service ceiling
- noun
- Specialized
:
techo de servicio
- When operating near its service ceiling, the plane struggled to maintain altitude under standard weather conditions.
Examples
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The aircraft reached its service ceiling of 30,000 feet, allowing it to maintain optimal climb performance.
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Pilots must understand the service ceiling to ensure the aircraft can achieve necessary altitudes during flight.
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After reaching a service ceiling of 25,000 ft and a cruising speed of 103 mph, the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator begins descending to its destination.
Blog text (8)
Synonyms
2
6.6
The highest height a plane can reach
How High
- Specialized
- Specialized
2
6.6
- Specialized
21
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'ceiling' transparently signals a highest altitude and a learner could plausibly infer from 'service' (understood as 'in service/operational') that it means the maximum altitude an aircraft can operate. However, 'service' here has a technical operational sense rather than the common sense of maintenance, and the precise definition (ability to maintain a specified rate of climb under standard conditions) requires domain knowledge, so the relation is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Service ceiling uses the image of a ceiling, the top you cannot go above, and service to mean the safe, usable limit. So it means the 'maximum height' where a plane can still 'climb fast enough'.