what is the effect of altitude on the maximum and minimum speed of an airplane?

Answer 1

A higher altitude will give you thinner air, which will change a few things. If we're considering an engine-less airplane, it will boost the stall speed, meaning you have to fly faster in order to not "stall out." Your airplane's maximum speed will increase as well, as there will be less air, and therefore less resistance to free flight.

That being said, keep in mind that your engines are designed to work most efficiently within certain altitudes. If you go beyond these limits, they might work, but will not be as efficient. So, this will have an effect on speed at altitudes if your plane is lucky enough to have an engine.

Answer 2

In a graph with speed on the x axis and altitude on y axis. if you draw a line for maximum speeds for every altitude and a line for minimum speeds at every altitude.....the graph will result as a "bell", because the maximum speed decreases with altitude and minimum increases with altitude(I'm speaking in TAS), so these airspeeds will be the same at the maximum theorical altitude because at maximum theorical altitude there is only one airspeed possible for the flight.
But this is quite a gross approximation, analyzing more specifically a model of plane maybe, for example,that the max speed increases from 0 to 4000 ft and then decrease...

Answer 3

Thinner air equals less resistance to the wings at higher altitudes.

Answer 4

For Brian T: You don't get out of Earth's gravity well at any altitude an air-breathing engine can attain.

Answer 5

AT high altitudes, the air is thin. this takes away a lot of wind resistance. and if u go higher and higher, theres no resistance or gravity