Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

IFR Climb

Asked by: 3349 views Aerodynamics, Instrument Rating

Vy (best rate of climb) will provide the greatest feet per minute per the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook. When calculating a climb rate from feet per NM and converting to feet per minute, should you use Vy for your airplane type for the calculation? I am assuming the answer is "yes" since Vy provides the greatest feet per minute.  

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on Jul 03, 2013

    Think for a moment – what do you do when you do a normal take off from the airport? Don’t you climb out at about Vy and, once at a safe altitude, lower the nose a bit and change to a higher speed climb until reaching your desired cruising altitude?

    You should use whatever climb speed you are going to actually use when calculating climb rate. If time to climb is an issue, you’d probably use Vy; if getting over obstacles (like a mountain) is an issue, you might use Vx. If neither is an issue you might use that higher “en route climb” speed.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Dan Chitty on Jul 03, 2013

    Thank you Mark for the clarity. Much appreciated.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.