Flying longer than nominal range

[Bla Razor]

Hi there,

A first time post and, naturally, a rookie question - Is making a refueling stop the only way to fly beyond an aircraft's nominal range?
I'm talking nearly twice the range, not the payload/range ration. E.g. flying 1100 NM with a 600 NM range AC.

Pretty sure the question is answered somewhere on the forums, but I couldn't find it after a quick search and reading through the manual. Thanks!

[NovemberCharlie]

If you open the information page of the aircraft you can find a payload/range chart:
If you set the graph to "show as passengers" you can check how many people can be carried over a certain range.
Note that in the graph the maximum amount of passengers is not taken into account.

[Bla Razor]

If you open the information page of the aircraft you can find a payload/range chart:
If you set the graph to "show as passengers" you can check how many people can be carried over a certain range.
Note that in the graph the maximum amount of passengers is not taken into account.

Thanks. I saw that, but it shows the 600 NM AC can fly a max of 800 NM even with 0 passengers. Idea is to go like 1100 NM, cause I've seen other airlines have similar routes served by regional jets.

[Tha_Ape]

This is where the payload/range graph is interesting. Some a/c have a really steep decrease beyond max payload/range, while some others can fly way further without loosing that much pax.

Otherwise, yes, tech stops. But tech stops are usually to avoid if not for LH in the early stages of a game (when no plane goes beyond 2500 nm or so). From the 80s on, they are really dangerous to use.
This because of a limitation: a tech-stop route will be able to grab only 50-60% of the available demand. So if a competitor of yours fly it non-stop, you're doomed.

Anyway, 600nm means SH, and reason says don't do tech stops on SH, go for a better plane instead.

[forex]

While we are talking about the payload/range chart, is there a way to see it for pax-to-freighter aircraft conversions?

Right now, unless a converted model is available on the used market or I already own one, I cant access the chart and thus don't know what mission profiles I could look for.

I assume the payload/range chart differs from before to after the conversion?

[NovemberCharlie]

Thanks. I saw that, but it shows the 600 NM AC can fly a max of 800 NM even with 0 passengers. Idea is to go like 1100 NM, cause I've seen other airlines have similar routes served by regional jets.

This could be due to a bunch of different reasons:
- Different model of aircraft. This might be subtle but there is a CRJ1000ER, CRJ1000EL, CRJ1000LR, which all have different weights (and thus range)
- Different weight variations. For the Dash 8 Q400 the standard option gives a range of 950nm and the variant with a 1.6tn weight increase gives 1400nm range!

And of course as said before the profile of the graph can be vastly different.
Bjorn Fehrm of Leeham News and Comment has an excellent article about weight/fuel restrictions which is definitely worth a read:
https://leehamnews.com/2015/07/24/bjorns-corner-weight-or-fuel-limited-what-is-this-all-about/

While we are talking about the payload/range chart, is there a way to see it for pax-to-freighter aircraft conversions?

Right now, unless a converted model is available on the used market or I already own one, I cant access the chart and thus don't know what mission profiles I could look for.

I assume the payload/range chart differs from before to after the conversion?

I think you should be able to find it under "Aircraft" --> "Aircraft Information"

[forex]

I think you should be able to find it under "Aircraft" --> "Aircraft Information"

Unfortunately not. In fact, under aircraft information have never been any payload charts for any aircraft as far as I can remember.

EDIT:
Just found range/payload chart for aircraft conversions. For anybody who wishes to see it and there are none on the used market for reference, go via aircraft comparison for the model you want to convert and look under "engine and weight variants".

[knobbygb]

Generally speaking, the range graph has three distinct zones.  The horizontal portion is where the aircraft is simply full - the a/c is at maximum takeoff weight. The first, more shallow slope is where you are directly swapping pax. for fuel, on an equal weight basis, to acheive maximum takeoff weight. Where the graph gets more steep is where the fuel tanks are full so removing pax. only increases the range because the a/c will be more efficient at the lighter weight.  As noted, the max. number of pax indicated on the flat portion of the graph may not be achievable due to physical constraints (actual space in the cabin, number of exits etc.) but the additional weight could then still be used for cargo.

Basically, the higher the fuel burn of the a/c, the steeper the range graph will decrease.  It makes sense really. For every pax. you take off you get a certain amount of extra fuel - and that fuel will take you further on a lower-burning a.c.  The sweet-spot for this, then would be an efficient turboprop with a lot of seats (as then each pax. you remove is a smaller percentage of the total).

Of course you can't fly further than the absolute maximum (zero payload) range without a fuel stop - the aircraft would run out of fuel and crash!