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Originally Posted by pkrgod When on final approach and at slow airspeeds you pitch for airspeed and power for altitude. However, at higher airspeeds (such as cruise) you pitch for altitude and power for airspeed. At what point does this change over?? Is the changing point the best glide speed, having to do with region of reverse command??? |
I say potato, you say..."I do it this way...yadda yadda yadda". To answer your question, take a look at the typical power curve for piston powered aircraft (don't know how to post links to pictures...sorry).
When looking at graphical representation of the airspeed/power required relationships you will notice that a given power setting will result in two airspeeds (pitch attitudes) that will achieve straight and level flight (angle of attacks if you want to get critical, but we are talking straight and level, so pitch angle works o.k.). The top (or bottom, depending on how you graph it) of the parabola is L/D max, so I guess the anwer to your question is right there at an airspeed equal to L/D max is where the "change over" occurs.
Meaning at an airspeed slower than this, you will need more power to increase altitude, and an airspeed faster than this you can pull back and the houses get smaller. -Yes I know you will get slower doing this, but we are simply talking the relationship between airspeed and power setting.
It is more efficient to cruise on the faster side of this curve, however it is tough to flare if you are flying faster than L/D max
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