you guys usually just request a block altitude so you’re not committed to achieving that higher flight level?
and yes.. FL470 and Mach .92 sounds impressive... unless you’re a former SR-71 driver lol...
or shuttle astronaut...
i’m sure babying the aircraft at those altitudes is critical.. some new CRJ pilots don’t always understand you can’t go from F380 to FL400 by just hitting speed mode and dialing back the Mach number.. gotta coax it carefully..

And we usta sweat 390 in a '72.......

None of the F510 bizjets are up there until the last 90 minutes of cruise. And rarely worth going up there. At F450, you’re usually above the worst of the headwinds and likely too high for the next tailwind—there’s trade-offs like anywhere.

The Global was pretty solid at F470/490, if you were at the right weights. No low speed cue up to 25 degrees of bank, even 45 degrees at F450 was solid. Did steep turns occasionally at F430 and F450. Interesting and small pitch changes were really exciting.

GF

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When flying the globe in the Lockheed C-5A Galaxy(vintage 1969 models), I found the LIMFAC was almost always Cabin Altitude. We would flight plan our oceanic crossings at FL310, as that would usually represent Cabin Alt of 9,500’. The AF Flt Planners, i.e. “dispatchers”, would pushback when we called for FL310 fuel burn, as they wanted us at FL350 or FL390. “No can do, the plane leaks like a sieve.”

During eight years of high-tempo flying, I reached FL410 exactly twice. The first was at the end of a nine-hour flight from Korea to Hawai’i, with only a single Apache (AH-64) in the cargo box. I was so thrilled that I took photos of the steam gages to verify the achievement. Of course, descent out of FL410 was a bear, as the cabin wanted to rush above 9,500 as soon as the throttles were retarded...

I understand the C-5M Super Galaxy does not have this problem.

I’ve been to F430 in the old gal, empty obviously, but rare plane that would the cabin there. Usually a pile of wet blankets and chains shoved in the leaks. I never planned to go above 350, but most most weights didn’t allow it anyway.

From what I’ve been told, C-2A guys would have to do the same in order to go high, and that’s why they avoided it. I always asked why we would do such long transits from ship to shore at low altitude, and the AW told me about the horrible pressurization from the gaps/holes in the bird, and how they would put wet towels and rags over the leaky areas so they would freeze and seal the hole to maintain pressurization.

Wild.