Rate of Climb for Commercial Airliners?

[172pilot]

Hi folks,

Just wondering, what is the rate of climb for commerical airliners? I know it can vary depending on many variables but I was just curious what is normal.

Thanks,

JB

 

[DarnNearaJet]

I've seen 9,000 fpm in the Dornier jet empty on a cold day. But 5,000 fpm is the norm with pax.

 

[flipflyr]

I heard the DoJet climbs out good, but **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**!!!

In the E145, above 10K, we're usually doing around 1,000-1,500 fpm going around 300-310 or so (your basic Boeing roadblock, but it'll do!!).

We lose performance in the 20s, usually keeping the 1,000 fpm, slowing to 260-270 or so.

I heard the B717 put up some pretty impressive climb numbers too - anyone else hear about that? As far as climbout is concerned, a friend who flies the 767-200 told me they were doing 6000 fpm all the way up to FL350 doing M.78!!

 

[I.P. Freley]

Nothing compared to the rockin' 340A.

At 15k feet on a warm day and a heavy load we do at LEAST 500fpm at 140KIAS.

Now beat THAT.

 

[Rush Limbaugh]

How about an initial climb rate of about 50k per min and 70+ degrees pitch. Man, those were the days. Now I'm lucky to get 6k on the VVI.

 

[chperplt]

My mighty Beech 1900D climbed out at 3500fpm today at a max gross take off.. Well, just about max. 17,110.

 

[bigsky]

Sometimes we do short ferry flights on the dc-10- no pax and 40 or 50,000 lbs of fuel. Have never had an opportunity to really let it go although Im sure it would do well over 10,000 feet per minute. However you add 350 pax and another180,000 on the fuel and it isnt much different than a seneca.

 

[sydeseet]

A 727-200 with lot's o' pax and enough fuel for a 3 hour trip climbs slightly better than a Beech Baron. Maybe 2500-3000 FPM off the ground which tapers off to about 1000-1200 at .76 or so through the 20's. Above 350 it doesn't really climb much but boy does it go forward fast - .86 or so is not uncommon, not that we tell the company that.......

Now an old Lear 24 is a completely different story. Sea Level to FL 430 in under 15 minutes with the VSI pegged until the mid teens if ATC will let you. Glad I don't buy the gas for it.

 

[saabcaptain]

Saab 340B... barely better than the A... maybe 500 fpm at 15k and 150-160 knots. In the cold though at sea level we can easily do 2500 fpm for a little while at least.

 

[AlphEcho]

I was on a ferry flight in a 747-400 with only five people on board and a light load of fuel when it made a max thrust takeoff. The VSI was pegged, pretty much all the way up to FL410. Unfortunately the VSI on the aircraft only went up to 6000fpm. I GUARANTEE we were climbing faster than that. Now I wish I would have timed our time up to 410, it would have been impressive! Now if only the Seminole would climb like that...

 

[BoDEAN]

I hear the U2 Spyplane climbs at 18,500 FPM.

Shesh!

 

[atldc9]

My B717-200 weighs 120,000 lbs, and has 37,000 lbs of thrust, so about a 3.2 to 1 power to weight ratio. At max gross, 1000' pressure altitude (ATL), and normal temps, ie 70-85 F, it will climb out at better than 2000 fpm all the way to 310.

Lighten it up and cool it down, ie TO weights around 100 k and temps in the 40- 60 f range., and you have 3000 plus to 350.

That is with climb speeds of 300 KIAS until crossing over to M 0.77, which is usually long range cruise for us. We fly a fuel efficent profile, not for speed. Mmo is 0.82, and it will do every bit of it, it just gets better mileage around M 0.77.

I flew one empty with not much fuel once, TO weight about 84,000 lbs. Now that was a rocket ship. 6000 fpm plus all the way to 370.

Typical times to clime are about 18-21 minutes to the 350-370 range.

 

[banned username 2]

I flew one empty with not much fuel once, TO weight about 84,000 lbs. Now that was a rocket ship. 6000 fpm plus all the way to 370.

Thats amazing because I did a maintenance flight in our 900EX and I was at 33,000 lbs. T/O weight with 15,000 lbs of thrust (2.2:1 ratio slight better than your 84,000 lb 717 was that day)

And we definately did better than 6000 FPM down low (below 20,000) but by the time we got into the 30's it was down to around 3,500 FPM and passing through 37,000 it was probably 2,400 FPM and passing throught 43,000 it was down to around 1,200 FPM....

Let remember folks, jet engines are NORMALLY aspirated engines... they lose thrust as you climb...a 5,000 lbs thrust engine puts out about 1,120 lbs of thrust at 40,000 ft at M0.80

So to be doing 6,000 FPM (steady state) up at FL370 you would have to be doing better than 15,000 FPM (steady state) down low... With a 2.2:1 thrust ratio I just don't see that happening (steady state) I flew a Lear and had taken off with a 2.0:1 ratio and only saw 10,000 FPM down low (steady state)

 

[atldc9]

Sorry Falcon Driver- You are right, I went back and edited the post to add the climb altitudes, and didn't see where I put that one.

On that ferrry flight, it was an INITIAL climb greater than 6000 fpm, and by the time we leveled off at 370, it was down to about 2500-3000.

Sorry for the mistake.

 

[banned username 2]

Sorry Falcon Driver- You are right, I went back and edited the post to add the climb altitudes, and didn't see where I put that one.

On that ferrry flight, it was an INITIAL climb greater than 6000 fpm, and by the time we leveled off at 370, it was down to about 2500-3000.

Sorry for the mistake.

No problem, just want to make sure the "fish" isn't getting TOO big in these stories!

Can you believe people accuse me of being anal retentive? Such Nerve!

Sorry, I am a stickler for accuracy....

Fly Safe!

 

[atldc9]

No worries, and I keep my fishing stories at http://www.cafelocale.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?13/13.html

But anyway, back to engines and climb performance. The reason the 717 climbs so well normally is that it uses the br-715 engine. That engine is thermodynamically rated at 24,500 plus pounds of thrust. It was certified on the 717 at 21,500, flat rated to some ridiculously high temp. AirTran only bought 18,500 pounds of thrust from each engine, which is still plenty. So you see, the 18,500 we pay for, is from an engine thermodynamically rated at 24,500 + lbs of thrust. That is a lot of flat rating, and hence maintains the climb rate to a higher, or hotter temp.

And the tuna were that big this season.

 

[banned username 2]

Yeah, understand the flat rating... our engines are flat rated to ISA+17°C (90°F @ SL)... Makes a big difference!

Fly Safe!