thank you, george. I am a relatively new pilot, and am just beginning
to find the physics here interesting. I also had not thought about the
fact that it is the power, rather than the throttle setting, that
determines the fuel mixture. but it makes perfect sense.

(it still leaves my question of whether there is an altitude that
maximizes GS [TAS on a no-wind day] and why, but I guess this is not as
constant as I had thought and/or also in this 6000-8000' vicinity.)

here is another dumb question, and this is almost off topic. presume
we have an experimental, so I can experiment ;-). making air denser
should not be a big problem. well, I can't have my passengers blow
into a tube, but presumably any air pump increases air density. Even a
funnel shaped cowling should create more air to be breathed by an
engine flying at speed. Would relying on such cost more power in added
drag than it would create through making the engine breathe better? [I
looked at the prices of turbo normalizers and they seem upward of
$25,000---about the price of a Honda Accord. Ouhh! Maybe this is
because they use exhaust heat as the source of power?!]

hope I am not taking up too much airtime, and I am not the only one
curious.

/iaw