Thank You "ASQUARED" for being the only one so far to see my point. If I rent a Cessna 172 and climb on an airway at 500 FPM at 90 kts (typical figures if I'm low enough), I will climb 1.5 miles per minute at the minimum rate. If I go back to work the following day and fly the same route and choose to climb at 500 FPM at 420 kts, I will climb at 7 miles a minute at the minimum rate. If the MEA changed only 1000 ft. I would climb for two minutes in the jet, it would take me 14 miles to climb. But it would only take me 3 miles to climb in the venerable Cessna. Where is the obstacle located that I am trying to avoid?