4 ms·

If you trade efficiency for faster cruise speed, is your trip being shorter a net win for fuel costs?

• TylerE 4y ago
  No, because drag scales with v^2. Going 10% faster requires 21% more power (and thus fuel), but only reduces trip time by 9%.
  • moloch-hai 4y ago
    AIUI, drag scales as v³, the reason doubling horsepower adds only a trivial amount of speed.
    • aidenn0 4y ago
      You are both right, there are v^2 and v^3 effects, and depending on the speed regime, one or the other will dominate.
    • AdrianB1 4y ago
      In the pilot books in my country the v2 is the most significant factor, v3 is not even mentioned in General Aviation.