Cruise Altitude

[Philip McNiel 1282687]

Do you have any tips on selecting cruise altitudes? I mostly like to fly in Europe and the USA, but will fly anywhere:)

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

not sure im understanding the question

 

if you mean for direction of flight, generally its divided into whether you are flying east or west, with a few exceptions.

 

 

 

 

a few countries like Spain, Portugal, and a few others use North and South instead

 

if your questions is selecting the actual altitude, well there is a heck of a lot to consider and calculate in your planning. weight of the aircraft, weather conditions, distance of the flight, fuel burn, etc..

[Philip McNiel 1282687]

Thanks! You answered a BIG part of my question (I've sometimes been asked to change my cruise altitude up or down 1000 feet and I didn't know why).

 

Now if anyone has any tips on how I can start learning considerations for picking actual altitudes, that would be great as well

[Lindsey Wiebe 1101951]

It's based on the aircraft you are flying and the most economical altitude for it and your route of flight. Higher the better generally. Try using a routing software such as http://www.simbrief.com and it will calculate the altitude for you based on real winds performance etc. Then you can get a feel for what optimal altitudes generally are.

[Brad Littlejohn]

It's based on the aircraft you are flying and the most economical altitude for it and your route of flight. Higher the better generally. Try using a routing software such as http://www.simbrief.com and it will calculate the altitude for you based on real winds performance etc. Then you can get a feel for what optimal altitudes generally are.

 

I'll piggyback on this and say that the amount of traffic may also play a role. For example, say you're making a flight through a busy corridor, where everyone is on the same airway. You may find it hard to get onto that airway up to, say, FL290 or FL310, simply due to the amount of traffic on that airway at that altitude. But you may find a lot less traffic on that airway, in the same direction, at FL350 or FL390. That may be a better option for you (again, taking winds and aircraft performance into account).

 

In short, nothing is stopping one from having multiple layers of aircrafts on the same airway, going the same direction, but at different altitudes.

 

BL.

[Andrew Ogden]

The NOSE (North Odd, South Even) principle also applies in New Zealand and some parts of Australia.

[Trent Hopkinson]

The NOSE (North Odd, South Even) principle also applies in New Zealand and some parts of Australia.

 

Which parts of Australia would that be?

[Andrew Ogden]

Which parts of Australia would that be?

Way back when I flew in Australia every day, i did a flight from Darwin to Adelaide, the controller suggested the NOSE principle. Most of Australia does use the WEED principle because it is wider than it is longer, but there is an example for you.

[Trent Hopkinson]

Darwin is west of Adelaide. West = Even.

 

Today's QFA754 takes up an even flight level after turning westbound after waypoint GUGAB, remaining there for nearly 3 hours. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA754/history/20170112/2215Z/YPAD/YPDN

DCT ORBUN H246 GUGAB/M078F380 T25 YUSEF/M078F400 T25 TNK J30 TN Q23 VEGPU

 

In the following map, I include flight tracks from Sydney to Perth, Perth to Brisbane and the Adelaide-Darwin track (1 track, both directions under RVSM, opposite direction traffic separated by altitude only) You will notice the northwest/southeast track between Adelaide and Darwin cross the East/West tracks between Perth and the Southeastern state capitals. Which means that at several locations, the north/south track is in the same place as the east/west track, and if both NOSE is correct (It isn't in France, SONE/NESO is) and WEEO is at the same place, just north of Port Augusta, then you're going to have westbound aircraft at even levels and "southeastbound" traffic hitting them at slightly oblique head-on collision at the same flight levels with closure rates in the thousand+ knots range.

 

 

Odd altitudes if the track is between 000° and 179°. Even between 180° and 359°

If you're on a flightplan that shifts from east of 000° to west of 359°, you file a step climb or step descent at the waypoint or navaid where the turn is made, and change altitude after your request to do so is approved by ATC, and you are cleared to change altitude.

 

Australia has been RVSM compliant since November 2001

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/australia-to-extend-rvsm-programme-134667/

 

 

VFR aircraft below 5000ft are exempt from the hemispherical rule.

[Anders Moen]

This is why I love the standarized AIPs in Europe where this type of info can be found in the enroute docomeents, part 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, instead of guessing based on east/west or north/south

Easy to find throughout all countries, and no need to worry about flying on the wrong levels