Picking Optimal Altitudes

McGregor wrote:
: Lazy people (like me) ask their computer. FlightStar from Jepp has an
: "optimize altitude" function that is pretty handy. Once it has downloaded
: DUATs weather it will display groundspeed and fuel burn for all altitudes
: and highlight the optimal flight level.

Although I can do it by hand, I find it much more convenient to have DUATS do
it for me. Since I fly a non-turbo'd Cherokee, I'm effectively relegated to 10kft or
less. A quick check of winds aloft, and maybe two or three altitudes with DUATS flight
planner (it corrects for current wind) and see where I end up. On the fly, I pretty
much figure I need about 5 kt difference in wind to counteract a 2000' climb/descent.
Unfortunately, the nicer the weather (this time of year in particular), the higher the
pressure and bigger the headwind for a westly flight is. Even skimming the trees at
1000' AGL doesn't usually help, so I end up climbing for smoothness and happy engine at
6-10k.

-Cory


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* The prime directive of Linux: *
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