Highest Observed Groundspeed/Wind Speed
 

I'm just curious as to what kind of groundspeeds and wind speeds aloft, operators have seen...

I've seen 575kts in a 735.

On another day, I've seen a wind of 174kts at FL290. Luckily all crosswind.

Any others care to contribute?

:ok:

nice link
 

Speedrecords

greetz, PSEU

My 'Personal Best" is 660 Kt in a B727 against a TAS of 480 Kt, a wind component of +180 Kt. Figured that it was the equivalent of M 1.1 in still air, and always pondered whether people on the ground could hear us coming or not.

My 'Personal Worst" is 320 Kt in a B777 against a TAS of 500 Kt, a wind component of -180 Kt. Over Japan of course, where else?

Get 621GS over the North Atlantic in 1999.
I didn't know that there was a record book for that.

Next time I will take a foto of that on Nav Display :)

Bons vents ( Wish to all happy tail wind)

A+

Managed 672 groundspeed in a 767 off Newfoundland about three years ago. Still got overhauled by 744's though!

posted by OldSmokey well, you would not have dropped a boom because it is AIRSPEED that counts not groundspeed.

Bob,

Pretty sure Old Smokey knows that! My bet is that he was being "ironic". Not sure what would have been still attached if he had been at Mach 1.1 in a 727......

Ground speeds of over 600kts are a fairly common occurrence in jetstream conditions during certain times of the year.
Seeing a groundspeed difference on the radar of 300 kts between opposite direction traffic who are both pedalling at .84 is a good demonstration of TAS vs GS to new ATC trainees.
I'll try and get a pic of the radar screen next time it happens.

the 'ole TriStar was faster...
 

...at least on this particular day.

FUK-NRT, L15, IMN .860, FL410, ground speed 728 knots.

Just wizzing right along;)

Even the ATC folks mentioned it was the fastest they had seen in a long time.

The co-pilot thought he should receive an astronaut badge...:uhoh:

705 Kt GS with 190 kt wind is the fastest I've documented in the 744. I've seen 220 kt wind on occasion, though...

1992, Washington to LHR in a lightly loaded United (I think) 747 Classic and over the Atlantic the captain announced that for anyone interested we were in a jetstream with a ground speed of 710 knots. He added this was the fastest he's ever travelled.

Best wind speed was 208 knots at 20,000 feet in a B757.

East of Newcastle in the descent one wet and windy night.

Fastest ground speed for me was also in a 72. 718 kts. one day from KBFI to KOKC, 2+03hrs liftoff to touchdown. On the decsent passing through FL 240 wind was still well over 150kts on the tail.

AND it was on a friday night with the weekend off!:)

606 kts GS on a 737 NG.
The interesting thing,when descending ,at about FL300,the wind speed went from 100kt aprox to about 25kt in less than 1000'. The result,sudden heavy turbulance,about 2.3g on FDR.
Not funny.

499 kt GS. :ugh:






So what you say? :confused:




It was a 146-300 (LF507) climbing out of Perth with a BRW of > 42 tonne!! :}

Back in 1991 I was the FO on a flight from LAX-AMS. We were presented with a flight plan that had an average tailwind component of 105 knots. On one section of our flight (around the US-Canadian border) I observed a ground speed of 722 knots. Our TAS was around 500 knots. The entire wind vector was on our tail at that time. The speed in excess of 700 knots lasted about 20 minutes. Since that time I have seen speeds in the high 600’s regularly, but never did I see 700 again. Our total flight time for the sector was 8 hours and 52 minutes. I believe it still stands as the fastest LAX-AMS flight for our company. Shows that it made an impact, being able to recall it with this amount of detail 13 years later.
Regards O.

Highest (737-500) 620 kts EDI - LGW Chock-to-chock time 1hr exactly.
Lowest: 88kts (737-???) at MRS. F40, 35kts headwind.

Theoretical Best
 

I know of a military flight (who log airborne to landing rather than chock to chock) flight from Cardiff (CWL) to St Athan, total distance about three miles. Logged to the nearest 5 min that was nil time. So, infinate speed!:D

Unless you are Shuttle pilot I guess this one takes the prize.

"In his book 'Sled Driver', SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:

I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as
Walt (his back-seater) and I were screaming across Southern California,
13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other
aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really
control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a
Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed.

'90 knots' Center replied.

Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same.

'120 knots' Center answered.

We weren't the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day. Almost
instantly an F/A 18 smugly transmitted:

'Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests groundspeed readout'.

There was a slight pause, then the response:

'525 knots on the ground, Dusty'.

Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this
was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my
back-seater. It was at that precise moment I realised Walt and I had become
a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison.

'Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?'

There was a longer than normal pause:

'Aspen, I show 1742 knots'.

No further enquiries were heard on that frequency."

The slowest cruise groundspeed I've ever seen in a 737 was on a PMI-LPL trip last winter - FL330, GS 289!! I think we had about 160kt of wind and were using a crappy Easyjet cost index (18 I think).

3 hours and 15 mins for the trip. I thought we were going backwards.

Seen on my radar screen a few getting stuck in the headwinds, groundspeeds around 280-320kts for B737/A320's. The best one for this though is a Aurigny Trislander FL40 getting 42kts at best, and having to return to departure point as a result. Funny watching them come the other way at 160kts though. The best 'normal' jet g/s has to be a FedEx MD11 getting 725kts FL360, and a Tornado FL200 doing 615kts!!! Still, I miss the old bird on the New York flights, watching the speed increase until the question marks (???) appear as 1000kts is reached, only got 3 digit readouts :{

Saw 700+kts for much of the cruise in a B742 (M0.85) from BOS to LHR - 4 hours 45 flight time. And it was very smooth, too!

666 in a 757 over Canada. Had around 645 at M.80 but sped up to an easier number to boast about.

PER-MEL early 80s. As I recall about 230kts tailwind component in the jetstream for most of the flight. And I still have a pix somewhere of a QF 74 overtaking us a couple of thousand feet above .. at the end of the sector (which was a freight leg) we did a run over the intersection to finish the timing. Can't (won't) recall the actual height .. but we were told after landing that it looked good from the ground.

Max Angle - that is brilliant! lol

Got a 200 Kt groundspeed once :eek: .......that was in a super puma though

400 in a B200 (TAS 250ish).

Not quite record breaking, but for something slightly different we had a westerly that was up to about 80 or 90 kts at 3000' last year. Very funny doing the DVR departure out of LGW - GS over 350kts before we were abeam the airfield downwind !

uncomfortable wind
 

FL250 just south of GLA. Wind direction/speed readout 340/238kts! 42 deg drift. Commenced a descent, by the time descended through FL180 windspeed had dropped below 100kts.
only real time ive suffered with wind.

Lynx... pipped you by 4 - had 404 kts in an old B200C.

700 KTS groundspeed KCLE-EGKK B757!

204 Kts ground speed in a Gazelle AH1..believe me that's fast!
:ok:

Best: 495kts.....


.....in a C130-K! (TAS 295kts) Is that some kind of percentage record??

.....at only 16 000' over Saudi. Needless to say, we flew the return leg much lower! Also seen 31deg drift @ FL200, same part of the world.

Worst: minus 10 kts @ 5000' - in a Bulldog. Wind on the nose at 70kts, IAS 60kts, just because I could!

Anyone (fixed-wing, please!!) done better (worse)?

16B

High speeds like this all very well but how much of this was in smooth conditions. Bumpy rides I have often associated with such winds but why sometimes do you get such a strong blast but smooth ride? Would appreciate clarification on why this might be.

16-blades - as I had occasion to mention on Rotorheads only recently, I managed -35kts in a JP. Got it into the lower reaches of a jetstream and reduced to 85ktsIAS. Informed by Radar Unit that they had me going 35kts backwards.

Keithl,

Nice work fella!

16B

Remember one particulary windy day at EGJJ, the skipper of a Trislander being somewhat taken aback when asked to 'reduce speed' whilst flying downwind (must be a first!)
I believe his comment whilst on finals, with a groundspeed of 14kt, was that bicycles were overtaking him.

Just add strings & you have a big yellow kite! :D

600 kts
 

ERJ-145 with a 160Kts tailwind

146kts gs in an R-22 doing an ILS approach into KTIX. What category would that put me in again??

146kts g/s with a 311kt tailwind!

Although the GPS was a little confused when referenced to true and within 100nm of a magnetic pole....when we turned over from mag to true the wind vector flicked 180deg and strengthened the closer we got!