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Lecture 6: CRUISE PERFORMANCE. AIRCRAFT WEIGHT & PERFORMANCE. Introduction To Cruise. The cruise phase of flight starts after aircraft has leveled off from the climb and it ends when the descent for landing is initiated by the pilot.
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Lecture 6: CRUISE PERFORMANCE AIRCRAFT WEIGHT & PERFORMANCE
Introduction To Cruise • The cruise phase of flight starts after aircraft has leveled off from the climb and it ends when the descent for landing is initiated by the pilot. • In short word, cruise is the phase of flight that falls between climb and descent. Cruise / En-route Climb Descend Approach & Landing Take-off
Cruise • The cruise phase involves level flight most of the time and very few level changes. • The largest percentages of trip time and trip fuel are consumed typically in cruise phase. The factors that affect the total time and fuel burn are: • Speed selection and • Altitude selection.
Cruise There are three options for cruise which are: • Best range cruise • Best speed cruise • Best endurance cruise
Range • Range refer to distance aircraft can fly on a given amount of fuel. • The maximum range means to fly the greatest possible distance with available fuel.
Specific range Specific Range (SR) express the range performance of the aircraft at a moment in time.
Endurance • Endurance is the time that aircraft can remain airborne with the fuel available. • In other words, how long an aircraft is able to remain airborne on a given amount of fuel. • It will be greatest when the fuel is used at the lowest possible rate, that is, the fuel flow is minimum.
Specific range Specific Endurance will have units of time/units of fuel.
Factors Affecting Range & Endurance • There are several factors will have effect on the maximum possible range which are aircraft’s mass and speed, density altitude and wind.
Aircraft mass • Increased aircraft mass, increases the drag. • This requires greater thrust to balance the drag, which increases the fuel flow and reduces the specific range. • Approximately 10% increase in mass will require 10% increase in thrust and fuel flow and 5% decrease in range. • Since fuel flow increases, endurance also decreases.
Air density (altitude) Range increasing with altitude • Increasing altitude, decreasing air density • As the air became less dense, so drag is less. • Less drag means that aircraft can fly faster. • And engine also burn less fuel to create thrust • Thus fuel flow decrease and range increase.
If drag keeps decreasing as density decreases and the aircraft can fly faster and faster, then why don't planes fly at even higher and higher altitudes until the density, and the drag, become zero?
Maximum Altitude (Service Ceiling) • Engine performance that limits the maximum altitude that an aircraft can reach. • Engine process becomes more difficult as the air density decreases . • Compressor less efficient and the burning of fuel and air is also impossible. • When this occurs, the engine will "flame out" and the plane falls into a dive until density increases enough for the engine to be restarted.
Altitude • The optimum altitude for best range increases as weight decreases. • The procedure to give maximum range would therefore be to allow the aircraft to climb as the weight decreases during the flight. • This is achieved with few step climbs during the cruise phase of the flight.
Speed Selection • High-speed Cruise. • Best range speed. • Low-Speed cruise.
Speed High-speed Cruise • MeansCruise at the maximum indicated airspeed (IAS). • Provides the quickest en-route time, but sacrifices fuel efficiency. • Because, when flying at higher speeds, drag increases, thus the fuel flow also increases. • Not normally used by airlines. .
Speed Best range speed is the most efficient speed in terms of distance and fuel usage. Also known Long-range Cruise speed. • It is the speed that will provide the, • Furthest distance traveled for a given amount of fuel burned. • Minimum fuel burned for a given cruise distance. • Typical cruising speed for long-distance commercial passenger flights is 878-926 km/h
Speed Low-Speed cruise. • This speed reduce the drag and the fuel flow, but they also reduce the distance traveled per time, and therefore reduce the range
Performance Speed • TAS (True Airspeed) – aircraft speed in relation to the air mass in which it is flying. • IAS (Indicated Airspeed) – aircraft speed as indicated on the ASI (Airspeed Indicator). • CAS (Calibrated Airspeed) – IAS corrected for installation and instrument errors
Wind • The best range will be reduced in a headwind condition. • The opposite occurs in a tailwind condition, the best range will be increased.