  We develop error-control based time integration algorithms for compressible
fluid dynamics (CFD) applications and show that they are efficient and robust
in both the accuracy-limited and stability-limited regime. Focusing on
discontinuous spectral element semidiscretizations, we design new controllers
for existing methods and for some new embedded Runge-Kutta pairs. We
demonstrate the importance of choosing adequate controller parameters and
provide a means to obtain these in practice. We compare a wide range of
error-control-based methods, along with the common approach in which step size
control is based on the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) number. The optimized
methods give improved performance and naturally adopt a step size close to the
maximum stable CFL number at loose tolerances, while additionally providing
control of the temporal error at tighter tolerances. The numerical examples
include challenging industrial CFD applications.
