FireHose,
Sorry was a bit cranky yesterday morning. I just get tired of the bashing some people choose to give the laymen around here.
I spoke with(and I can't reveal who I am or who I am about to talk about) a person that most probably knows 747 flight performance better than anyone. He said that an old 747 on initial climb will have zero rate of climb at 30,000 ft at 830k. I would assume this airplane was much lighter than that.
He did say that even an empty 747 at 30,000 ft will not climb like that and maintain speed. Did they bleed speed to get this rate.
