Aircraft Ceiling Height

[coops]

Hi Guys

Just wondering what height you could take, say a C210 or C310 to?? Ceiling Height in POH says 19750 ft. Can you take it up and cruise at that hight and still get performance out of it or do you need a turbo???

Thanks

Coops

[Capt Fathom]

As an example:
Have been to FL200 in a non-turboed C310R..fitted with Camera for survey. It was rare to go that high. We normally stayed between 12000 & 18000.
With just 2 up and full tanks it was not a problem to get there.
TAS (not that it was important on survey) was around 150kts just loafing, (110KIAS) and Fuel Flow was around 120pph or less. If you were planning a long, nonstop ferry, especially with a tailwind, you could get a lot of mileage out of it up there. However, wearing an oxy mask for that long and the normal bladder endurance sort of makes it impractical. We spent 7 hours airborne on one trip...Full tips + LR inboards (no nacelle fuel). Great machine! :ok:

PS..one day on our way to FL200, it stopped climbing aroung FL180. Nothing we could do to get it any higher. Just too hot! Poor old navigator had to re-draw all the lines on the map for the lower height. This was before GPS, when we used a map and a drift sight!

[Squawk7700]

The ceiling height of an aircraft is usually determined by the altitude at which the rate of climb has degraded to 100ft per minute at MTOW in standard atmospheric conditions. It may be unlikely for a pitson engined aircraft for it to actually reach it's CH at MTOW, however it's usually achievable at lighter weights. I've personally taken an aircraft over 3,000 ft above it's ceiling height, however that was 2 up with half fuel;with ease. It took full power to get there of course, but with a leaned mixture it should still be economical, especially as previous poster suggested with a significant tail wind. Last week we had 260kmh southerly at 25k' so it might be worth while on a long trip. Suggest you carry a "Little Johnny" for those unavoidable toilet stops.

[max autobrakes]

Hey Mayday you arn't taking the piss out of our prime minister are you?

[Aussie]

Hey Mayday you arn't taking the piss out of our prime minister are you?

Not little johnny!!!! :D