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Old 28th May 2004 | 07:07
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djpil
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Joined: May 2002
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From: Melbourne, Australia
The standard derivations of L/D in the glide and speed for best range, best climb etc all assume:
- simple drag polar Cd = Cdo + K. Cl^2
- constant propeller efficiency and constant specific fuel consumption
and ....

The drag polar has a break in it - above a certain value of Cl, drag increases by more than K. Cl^2. There are slipstream effects on drag and .....

Main reasons:
- the characteristics of a fixed pitch propeller are very much different than assumed above.
- SFC is not constant

Hope that answers the question that you intended:
"why is speed for maximum range different from speed for best glide angle?"
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