Flight Planning – What altitude to choose
Asked by: Preston Ramsey 3109 views General Aviation
I fly a Piper Meridian. When flight planning I am basing my cruise altitude on head or tailwind, burn rate and flight time. Lately going west into the winds I have been flying pretty low. In a discussion recently, another pilot said I should be using the 10% rule for figuring my cruise altitude. So a 160NM flight, I should be at 16,000. He also seemed more concerned with TAS which he feels the higher altitudes yields. Who's right here? When I'm flight planning, these higher altitudes are showing me more fuel burn and a longer flight time, but I am having a hard time locating on the internet where I can show him my logic seems more sound than his. Help....
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