PLT130: Fuel Performance: Range and Endurance
What code PLT130 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Fuel Performance: Range and Endurance before your checkride.
Recall aircraft performance - fuel
What this means for your checkride
Fuel performance is about range and endurance. Range is how far you can fly on the fuel aboard, maximized near the best lift-to-drag speed; endurance is how long you can stay aloft, maximized at the speed of minimum fuel flow. Both depend on power setting, altitude, and weight.
Fuel planning is a required part of every flight, so the FAA tests how airspeed, altitude, and power trade range against endurance and how reserves fit in.
The speed for maximum range is not the speed for maximum endurance. Flying faster than best-range speed burns more fuel per mile, and slower does not always extend range.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.