Thomas Borchert wrote in message ...
John,

Do you have a "rule of thumb" trading off altitude (and therefore
safety margin) to avoid headwinds?


Two things you forgot:

1. The desire to see stuff on the ground. That often keeps me at 2000
AGL.

2. Weather. For me, flying VFR in northern Europe, that is most often
the deciding factor in selecting a cruise altitude. It will keep me
below 3000 on many days.

Likewise, with Class A Airspace around here with bases from 2500 to
6000 we are all scrunched into a pretty small area. So 2000 ft is
pretty common.