Airspeed definitely wasn't the case here.. this was during the
ascent, when he was rising about 1000fpm, maybe less (don't remember exactly)
but his speed over the ground had by then diminished to 15-20 knots, just
floating along with the flow up there. I, too, am curious about why
ambient temps started to rise as altitude increased... I'd have figured it to
just keep going down right in step with the ambient pressure. It'll be way
interesting to hear the actual reason.
<marv>
OOps.. sorry I missed that point! I wonder if it's due to
solar heating of the toropopause? If you look here http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/standard-atmosphere-d_604.html
you'll see
that there is actually an increase in temp at those
altitudes? I'm not sure as to the 'why' but it appears that it does. I recall
being told this during my ATPL groundschool but couldn't tell you 'why' it gets
hotter..
Fwiw
Jarrett