Question

What is specific air range?

(a) horizontal distance flown per unit of fuel consumed

(b) vertical distance flown per unit of fuel consumed

(c) horizontal distance flown per unit time

(d) vertical distance flown per unit time

I had been asked this question during an interview for a job.

My query is from Cruising Performance topic in chapter Cruising Performance of Aircraft Performance

Answer 1

Right option is (a) horizontal distance flown per unit of fuel consumed

The best explanation: Specific air range (SAR) is the horizontal distance flown per unit of fuel consumed. It can be expressed as SAR=\(\frac{V}{Q_f}\) where V is true airspeed and Qf is fuel mass flow. The units of SAR are length/mass i.e. nm/Kg.