27 ms·
Sure, aircraft can be more efficient at higher speeds, but then when speeds pass a certain threshold, drag starts to dominate and efficiency drops like a rock.
by ses1984 8y ago
Sure, aircraft can be more efficient at higher speeds, but then when speeds pass a certain threshold, drag starts to dominate and efficiency drops like a rock. There's a sweet spot, and it's certainly less than the plane's top speed.
- FiddlyPack 8y ago...this is exactly what the commenter you’re replying to said, except also with nice charts/graphs showing the sweet-spot for various aircraft...
- SilasX 8y agoExcept the comment was making a point that was irrelevant for the domain in consideration (typical aircraft speeds for commercial flight). It's like if someone said, "going a little slower on the highway [typically ~60 mph+] saves on fuel" and someone pedantically ButAkshully'd that cars are more efficient at 40 mph than 30 mph because of engine performance. Edit: Ironically, I'm the one normally promoting my "Scylla-Charybdis heuristic", that you should be able to identify when tweaking a parameter goes too far. But here I think the context of the tweak was clear enough that this caveat was a distraction from the core point.