WordNet
service ceiling
n. altitude above which a plane cannot climb faster than a given rate [syn: combat ceiling]
Usage examples of "service ceiling".
They were at forty thousand feet, almost service ceiling, as high as they could get for maximum endurance and speed.
They were above their tested service ceiling, but that didn't matter.
The anvilheads topping the cumulonimbus clouds reached high into the tropopause, well above Volkenreiter'$ service ceiling.
Fifty thousand feet was close to the Tomcat's service ceiling, and the controls had a tendency to mush somewhat at that altitude.