense.

But try to make a profit... and you've got Musk reusing his rockets over and over again.

he's busy firing everyone and robocalling people to buy solar.