2 ms·
Climbing that high takes time and fuel. Which you can recover somewhat on descent, but not totally, and under not-ideal circumstances like hiccups in the flight
by bayesian_horse 7y ago
Climbing that high takes time and fuel. Which you can recover somewhat on descent, but not totally, and under not-ideal circumstances like hiccups in the flight plan the plane even has to waste the potential energy.
I'd say that altitude is the reason for the focus on long distance.
- dorfsmay 7y agoThat's what I was thinking, climbing up there burns some fuel, and only so much can be recovered into speed through a slow descent which airliners typically don't do, they hop between Flight Level. So I suspect only long flights will be operated that high, and there will be some calculation for the optimal altitude for shorter flights.