zoom ceiling

zoom ceiling

The maximum altitude achieved by a high-performance aircraft after a zoom maneuver at high altitude. The aircraft accelerates to its near maximum Mach number at an intermediate altitude and then pulls up the nose to climb steeply at an optimized speed. It levels out at the zoom ceiling still at a very high supersonic Mach number. An aircraft may not be able to climb to the zoom ceiling in a normal climb. See zoom (ii).