How does ambient temperature affect flight, and what effect does a change in this area have on flight?
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Great question! Essentially, the warmer the temperature, the less efficient an airplane engine is, and you’d need more runway to takeoff. Of course, once your up at cruising altitude it doesn’t necessarily matter too much because of the drop in temperature, but taking off may take a bit longer.
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The hotter the air is, the lower the amount of air particles there is. The lift power of the wing is lower too.
The cooler the air is, the more air particles there is. The more lift there is.
Because a wing need air particles to respect Bernoulli’s law.
Yes you do need a longer runway or better thrust to leave the ground in hot air.
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Discourse won’t let me retract my like, so I guess I’ll just have to make a post correcting you.
Everything you said was 100% correct up until you made the edit above. Hot air makes takeoffs more difficult, not cold air. There’s a reason people flying into and out of places like Denver dislike it during the summer - hot and high is an issue, but high and cold you won’t see people complain about.
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Temperature affects indicated altitude, too. “High to low, look out below.” I am not sure if this is modeled in IF though.
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Oh no i inverted the things!!! I apologize
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Lol, all good. Just poking fun at you.
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Also, a temperature above ISA makes you faster also in cruise (higher TAS/GS for the same Mach), and vice-versa when it is colder than usual!
Oh, also you fly higher than indicated when it is hot, and lower when it is cold! Worth knowing when there is high terrain and very cold weather 
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And of course you do want to be mindful of icing.
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