The implication is that you can go faster in cruise
with coarse pitch (just as you can go faster in overdrive in a car
when cruising), but it doesn't seem to work that way.

What happens when, in a car, you go from second gear to fifth gear?
Unless you are going fast enough for fifth gear to be appropriate, the
car will lug, and slow down. The point of car gearing is to keep the
engine at its most efficient RPM range. While this is an extreme case,
something similar happens with an airplane engine - if you lower the
RPM, the pitch will become coarser (all other things being equal) and
the engine will have a harder time (do more work) for each revolution.
Each revolution pulls you through more air.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.