Ground speed
Encyclopedia
Ground speed is the speed of an aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

 relative to the ground. Information displayed to passengers through the entertainment system often gives the aircraft groundspeed rather than airspeed.

Ground speed can be determined by the vector sum of the aircraft's true airspeed
True airspeed
True airspeed of an aircraft is the speed of the aircraft relative to the airmass in which it is flying. True airspeed is important information for accurate navigation of an aircraft.-Performance:...

 and the current wind speed and direction; a headwind subtracts from the ground speed, while a tailwind
Tailwind
A tailwind is a wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object, while a headwind blows against the direction of travel. A tailwind increases the object's speed and reduces the time required to reach its destination, while a headwind has the opposite effect...

 adds to it. Winds at other angles to the heading will have components of either headwind or tailwind as well as a crosswind
Crosswind
A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. In aviation, a crosswind is the component of wind that is blowing across the runway making landings and take-offs more difficult than if the wind were blowing straight down the runway...

 component.

An airspeed indicator
Airspeed indicator
The airspeed indicator or airspeed gauge is an instrument used in an aircraft to display the craft's airspeed, typically in knots, to the pilot.- Use :...

 can only indicate the aircraft's speed relative to the air mass. The air mass as a whole may be moving over the ground due to wind, and therefore some additional means to provide position over the ground is required. This might be through navigation using landmarks, radio aided position location, inertial navigation system
Inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external references...

, or GPS. When more advanced technology is unavailable, an E6B
E6B
The E6B Flight Computer, or simply the "whiz wheel", is a form of circular slide rule used in aviation. They are mostly used in flight training, but many professional and even airline pilots still carry and use these flight computers...

 flight computer is often used to calculate groundspeed.

Ground speed is quite different from airspeed
Airspeed
Airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air. Among the common conventions for qualifying airspeed are: indicated airspeed , calibrated airspeed , true airspeed , equivalent airspeed and density airspeed....

. When an aircraft is airborne the ground speed does not determine when the aircraft will stall, and it doesn't influence the actual aircraft performance such as rate of climb.

See also

  • True airspeed
    True airspeed
    True airspeed of an aircraft is the speed of the aircraft relative to the airmass in which it is flying. True airspeed is important information for accurate navigation of an aircraft.-Performance:...

  • Indicated airspeed
    Indicated airspeed
    Indicated airspeed is the airspeed read directly from the airspeed indicator on an aircraft, driven by the pitot-static system. IAS is directly related to calibrated airspeed , which is the IAS corrected for instrument and installation errors....

  • Inertial navigation system
    Inertial navigation system
    An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external references...

  • GPS

External links

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