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user14897
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What is the ratio of How much fuel is burned to carry the rest of the trip fuel vs that used to get from A to B?

For rockets, there is a rule of thumb that says for each kilo of fuel put into orbit, 7 kilos is needed to get it there.

For long and ultra-long flights, it feels intuitive that some very significant proportion of the fuel, perhaps the majority, is needed to carry the fuel needed to complete the flight. InIn other words, imagine that the fuel was weightless and 50,000 litres were needed. ButBut since fuel is not weightless, the requirement is actually 100,000 litres.

Of course there are a lot of variables and it's fairly easy to calculate, but is there a rough and ready rule of thumb?

What is the ratio of fuel burned to carry the rest of the fuel vs that used to get from A to B?

For rockets, there is a rule of thumb that says for each kilo of fuel put into orbit, 7 kilos is needed to get it there.

For long and ultra-long flights, it feels intuitive that some very significant proportion of the fuel, perhaps the majority, is needed to carry the fuel needed to complete the flight. In other words, imagine that the fuel was weightless and 50,000 litres were needed. But since fuel is not weightless, the requirement is actually 100,000 litres.

Of course there are a lot of variables and it's fairly easy to calculate, but is there a rough and ready rule of thumb?

How much fuel is burned to carry the trip fuel?

For rockets, there is a rule of thumb that says for each kilo of fuel put into orbit, 7 kilos is needed to get it there.

For long and ultra-long flights, it feels intuitive that some very significant proportion of the fuel, perhaps the majority, is needed to carry the fuel needed to complete the flight. In other words, imagine that the fuel was weightless and 50,000 litres were needed. But since fuel is not weightless, the requirement is actually 100,000 litres.

Of course there are a lot of variables and it's fairly easy to calculate, but is there a rough and ready rule of thumb?

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Simon
Simon
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What is the ratio of fuel burned to carry the rest of the fuel vs that used to get from A to B?

For rockets, there is a rule of thumb that says for each kilo of fuel put into orbit, 7 kilos is needed to get it there.

For long and ultra-long flights, it feels intuitive that some very significant proportion of the fuel, perhaps the majority, is needed to carry the fuel needed to complete the flight. In other words, imagine that the fuel was weightless and 50,000 litres were needed. But since fuel is not weightless, the requirement is actually 100,000 litres.

Of course there are a lot of variables and it's fairly easy to calculate, but is there a rough and ready rule of thumb?