Va & Altitude
Hey guys,
I'm having a bit of a brain-fart here. I understand the relationship between Va and weight (higher weight=higher Va). It seems intuitive to me that Va should also vary with altitude, however, I can't find any references to prove/disprove my assumption.
The way I look at it is that at higher altitudes, there is less aerodynamic dampening. Since there is less dampening, the a/c will be "easier" to accelerate up/down, and so it will reach its design limit load factor sooner than it would if it were at a lower altitude where the effects of dampening are greater. So, I'd imagine that Va would be lower at higher altitudes.
Any comments? Thanks in advance!