Originally Posted by HeyWatchThis

The above post is very good EXCEPT for this paragraph.
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For a normal flight, we use 290 to .80 for the climb, and we *never* go below .78 in the climb. If it is turbulent, we use 275 to .78 for the climb, and above 10k we *never* go below 275 kts in the climb. We rarely do max-range flights. If we do a long range flight (say to europe from the east coast of USA), we flightplan for a mach speed which never is below .76, and follow altitude guidelines to the letter.
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If you just want to be super conservative, the above paragraph is OK, but it’s just not realistic. This sounds like someone that is not familiar or flat out nervous about the aircraft performance. There is no need to put such artificial limitations on climb and cruise. You will significantly reduce your range and burn unnecessary fuel if you follow those recommendations unless you want High Maximum Cruise and not worried about range or fuel burn. I think too many people over compensate for mistakes that incompetent pilots have made in the past.
1. Normal climb as published by Gulfstream OPM says 250 KIAS up to 35,000 feet then climb at Mach .75. So to say we “Never” go below .78 is way off as mach .75 is even published in the Manual.
It works well and gives you many benefits such as:
-Saves fuel by getting you up to altitude faster;
-Extra fuel gives you a better range;
-You can normally carry about 500 to 1000lbs less; Saves money and allows you to climb sooner.
-A higher altitude normally gets you more directs as you are above a lot of airline and other traffic.
-A higher altitude gives you more options when dealing with weather.
2. High Speed Climb is 250kts to 10k, then 290KIAS to FL290, then climb at Mach .78. So again Never below .78? It should say we never climb faster than mach.78. There are no safety concerns flying less than .78 unless you’re just being stupid.
3. Long Range Cruise. Climb same as “Normal Climb” to initial optimum long range cruise altitude. If you want to get the full 3000 NM range, you should fly a constant mach number and climb to optimal LRC altitude as your fuel burns off.
Flight planning less than .78 is OK, but .76 really works well some times. I prefer .78 but sometimes you need the .76. If you really want to see a low mach number, enter LRC and you will be surprised. That’s even too slow for me.

The biggest factor to the range is the BOW. Most aircraft with a SN 52 and below have very heavy BOW’s. Most of those aircraft you cannot even load the full 15,000 lbs of fuel with NO passengers. SN 53/54 and above has much lower BOW and are more realistic in that range.
I tell the company don’t plan for anything more than: 4 pax, mach .8 and 6 hours of flight time without having me specifically plan for it with real winds.