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HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly Owners Q&AiFly Owners Q&ASpeedSpeed
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7/25/2011 9:03 PM
 
If someone can't grasp that a GPS indicated ground speed is not your airspeed...then they shouldn't have bought an iFly and instead invested in some dual with an instructor.
 
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7/25/2011 11:39 PM
 

7-25-11, i just can't let you get away with that. Your comment was way to harsh and judgemental. I was simply pointing out there may be some who don't know what their GPS speed represents and I'm sure that includes a flight instructor or two or many. And that it might be a good idea to id the "Speed" on the iFly as GS to avoid a possible error in reasoning. The pilot's I have spoken to "truely" belive the GPS speed is the speed of the airplane; but, whether it's AS of GS does't matter to them, because at some altitude AGL the difference is nill and as long as it's above stall speed we're safe. The bigger question is "where on that altitude "bell curve" do the airplane's indicated AS and GPS output speed line's cross and is the crossing point important or not..?" i.e. just before...?, 100' before..?, 1,000' before..?. And finally who really cares as long as you don't stall and don't hit the ground looking for that "nill" point...! And lets face it, at some AGL altitude it is ground speed, if you understand the GPS as much as you say you do. Should be interesting to note your GPS speed just before you touch down on any landing or in your favorite auto, and what you are going to say it represents...! BTW did you know that high air temps. or the radiated heat, like off of the rny or highway, will affect your GPS sat signal..? How much..? Enough so that my TV loses the weak Sat link-up I have on really hot day's, and always when it's full count, bottom of the 9th, in a tied ballgame... I'm sure you're smart enough to conceed that it will never get that hot in IMC while on you're GPS approach...or not..!

 
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7/26/2011 12:15 AM
 
Re: Speed  Modified By Aryana  on 7/26/2011 12:17:08 AM

Dave, you're not letting me get away with anything! I can't rewrite the laws of physics. You are sorely mistaken about your assumptions regarding GPS ground speed and aircraft airspeed.

If the pilots that you are talking to really believe that the GPS speed is the same as your airspeed, I invite you to come down to San Diego on a windy day.

How will you and your pilot friends make sense of an approach with 0 ground speed listed on the iFly yet the plane will be indicating 40 MPH airspeed all the way to touchdown? My forum posts are worth what you paid for them. I do however strongly urge you to think about the fundamentals of relative motion of an aircraft through a moving air mass in relation to the ground.

Try this, it's been working for 67 years...long before GPS was available to the public. I think you will really enjoy it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stick_an...

 
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7/26/2011 12:24 AM
 

Here's a good visual example of airspeed and ground speed differential due to wind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2-HRD...

Enjoy.

 
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7/30/2011 9:08 AM
 

Dave, I have to agree: If you know pilots who don't know the difference between GS and Airspeed, they need remedial training. That distinction is fundamental to understanding every V-speed, to ground reference manuevers, and to landing and takeoff. Their ignorance is going to kill them. If one knows the difference, then the label "Speed" on a GPS, while technically vague, will never confuse you as it it hard to figure how a unit sitting on the windscreen without access to wind and other information can approximate airspeed. Your comment that airspeed and groundspeed converge with sufficient altitude also makes me think that you are intending to discuss something else. Do you know the winds at FL30! Perhaps horizontal groundspeed vs slant groundspeed?

 
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