Less Power for More Aircraft Range

What if getting to B by burning as little fuel as possible is our objective? Or we want to stay aloft as long as possible? There are speeds to fly to achieve those goals, but well have to slow down, usually a lot. And those exact speeds, for best range and for best endurance, usually arent published for personal airplanes. A workaround is to simply use the lowest book power setting. If no limitations prevent it, best range or endurance usually is found at even lower power.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots can optimize flights for maximum range (greatest distance per unit of fuel) or maximum endurance (longest time aloft), which are distinct goals from flying for speed.
Best range speed is generally equivalent to the aircraft's power-off best-glide speed, adjustable for current weight and wind conditions (slower with a tailwind, faster into a headwind).
Best endurance speed, focused on minimizing fuel burn per unit of time, is a slower speed just above the region of reversed command, and since exact values are rarely published for personal aircraft, pilots can use the lowest power setting for level flight or the best power-off glide speed (adjusted for weight) as a practical approximation.

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Among the universe of reasons we fly are aerobatics, pipeline patrol, aerial application and photography. Then there’s $100 hamburgers, plus plain old sightseeing. There’s also personal and business transportation from Point A to Point B, which implies a cross-country flight. Normally, we’ll want to make that trip as quickly as possible. But what if we don’t want to fly as fast as our flivver will go?

What if getting to B by burning as little fuel as possible is our objective? Or we want to stay aloft as long as possible? There are speeds to fly to achieve those goals, but we’ll have to slow down, usually a lot. And those exact speeds, for best range and for best endurance, usually aren’t published for personal airplanes. A workaround is to simply use the lowest book power setting. If no limitations prevent it, best range or endurance usually is found at even lower power.