Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
See my previous answer, even 25k does not correlate with the last radar position.
Then there was a suggestion to increase range but flying more slowly and reducing fuel burn. It does not work that way. There are 3 speed ranges:
Maximum - gets there fastest but uses lots of fuel.
Range - goes furthest for the fuel burn.
Endurance - flies for longest time but not as far.
To fly the farthest is follows it would need to fly at best speed which is Range speed and cruise climb.
Right. What makes me curious is the hole in the Malaysian radar track. They somehow lost the aircraft about 100NM out, just past Pulau Perak, and then reacquired it later as it was moving away. This is very strange for an aircraft at constant altitude, but it could be explained if it descended low to cross Malaysia and started to climb back out to FL350(?) when it was out into the sea.
Line-of-sight distance for an aircraft at FL120 is just above 100 NM.
The question then becomes, how much range would it lose by dropping to FL120 for ~1 hour and then climbing back?