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Ground speed is what most people would think of when they think of a speed. How fast is it moving from Point A to Point B. Airspeed takes into account how fas
by JoblessWonder 8y ago
Ground speed is what most people would think of when they think of a speed. How fast is it moving from Point A to Point B.
Airspeed takes into account how fast you are going you are going AS WELL as how fast and in what direction the air around you is going.
Another example would be a person walking on a motorized walkway (like at an airport.) Person A is going WITH the direction of the walkway like someone normally would. Person B is going AGAINST the direction of the walkway but still making progress forward. How fast the person is going when observed from off the walkway is ground speed. To maintain the same ground speed, Person A needs to only walk slowly (less effort/lower airspeed) while Person B needs to be sprinting all out (more effort/high airspeed.)
* Here is an interactive example from NASA: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/Animation/airrel/anrela.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/Animation/airrel/...
- jessriedel 8y agokgermino is asking about the difference between (1) the actual speed (relative to the Earth) at the altitude where the plane is flying and (2) the speed of the path of the airplane when it is projected onto the ground. These are extremely close but not the same (~0.15%) because the Earth is a sphere and the airplane is at a slight further distance from the center of that sphere than it's projected point on the ground. You are explaining the difference between airspeed and ground speed, which can be much more substantial (e.g., ~10%, or ~%100 in extraordinary situations).