K6CCC
Second Officer
Flight distance : 651683 ft
United States
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All aircraft have a service ceiling. In the case of real aircraft (either fixed or rotary wing), here in the US, there are rules in the part of the FAA rules that relate to aircraft certifications, that define what constitutes the service ceiling. As I recall, it is something like the density altitude where rate of climb drops down to 50 feet per minute at max rated weight. Several factors effect the rate of climb of an aircraft. One of the biggest is loss of power from the engine because of less oxygen available to the combustion chamber due to less ambient air pressure. This can be partially compensated for by turbocharging the engine. However some of the other factors are not that easy. Propeller efficiency drops off with less ambient air pressure. That can be compensated for by designing a propeller for high altitude flight. A variable pitch propeller helps, but not completely. Wings can be designed for use at higher altitude as well. There are a few other factors as well, but that is the obvious major ones that the aircraft affects. Temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure also have a factor - and we humans have no control over those. For a fixed wing aircraft that is not turbocharged, performance falls off the higher you get. Helicopters are the similar.
Of course for our electric motor powered drones, loss of engine performance due to less oxygen being available is not an issue! However wing / propeller efficiencies and the weather related factors still do. There will be a density altitude where a Mavic Mini will be incapable of lifting itself off the ground at all. That is likely well above the previously mentioned 3,000 meters. However at 3,000 meters, I would expect performance to be much poorer than it is at or near sea level. In a couple weeks, I will be at Mammoth Mtn in California with my drone. That is around 3,000 meters and I will be doing some flying. I have every expectation that performance will be substantially degraded - I know mine is!
In full disclosure. I am a licensed fixed wing pilot with a Commercial license with Airplane Single Engine Land and Instrument Airplane ratings. I learned some of the rules behind how service ceilings are determined in ground school - but that was almost 45 years ago. I need to know what the service ceiling of an airplane that I fly is, but not how the rules determine what that service ceiling is (Cessna can worry about that part).
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