Oscar, I've tested the cruise True Airspeed on my KR many times by using a cardinal heading, measuring the Ground Speed (GS), making a 180 degree turn, taking the GS again, then averaging the two together (not exact, but close enough for government work). For me, I haven't noticed a significant difference in cruise speed from either of the three methods (level acceleration at cruise altitude, "creeping up" to cruise altitude, or overshooting the cruise altitude then descending/accelerating).
Unfortunately even in the Navy, it's one of those "ask ten people, get ten different answers" type of thing. One instructor would recommend to just "get to the damn altitude" then level out and fix your cruise (a very "keep it simple" approach), while others would recommend the overshooting or creeping up techniques. There truly is no "right" answer in my humble opinion. This was in the tailhook community however, and is obviously much different than General Aviation. The T-45C, for example, would climb out at 300 KIAS above 10K feet, but would only cruise around 220 KIAS (for Max Range), which is much slower than the climb out speed, so the "creeping up" technique made sense because you could pull the throttle back early and trade your extra 80 KIAS of airspeed for ~1500' of altitude. Do it perfectly, and your airspeed would be right at the ~220 as you're leveling out at your assigned altitude. In a GA airplane (a KR for example), which climbs out at 80-100 mph, and cruises around 120+ mph, the above technique of pulling the throttle back wouldn't really be applicable, since your climbout speed is much slower than the cruising speed. You could keep full throttle in, shallow out, and accelerate/climb for the last 100'-200' or so, but in this case you're leaving full throttle in for longer than if you climbed at Vy to the cruising altitude, before powering back. The same is true if you're performing the "overshooting" method, since you're keeping full throttle in for a longer period of time while climbing the extra 100'-200' or so before powering back. So for me, I always climb at full power at Vy. Once at altitude, I level out and throttle back slightly to accelerate, then throttle back even further once at the correct cruising airspeed and RPM. I feel this is a good compromise in getting to cruising altitude as quickly as possible (thus, being at full power as little as possible), then taking some stress off the engine, yet still accelerating at a fairly decent rate once leveled out. Lastly, In the T-6B community, which climbed out at 180 KIAS and cruised at 200 KIAS, there was also no right answer; many instructors there just did "something that works" and called it good. Long Story Short: I prefer the "level acceleration" method, and I haven't noticed any significant speed differences from either of the three methods. My plane is one out of many, however, so Individual results can (and will) vary. V/R Sam Spanovich N6399U 74S, Anacortes WA _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
