Why go to 31,000 for a 26 min hop? I’m trying to learn something here.
flightaware.com/live/flight/N203WS
Thanks -
According to the track log, the flight never went above 16,000 feet and it was only there for a few seconds.
Jets will always perform better at high altitude and many times, pilots will file an altitude they know they wont get to, but it allows them to have a chance to get as high as they can before ATC tells them to stop. I know this happens because I’ve done it and that might be the reason behind. Best guess…
As noted the track log states that the aircraft never got above 16K feet. In addition the last four entries on approach are suspect.
On short flights the computerized flight plans will quite often choose an optimum altitude that is higher than you will ever go.