4 ms·

Their patent application implies that it is optimized for cruising at 50,000 feet. [1]https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/3b/f3/9a/928c8625bcc4aa/US930

• scarier 6y ago
  I mean, their patent application also claims an SFC of ~30-42 MPG at 460-510 mph... A design cruising altitude of FL500 implies that they're seeing nearly all of their efficiency improvements due to the thin air at altitude (flying around 200 mph indicated, which isn't totally unreasonable for 20 mpg in a small-ish piston-prop), but I doubt they have the climb rate to actually reach that altitude in anything short of a transcontinental flight. I like to think they crunched the performance numbers once or twice, but if they're off by the same amount they were with their initial SFC calculations, there's no way they'll reach an acceptable cruising altitude during an average flight.