Air Speed

[Fubar512 1,350]

A question that often arises, is: "Why is the airspeed of the (you fill in the blank) so low in the game? My research shows that it should achieve 1,289 MPH at 35,000 feet, and yet, the model in Strike Fighters only achieves 589 knots."

 

Well, first off, there are several factors at play here. The mini-HUD on the lower left side of your screen displays indicated air speed (IAS), as opposed to true air speed (TAS). IAS will usually be lower, and will read progressively lower as you gain altitude, while in reality, your true airspeed maybe as much as 2X-3X higher!

 

The reason (which I'll simplify here) is that IAS is read off a mechanical gage, that uses ram-air pressure pushing against a diaphragm located at the back of a pitot tube. The higher you fly, the thinner the air is, consequently, there are fewer air molecules per unit of measure of volume (cubic foot, cubic meter, etc.) available to "push" against the aforementioned diaphragm, resulting in a lower indicated airspeed.

 

The conversion from knots to MPH is far simpler, as it remains constant: 1 knot equals 1.15 MPH.

 

The site below explains this in more detail, and has a neat calculator to help you determine your true airspeed.

 

http://www.csgnetwork.com/tasinfocalc.html