Fuel efficiency & autopilot at high altitude.

[ShuRugal]

Looking back through all these charts, it looks like we can infer that the best altitude for accelerating to maximum wet speed should be in the vicinity of 7-8 km? This seems to be where there begins to be a notable difference in dry-thrust vs TAS. Without any testing, it looks like the most efficient climb/acceleration profile would be MIL power @ mach 0.85 up to ~7km, then level out, full wet power up to desired mach #, and climb holding that speed to desired attack altitude?

 

It won't be the fastest climb profile, but it will get you to attack speed/altitude with maximum available fuel remaining.

[DarkFire]

Looking back through all these charts, it looks like we can infer that the best altitude for accelerating to maximum wet speed should be in the vicinity of 7-8 km? This seems to be where there begins to be a notable difference in dry-thrust vs TAS. Without any testing, it looks like the most efficient climb/acceleration profile would be MIL power @ mach 0.85 up to ~7km, then level out, full wet power up to desired mach #, and climb holding that speed to desired attack altitude?

 

It won't be the fastest climb profile, but it will get you to attack speed/altitude with maximum available fuel remaining.

 

Quite possibly! I didn't actually figure out what the absolute maximum TAS & mach numbers were at different altitudes, something I probably ought to have done. Anywhere between 7,000 & 9,000m altitude should be an optimum efficient acceleration zone.

 

I think this is something I'm going to do: test to see what the maximum speeds and associated acceleration times are for different altitudes.