Seat him behind the right seat and enable the intercom speaker.

Very nice!
Can you post the power settings with average speed and fuel burn?

Israel,

I was not paying much attention. It was my first flight in the plane and was busy just getting to know what was what.

We had it MCT for most of the flight. Started at FL400 then moved up to FL420 for better range. We wanted more speed but looking at the range on the GTN we decided we needed to move up for less fuel burn. Then towards the end there was weather at FL420 so we moved up to FL430 to get over it. We were just barely over the weather which seemed crazy.

Was doing 368 True at 630PPH at FL430 when I looked. Not sure what it was earlier. Then we lowered power at the very end to make sure we had plenty of fuel. Backed down to 92% and i think we were going 340ish and 550ish pph. I didn't take notes or a pic so these are from memory and again I was taking it all in. The analog fuel burn gauges are not very accurate and said 800pph when the GTN was showing 600 something. The GTN had to be right as we would not have made it if the analog gauges were right. It was hot up there also.

The trip started with head winds and ended with about 15-20 tail. So it maybe averaged a little tail.

The AP had a hard time holding altitude. we had to switch the AP to be driven by the co pilot ADI and for some reason it was hunting. So Mike had to manually chase alt. not sure if that hurt our range. ATC was nice enough to give us a block so we didn't have to be exact. Hopefully that is not a problem when the pilot ADI gets fixed.

It was an eventful first flight. You can see the flight on Flightaware N45AF

Mike

430 is the correct altitude for west bound flight. 420 is not normally used. You probably knew that but figured I’d point it out.

Explanation for a piston guy? Thanks

———-

420 is an unusable altitude. RVSM is 280 - 410 an uses 1000’ separation standards. Since 420 would be 1000’ above RVSM, that altitude isn’t useable, so the next useable would be 430, 450, 470, 490 and 510.

Above RVSM requires 2000’ separation.

Brad

I have seen tracks and radio chatter for planes flying at FL420 and FL440.

Not common, but I do see it every now and then, which I thought was "odd".

Next time I see it, I'll get the track.

Mike C.

I have seen tracks and radio chatter for planes flying at FL420 and FL440.

Not common, but I do see it every now and then, which I thought was "odd".

Next time I see it, I'll get the track.

Mike C.

You can request it, but you’ll never be given it, if the controller is by the book.
However, a creative pilot can ask for a block FL410-430 to cruise at FL420. For FL440, they ask for a block FL430-450.

I requested a block from FL410 to FL430 because the AP was hunting altitude. So FL420 was in the middle.

But you can request wrong way altitudes.

Mike

But 420 is not a wrong way altitude it is an unusable altitude.

RVSM goes up to FL410, above that there are no EVEN Flight Levels!

You can request it, but you’ll never be given it, if the controller is by the book.
However, a creative pilot can ask for a block FL410-430 to cruise at FL420. For FL440, they ask for a block FL430-450.

RE RVSM, the first time using RVSM and passing opposite direction traffic, from that time on I always put a 1 mile track offset into the GPS. Two aircraft closing at 1,000 knots and only 1,000 feet apart was too scary for me. The GPS accuracy puts you nose to nose otherwise.