Long-Range Cruise

Long-range cruise is a slightly slower cruise setting chosen to maximise range — the most miles per pound of fuel. On a long leg it can be the difference between a non-stop flight and a fuel stop, at the cost of some extra time en route.

Why it matters: long-range cruise is the speed at which the aircraft converts fuel into distance most efficiently, and it is the setting behind most published maximum-range figures. It is how crews stretch the aircraft to make a marginal nonstop work.

In day-to-day operations most flights are planned somewhere between long-range and high-speed cruise, so treat LRC-based range as an upper bound rather than an expectation. If a mission only closes at strict LRC in still air, it will not close reliably across a year of real winds.