What is your average cruising speed in the MSFS 2020?

Hi there, Depending on which aircraft you fly, What is your average cruising speed? Any help or info is greatly appreciated. TIA

Really hard to answer, you already pointed out depending on which aircraft, however altitude, temperature, winds, and power settings all also play a role.

Weight has to be taken into consideration.

Then if you get into Airliners, for those following a specific company, the cost index comes into play.

If you’re looking for ballpark figures, you can just google “average cruising speed of airliners” or “average cruising speed of single engine piston GA planes” etc…

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I try to be at least 180 knots true. Most of the time, I’m at least 250 true.

Interesting question! Looking at my hours and the aircraft I’ve done those hours in, my guesstimate is probably 120kts but I do spend a lot of time below that looking around (not cruising straight) :slight_smile:

I like slow aircraft and checking out the scenery!

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Mach .78 for narrow body
Mach .85-.88 for widebody

Everything else I typically aim for its recommended cruising speeds. So think 100-110 knots for a 172, ~180kts for a single turbo or twin engine prop etc. Naturally, it depends on the plane performance, winds, air density and so on…

If I dont know the recommended speeds, I’d aim for a balance of efficient fuel burn and still maintain a quick(ish) pace

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I’m not super confident in the statistics provided in the pilot profile (for example, my total flight time is just about equal to BOTH total flight time with autopilot AND total flight time without autopilot), but I took my total distance flown and divided it by my total hours in sim (presumably includes sitting on the ground) and came up with an average speed of 84.3 knots.

I don’t sit on the ground for very long since I only fly very simple GA aircraft, so I’d say my average speed in the air is probably around 100 knots.

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You’ll find this link interesting, Its from Eurocontrol and they give a good idea of all speeds.

Here is graph for Boeing 737-800

Just type in the airplane type. Some other examples:

Cessna 150

TBM 850

Airbus A320neo

I tend to stay around the 260-310 knot range. I’ve taken a step back from commercial aircraft and have leaned more towards private. However, like you stated in your question, it depends on multiple factors, wind, altitude, plane, etc.

In exploration flying there’s a trade-off between the amount of attention you can pay to the ground beneath you (slower is better) and the amount of distance you can cover in the time you have available (faster is better).

For me, the current optimum compromise (I’ve got slower as I’ve got more experience doing this) is 200-230 kts, which by a happy coincidence is what I can get out of an OV-10 Bronco with its canopy made for observation.

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