Best Altitude for Flying A Long Way - Comanche

[Nicholas06]

What is the best altitude for flying maximum range on a full fuel load?

(I tried flying at 19000 feet and the screen blanked out. Is this because of lack of oxygen?) ( Is there anything that can be done about this?) Is there oxygen simmed?

I would like to do a flight of 1000 miles without replenishing fuel, I understand the higher you fly, the quicker you travel and also the less fuel you use per mile, however I believe Hypoxia is modelled.

Is this right?

[AKar]

It is rather complicated, actually. You may want to refer into my post here for the very basics. Generally speaking, you want to fly reasonably high for fuel economy, but your speed will suffer drastically if you're climbing excessively high.

Additional oxygen is not currently available on A2A GA airplanes. This limits you to, actually fairly reasonable maximum altitude of around 12000 ft or thereabouts. You'll get very good range at that altitude and won't get overly slow.

-Esa

[Nicholas06]

Thank you. (Very helpful.)

[Blitzer]

For flying longer distances I tend to cruise around 13,000 feet at this level I experienced no issues with lack of oxygen. I also tried at 15k but after a while symptoms of hypoxia started to kick in.
Don’t forget that wind direction will also play a part, particularly if you are using real world weather. No point in cruising at 13k with a 40 knot head-wind when at lower levels there may be little head-wind or even a tail wind.

[agathorn]

For flying longer distances I tend to cruise around 13,000 feet at this level I experienced no issues with lack of oxygen. I also tried at 15k but after a while symptoms of hypoxia started to kick in.
Don’t forget that wind direction will also play a part, particularly if you are using real world weather. No point in cruising at 13k with a 40 knot head-wind when at lower levels there may be little head-wind or even a tail wind.

What's the best way to know the winds at different altitudes for flight planning?

[wblackret]

Try windy.com and weather.gov (Winds Aloft), it's what I use when flight planning.

[MkIV Hvd]

What's the best way to know the winds at different altitudes for flight planning?

I use Skyvector.com for initial flight planning and wind forecast information. You can select "Show Wind Barbs" in the "Layers" menu that will show the winds at your flight planned altitude.

Cheers,
Rob

[wblackret]

Yeah Rob, forgot to list Sky Vector, actually use that one quite a bit. Also, Airnav.com. Great for airport information, charts, metars, fuel availability and prices, for destination airports. There are a number of good sites out there.

[agathorn]

Thanks I'll check those out. Currently been using mostly Navigraph since it has worldwide coverage.