Airplanes, Indicated Airspeed and True Airspeed

Classic Theory Meets Digital Computer; Status Quo Emerges Unscathed

Flying Magazine

MAY 7, 2025

Subscribe Now Carsons argument began with the familiar observation that because airplanes need to climb, their engines are more powerful than they would be if they were sized solely for most efficient cruising. These are indicated, not true, airspeeds.) The product of speed and L/D reaches a maximum at the Carson Speed.

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Knot Airplanes

Mach Number Explained: What It Is and Why Pilots Use It

Pilot Institute

JULY 11, 2025

Why don’t they use Indicated Airspeed just like the pilots who fly slower aircraft? Key Takeaways Mach number is a dimensionless ratio of true airspeed to local speed of sound. Mach number is simply a ratio of your true airspeed to the local speed of sound. Here’s why. What Is Mach Number?

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Pilot Indicated Airspeed Lift

Airspeed and Altitude Control Simplified: Tips for Stable Flying

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 16, 2024

If you’re aiming to get comfortable with managing both airspeed and altitude in flight, you’ll need to understand the difference between indicated airspeed (IAS) and true airspeed (TAS). Key Takeaways Airspeed and altitude are directly linked to each other throughout different phases of your flight.

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Altimeter Lift

Going Below Minimums

AV Web

MAY 6, 2025

Lets take a deep dive into what it takes to get an airplane on the ground after a successful instrument approach. However the indicated airspeed at which you circle is not the same as the true airspeed , and of course the difference increases with altitude.

Runway

Runway Approach Threshold True Airspeed

Go-Around Required

Plane and Pilot

JUNE 23, 2025

Moments later, the airplane crashed. While it wasn’t a particularly hot day, Big Bear’s density altitude was reported as 8,200 feet, resulting in a higher true airspeed compared to indicated airspeed. Increasing true airspeed makes the turn radius wider, resulting in an overshoot.

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Runway Knot Density Altitude

E6B Made Easy: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

This section is also needed when youre calculating your true airspeed, which you need to know to plan your flight. Calculating True Airspeed Follow steps 1-3 from the section above. Find your Calibrated Airspeed on the middle scale on the movable disk. Thats your true airspeed. Look under the grommet.

Groundspeed

Groundspeed True Airspeed Density Altitude Knot

Air pressure and density

Professional Pilot

JULY 7, 2025

However, with no room to navigate up the steep glacial valley, the pilots finessed the airplane over the hurdle with no more than 200 ft of clearance. In addition, decreased air density also decreases ram air pressure, meaning a indicated airspeed from a pressure-based airspeed indicator will read lower than the true airspeed.

Density Altitude

Density Altitude Altimeter Airfoil Lift

Let’s Play it Safe

Plane and Pilot

JULY 10, 2025

Jet pilots are all aware that up in the flight levels, they thrive on the increased true airspeed that the low atmospheric density produces. Up in the flight levels, jets fly at relatively low indicated airspeed and still cruise at 7-8 miles per minute. It should not have been a surprise, but it was. So far, so good.

Density Altitude

Density Altitude Indicated Airspeed Ground Effect True Airspeed

We Fly: CubCrafters NXCub

Flying Magazine

JUNE 30, 2025

CubCrafters offered to bring FLYING the first of the kitbuilt NXCubs to north Idaho and turn us loose with it for two weeks to fly into the backcountry—introducing pilots of all experience and skill levels to the airplane. CubCrafters said its goal was to build an airplane with a 1,000-pound useful load. That got our attention.

Gross Weight

Gross Weight Airplanes Aileron Drag

In Defense of the Paper Nav Log

Air Facts

MARCH 10, 2025

Their peripheral vision and hand-eye coordination barely work for pickleball, let alone landing an airplane.” You needed some familiarity with performance charts for the written test, but it’s during the nav log lesson that you must read and understand the performance charts of the airplane you’re actually flying.

Checkride

Checkride Density Altitude Calibrated Airspeed True Airspeed

4 Different Types of Airspeed: How to Calculate Each

Pilot Institute

JANUARY 21, 2025

Airspeed guides everything from takeoff to landing and every phase in between. But did you know there are several types of airspeed, each serving a unique purpose? Like Indicated Airspeed (IAS) , Calibrated Airspeed (CAS) , True Airspeed (TAS) , and more! What Are The Different Types of Airspeed?

Calibrated Airspeed

Calibrated Airspeed True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Groundspeed

Danger lurks in circling approaches

Air Facts

MAY 10, 2024

A perfectly good airplane with everything operating as expected. Particular attention to true airspeed vs. turn radius. What specific indicated airspeed will be flown/adhered to during the circling maneuver? A known degree of familiarity with the airfield and surrounding terrain. What speed on final approach?

Approach

Approach AGL Descent Runway

What Is Air Density? A Simple Guide for Pilots

Pilot Institute

MARCH 26, 2025

This means that if you encounter these conditions on a particular day, you would need to achieve a higher true airspeed to produce the same lift that would be generated at lower airspeeds in denser air. This increased true airspeed, along with other factors increases takeoff and landing distances.

Density Altitude

Density Altitude Pilot True Airspeed Lift

Split-S Decision

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Alongside a nearby highway, some recognizable bits of airplane, the vertical stabilizer and rudder, a horizontal stabilizer and elevator, fell separately to Earth. The sole probable cause was the pilot’s ‘improper aerobatic maneuver…that exceeded the airplane’s design limits. The pilot died instantly. After crossing U.S.

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron

Split-S Decision

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Alongside a nearby highway, some recognizable bits of airplane, the vertical stabilizer and rudder, a horizontal stabilizer and elevator, fell separately to Earth. The sole probable cause was the pilot’s ‘improper aerobatic maneuver…that exceeded the airplane’s design limits. The pilot died instantly. After crossing U.S.

True Airspeed

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron

Invisible Trap Kills Glider Pilot – How To Avoid Microbursts

Chess In the Air

JUNE 24, 2022

This is a hard one to gain insight from other than this: Some atmospheric events are bigger than our plastic airplanes. Without knowing the horizontal wind direction and speed at this point it is impossible to say what his indicated airspeed was. His ground speed had dropped to 75 kt so he also had less kinetic energy reserve.

Pilot

Pilot AGL Wind Shear Runway

Aviator Connection

Classic Theory Meets Digital Computer; Status Quo Emerges Unscathed

Mach Number Explained: What It Is and Why Pilots Use It

Trending Sources

Airspeed and Altitude Control Simplified: Tips for Stable Flying

Going Below Minimums

Go-Around Required

E6B Made Easy: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide

Air pressure and density

Let’s Play it Safe

We Fly: CubCrafters NXCub

In Defense of the Paper Nav Log

4 Different Types of Airspeed: How to Calculate Each

Danger lurks in circling approaches

What Is Air Density? A Simple Guide for Pilots

Split-S Decision

Split-S Decision

Invisible Trap Kills Glider Pilot – How To Avoid Microbursts

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