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The outer edges of the diagram, the envelope, show the possible conditions that the aircraft can reach in straight and level flight. For instance, the aircraft described by the black altitude envelope on the right can fly at altitudes up to about 52,000 feet (16,000 m), at which point the thinner air means it can no longer climb.
When the weight of the aircraft is at or below the allowable limit(s) for its configuration (parked, ground movement, take-off, landing, etc.) and its center of gravity is within the allowable range, and both will remain so for the duration of the flight, the aircraft is said to be within weight and balance. Different maximum weights may be ...
The aircraft Mach number at which these effects appear is known as its critical Mach number, or M CRIT. The true airspeed corresponding to the critical Mach number generally decreases with altitude. The flight envelope is a plot of various curves representing the limits of the aircraft's true airspeed and altitude. Generally, the top-left ...
Energy–maneuverability theory is a model of aircraft performance. It was developed by Col. John Boyd, a fighter pilot, and Thomas P. Christie, a mathematician with the United States Air Force, [1] and is useful in describing an aircraft's performance as the total of kinetic and potential energies or aircraft specific energy.
It is useful for predicting aircraft handling, aerodynamic loads, stalling etc. E A S = T A S × ρ ρ 0 {\displaystyle \mathrm {EAS} =\mathrm {TAS} \times {\sqrt {\frac {\rho }{\rho _{0}}}}} where ρ is actual air density and ρ 0 is standard sea level density (1.225 kg/m 3 or 0.00237 slug/ft 3 ).
For most unpowered aircraft, the maximum flight time is variable, limited by available daylight hours, aircraft design (performance), weather conditions, aircraft potential energy, and pilot endurance. Therefore, the range equation can only be calculated exactly for powered aircraft. It will be derived for both propeller and jet aircraft.
An aircraft is streamlined from nose to tail to reduce drag making it advantageous to keep the sideslip angle near zero, though an aircraft may be deliberately "sideslipped" to increase drag and descent rate during landing, to keep aircraft heading same as runway heading during cross-wind landings and during flight with asymmetric power.
Hence, the aircraft will not have any excess capacity to climb further. Stated technically, it is the altitude where the maximum sustained (with no decreasing airspeed) rate of climb is zero. Compared to service ceiling, the absolute ceiling of commercial aircraft is much higher than for standard operational purposes.