Quote:
Originally Posted by Sternjaeger
erm... no, in a nutshell: mixture has different ratios, which need to be varied according to your altitude (leaner/richer mixture), besides a 50/50 mixture ratio would probably send your valves into orbit  (Disclaimer: just wanted to make a joke here, please don't take it literally and start posting copy/paste engineering blabber..)
What Richie said just doesn't make sense: engines won't produce different flames if they're direct injected or carburator injected. Or maybe I got it wrong in the first place. |
ideal mixture is still basically the same at any altitude. The difference is that the air density decreases as you go up, requiring mixture adjustments to maintain the same air/fuel ratio. Some planes had auto compensation, but most did not, so mechanical tune and operator capability also come into play here.