As most of you know, commercial transport planes cruise at an altitude of approximately 10,000 m (~33,000 ft). The power required to maintain level...
2. As most of you know, commercial transport planes cruise at an altitude of approximately 10,000 m (~33,000 ft). The power required to maintain level flight depends on air drag, or resistance at that altitude, which may be estimated by the following relationship:
Where ρ
air
is density of air at the given altitude, C
represents the drag
coefficient of the plane, A is the planform area, and U represents the cruising speed of the plane. Assume that a plane is moving at constant speed and CD remaining constant, determine the ratio of power that would be required if the plane is cruising at 8,000 m to the situation when the plane may be cruising at 11,000 m. (Please refer to Table 10.3 on page 249 of your textbook for the values of density of air.)
