Rules for flight levels

[Guest Joshieca]

What would be the recommended flight level range for the following distances?(I know that it depends on the direction of flight +/- 2000/4000ft.1 mile to 100 miles =100 miles to 500 miles =500 miles to 2000 miles =2000 miles and up =[div align=center][link:members.cox.net/fstimes/wetimage.html]Click Here For Weather Image of the Day

[Guest]

Tooo vague...Really what ever alt. provides for the most economical in some cases or the fastest in other cases, or the most scenic in other cases...;-)

[Guest CYOW_pilot]

Joshieca,Greatly depends on type of aircraft. For jet aircraft, with which I am most familiar, a general rule of thumb would be distance divided by 10 plus 5 (for FL).For example, 100nm / 10 = 10 + 5 = FL150 (then varied up or down for direction of flight). Very rough gouge but will put you in the ball park for alitude. A quick climber (Boeing product vice airbus or RJ may use dist/10 + 7 or so. Your don't need very long at cruise (in some cases only minutes)to make it an economical profile.Once you get to stage lengths of 250+nm then the aircraft will be flown up in FL300+ range. Winds and enroute turbulence will then play a role in determining how much you deviate from the economical altitude.Altitude is much less critical with respect to range flying for recip engines.Kevin in CYOW