Can someone explain rate of climb and climb angle?

[gnomechompsky]

I have searched the forum but can't really find a clear explanation of this.

 

What is the rate of climb and how do I achieve it?  How do I know how fast I am climbing?  And how do I know what it is for the different planes in this game?  

[unreasonable]

Rate of climb = vertical distance climbed / time, usually expressed as metres per second (m/s) in this game. Climb angle is just the angle between your planes heading and the horizontal.

 

If you want to know the best rate of climb for each aircraft look in the Tech Specs in game or here: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/25993-aircraft-flight-and-technical-specifications-and-operational/

 

No doubt Han will update this for the new aircraft before too long. Note that it varies according to height - the higher you are the slower you can climb.

 

How you achieve it is by knowing the best speed and angle at which to climb, usually at a climb or combat power setting. This varies but will usually be close to the speed of the best turn rate shown in the Tech Specs, roughly 270 kph for most types.

 

Most aircraft in the game do not have a climb speed indicator so you cannot tell directly how fast you are climbing, you would have to use clock and altimeter to calculate it, but generally no need to bother. Find out best climb speed for your plane and make sure you are close to this figure while climbing by experimenting with the climb angle and you will be getting close to optimum results.

 

Note that the best climb angle is not the steepest that your plane can climb - by increasing the climb angle you can achieve a more vertical climb, but it will actually gain height more slowly.

Edited March 4, 2017 by unreasonable

[JG13_opcode]

I have searched the forum but can't really find a clear explanation of this.

 

What is the rate of climb and how do I achieve it?  How do I know how fast I am climbing?  And how do I know what it is for the different planes in this game?

 

Some aircraft have a "climb meter" or variometer, that will show you your climb or sink rate.  Most fighters of this time are rudimentary and do not have it.

 

Instead, we have "best climb speed" as a surrogate.  Because the aircraft will hold a particular speed for a particular angle of pitch, you can use a stopwatch and your altimeter to determine how fast you're gaining altitude at a particular forward airspeed.  That lets you determine which indicated airspeed corresponds to the fastest climb.

 

So if your best climb speed is, say, 280 km/h indicated, then you simply fly at the angle of climb that lets you hold 280 km/h.

 

Most aircraft have a "best climb angle speed" and a "best climb rate speed" and they are not necessarily the same speed.

 

Best Climb Angle Speed is usually called Vx in pilot manuals, and it is the speed at which you can do the steepest climb.  In civil aviation it's mostly of use for obstacle clearance.

 

Best Climb Rate Speed is usually called Vy in pilot manuals, and it is the speed at which you'll gain altitude the fastest.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited March 4, 2017 by JG13_opcode

[CisTer-dB-]

In short 

 

The best rate of climb (Vy) is the climb rate for a time unit. (Feet per minutes) best used for getting the max altitude gain in a given time

The best angle of climb (Vx) is the best climb rate for a distance (Feet per NM or M) best used for getting the max altitude gain in a short distance

 

o7

Edited March 4, 2017 by ATAG_dB

[J5_Adam]

Of course one thing missing from all of this is that these speeds change with altitude. Vx (Best Angle of Climb) speed increases with increasing altitude and Vy (Best Rate of Climb) speed decreases with increasing altitude. So, it's not just a matter of flying at one climb speed.

 

The PDF explains it pretty well:

http://cospilot.com/documents/Why%20Vx%20and%20Vy%20Change%20with%20Altitude.pdf

Edited March 4, 2017 by Adam

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

Great little article about it.
http://avstop.com/ac/flighttrainghandbook/climbperformance.html



Here a link to the above pic and article
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/42200-05-climbing-and-descending/

Edited March 4, 2017 by =R4T=Sshadow14

[JG13_opcode]

What I think often happens that can confuse novices is that people tend to conflate the terms "best climb rate" with "best climb rate speed".

 

Vy or "best climb rate speed" is the forward speed at which you achieve your best climb rate. It is not the actual climb rate itself in feet per minute.