5 ms·
As a pilot, I fly full power at takeoff, of course. In my usual piston plane, I fly at 75% power until it cannot maintain that power (due to normal aspiration a
by SomeHacker44 6y ago
As a pilot, I fly full power at takeoff, of course. In my usual piston plane, I fly at 75% power until it cannot maintain that power (due to normal aspiration and no boost from, eg, a turbocharger), and then "flat out" beyond that.
I do not think I have ever flown at 35% power except in the short time between final and touchdown.
- goodcanadian 6y agoAt the risk of sticking my foot in it even further . . . I fly at 75% power until it cannot maintain that power Does that not mean that you are actually flying at well under 75% of the rated power even if it is the maximum power available at that altitude?
- sokoloff 6y agoYes, though normally aspirated pistons typically stay under 8500 MSL and very rarely exceed 12500 MSL. IIRC, you can make 75% power unboosted through around 7000’ MSL. I’d guess at least 90% of normally aspirated flight is under 7000’. It certainly was for me, even though my previous airplane could climb higher, it was slower up there, so I rarely flew it over 10K unless there was a screaming tailwind up high or terrible turbulence down low. If I looked over all my engine monitor downloads for power settings under 35% while airborne, I bet the average would be under 1 minute per flight and it would be between 200’ and landing.
- AdrianB1 6y agoIt happens to fly low power, but only in rare occasions. I do that when I cross the mountains and I reduce the power while loosing altitude from ~ 10k to 200 ft at landing. The longest I flew with the engine turned off was ~ 30 miles, that was in a motorglider with the propeller feathered. These cases are so rare, but still exists.