Can anyone help me (non pilot, sorry) explain why the plane's (ground)speed didn't increase even though it was descending with almost 4000 fpm?
LAS jayhawk:
If you are flying level you fly 4 miles to cover 4 miles of ground. In climb or descent you have to fly more than 4 miles to cover 4 miles of ground.
Lasjayhawk. If you don't fly, please don't post.
In answer to the previous, once you are on an IAS descent (say from 30,000'), the TAS reduces with altitude.
At a steady 295 kt IAS, the TAS reduces from 460 kts at 30,000' down to 340 kts at 10,000'.
This reduction is (ground) speed is normal, and sort of indicates that the aircraft was following a normal Mach-then-IAS descent profile.
IAS .... indicated air speed
TAS ... true air speed (sort of a ground speed).