Question on speed and distance

[catspaw27]

So as a newb I am still trying to digest the aircraft possibilities and what I hope to build.  I am comparing two different aircraft with different speeds, but at the end they have the same time from start to end.

The Flight is a two-stop, so travel from A-B-C-B-A.  I am switching from the BAC One-Eleven, which has a cruising speed of 440 kts TAS.  The new plane is an MD-81 with a speed of Mach 0.77.  I have them both flying the same route, sames stops, same layover, etc. 

Why do they arrive at the same time at the end and at every stop?  Without a complicated speed formula, what the heck is TAS?  Am I to assume that Mach 0.77 is close to 440 knots?

Thanks for any help I can get on this.  Much appreciated.

Cheers

[swiftus27]

Here is the situation.  Planes take off, get to altitude, approach, and land at around the same speed.   This includes all jets and props in the game.  Therefore, you will only really see the difference in flight times if the routes are longer.

This is why the Bombardier CRJ100-200s are a fast route into bankruptcy.  They consume far more fuel than the turboprops and save you maybe 10 minutes per route. 

[catspaw27]

Here is the situation.  Planes take off, get to altitude, approach, and land at around the same speed.   This includes all jets and props in the game.  Therefore, you will only really see the difference in flight times if the routes are longer.

This is why the Bombardier CRJ100-200s are a fast route into bankruptcy.  They consume far more fuel than the turboprops and save you maybe 10 minutes per route. 

So in a similar geographic region, you can't gain much no matter what you are flying?

[Jona L.]

TAS is True Aircraft Speed, meaning the speed the plane would fly on ground.

maybe complicated;

so imagine:

the plane moves at 500kts. (TAS) and there is wind from the front at 75kts. the plane's speed would be 575kts, due to being much faster than the area surrounding. TAS deducts the 75kts. wind speed/wind speed in general, meaning only the distance overground flown in one hour... understood??

if not try this:
TAS in Wikipedia

btw. if you started in a game early (less than ~25% of game time run off), you should take big planes and big airport!! don't be shy, to take a loan of 500k right from the beginning in order to win 50PAX

Later on you should see if the big airports are overflooded, if yes, take a airport of 3 or 4 size rating, and use planes under 150PAX!!!

[swiftus27]

Catspaw, what I am saying is that regional turboprops and gets are the same on routes 300nm or less.

[Sami]

Flight times are not calculated here with a simple speed/distance math. It's more complicated and takes into account the climb, cruise and approach segments separately and even determines how high the plane can climb with the distance available .. etc.  That all happens in the background though.

Easiest way to see the flt time is just to go to route open menu and there select the desired plane and flt time. Is there a need for some "performance calculator" type of page that would analyze the flt time, rwy req and payload capability?

[Maarten Otto]

I discovered this today aswell. I planned a route from Manchester to Bergen, only to discover the Fokker 100 is just 5 minutes faster then a Saab 2000. But dispite this... I ordered 10 ATR Ac's becouse they can carry more pax and are more fuel efficient.. something that will matter later in the game.

[ekaneti]

TAS is True Aircraft Speed, meaning the speed the plane would fly on ground.

maybe complicated;

so imagine:

the plane moves at 500kts. (TAS) and there is wind from the front at 75kts. the plane's speed would be 575kts, due to being much faster than the area surrounding. TAS deducts the 75kts. wind speed/wind speed in general, meaning only the distance overground flown in one hour... understood??

if not try this:
TAS in Wikipedia



btw. if you started in a game early (less than ~25% of game time run off), you should take big planes and big airport!! don't be shy, to take a loan of 500k right from the beginning in order to win 50PAX

Later on you should see if the big airports are overflooded, if yes, take a airport of 3 or 4 size rating, and use planes under 150PAX!!!

I am pretty certain what youre defining is ground speed. True Airspeed I think is the speed of the air flow over the wings. If TAS was 575 kph with a 75 kt head wind, ground speed would be 500 kts.

That's why in a strong headwind, you can take off in a short distance. TAS > Ground Speed

[ekaneti]

I discovered this today aswell. I planned a route from Manchester to Bergen, only to discover the Fokker 100 is just 5 minutes faster then a Saab 2000. But dispite this... I ordered 10 ATR Ac's becouse they can carry more pax and are more fuel efficient.. something that will matter later in the game.

That is accurate to real life. On short segments (under 500 miles) high speed turboprops like the Saab 2000, ATR-500, Q400 are as fast as a jet, in part because they climb nearly as fast, cruise slightly lower (trade off between climbing and speed) and they are fast anyways.

[ekaneti]

Where TAS is important is when youre going to stall

[flyer123]

Where TAS is important is when youre going to stall

the supposed AF crash reason...

[Jona L.]

sorry I mixed TAS and ground speed up in my mind, my fault  sry

I hope my pilots in AWS know how to fly my planes without stalling!!!!!
otherwise I'd have a big problem!!!!!!