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
Take-off & Landing
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.

NM/hour Knots
Specific Range  
Fuel/hour Fuel Flow
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.

Flight hours/hour 1
Specific Endurance  
Fuel/hour Fuel Flow
Short Range Jetliner

Characteristics Boeing 737-300 Airbus 320

Passengers (pax) 149 150

Maximum Fuel 20,000L 22000L

Maximum Range 4,180 km 4,815 to 5,555 km

Cruise Speed 910km/hr 845 km/hr

Service Ceiling 40,000ft 39,000 ft
Medium Range Jetliner

Characteristics Boeing 767-300 Airbus 330

Passengers (pax) 218 in three 253 in three

classes classes
Maximum Fuel 90,770 L 139,090 L

Maximum Range 11,320 km 11,850 km

Cruise Speed 850 km/h 880 km/h

Service Ceiling 39,000 ft 39,370 ft
Long-Range Jetliner

Characteristics Boeing 747-400 Airbus 380

Passengers (pax) 416/524 525 (max:800)

Maximum Fuel 216 800 L 310 000L

Maximum Range 13 450km 15 200km

Cruise Speed at 910km/hr 900km/hr

FL35
Service Ceiling 41,000 ft 42,980 ft
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
1. High-speed Cruise.
2. Best range speed.
3. Low-Speed cruise.
Speed
High-speed Cruise
• Means Cruise 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,
a) Furthest distance traveled for a given amount of
fuel burned.
b) 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.