I always (!) fly the microlight Tanarg 912 with a maximum continuous speed of 5500 rpm. This gives a cruising speed of about 90 mph. ![]()
I challenge you to get the TBM up to 330 KIAS at FL300. It won’t happen. True airspeed is constant, regardless of altitude. Indicated relies on pressure on a diaphragm, which falls off as air thins at higher altitudes.
Think about this. Stall speed is given in Indicated speed because it depends on air pressure on the wings. Mach limit is based on True airspeed because the speed of sound is virtually constant, with the only real variable being temperature, which is also part of how True airspeed is calculated. In the U-2, pilots fly so high, that the Mach limit and stall speed come very close to meeting. This is called the Coffin Corner. You have one set of instruments that are telling you that the plane is on the verge of losing control due to compressibility (too high Mach), and another set that’s telling you that you’re going so slow that you’re about to drop out of the sky. Guess what? They’re both right! At 75,000’, the pilot has to maintain a very precise speed in order to keep from a) losing air over the control surfaces due to flying to fast, or b) loosing control due to stalling. I’m guessing that window is only about five knots either way. At that altitude, the pitot driven airspeed indicator won’t even get to 100, while the plane is really doing nearly 3/4 the speed of sound, or about 420 KTAS (True).
Most of my flying is in the 172 and cruise at 2200 rpm which gives me a speed of around 105 kts. I also fly the 152 at 2100 rpm which gives me a cruise of around 90 kts.
For low and really slow I fly the MW6 at 4000 rpm which cruises at 55 and is nice when looking at good photo scenery at around 1500 feet.
I’ve also flown a few of the twins and jets from time to time as well as a few helicopters but can’t remember all of the spreds and throttle settings offhand though most of the jets fly around mach 0.7/0.75 from memory.
I usually fly as high as reasonable based on trip length. Cruising speed is whatever I can get without setting off the over speed alarm. ![]()
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.