Quote:
Originally Posted by SentraSE-R
That's essentially how all commercial scheduled flights operate. They accelerate (pulse) to 30,000 ft cruising altitude where the air is thin and resistance is low. Then they semi-glide back down.
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Except that their glides are interrupted by ATC commands to level off at intermediate altitudes. Some of the technologies associated with NextGen ATC will allow airliners to literally glide with engines at idle from upwards of 30,000 feet to landing.