I’m more thinkin the rise in altitude was deliberately done for the longevity of the flight......I’d be interested to see the assumed glide path possibles from a decent from 45 k feet
What’s the mean? Why would it help the longevity of the flight?
It might be good for glide duration, but not for fuel consumption... oxygen that is needed for combustion starts getting kinda scarce up that high, density drops and there isn’t as much lift.. everything has to work harder to stay flying as you get higher
I was wondering about that too.....specifically, whether a higher altitude could have gotten the plane to Africa.