Climbing at the speeds given in the Cessna POH for our 172 N are not a
particularly good idea. The nose is so high that the view of any traffic
ahead is pretty well obscured. 80 knots provides visibility sufficient to
see even some aircraft that may be climbing to your altitude. The engine
stays cooler and ground landmarks are easier to track.

Whenever I've been planning a long trip and wanted to identify top of climb
for starting the cruise legs, I've wondered what the numbers were for 80
knots in our plane and at the lower gross weight I usually make my longer
trips at. I finally decided to find out.

The results can be seen he

http://baldeagleflyingclub.org/Climb80.pdf

This is a planning tool intended to minimize the in flight corrections to
subsequent cruise legs only. Do not rely on it for terrain clearance in the
dark.

I began leaning at 2000 feet and leaned aggressively above 3000. CHT
remained between 330 and 350 for the whole climb.

The final numbers came out fairly close to the POH table, the lighter weight
balancing the margin over optimum climb speed. The POH is close enough for
planning but this table should be easier to use.

Anyway, it was fun to get right up there and watch the VSI gradually sink
down to zero.


--
Roger Long