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Understanding Air Speeds  
For CPL & ATPL 

 
 
Should’s * -  
Basic Aerodynamics 
Forces & Moments 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

* You should have completed these short courses to understand this module 
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Air speeds 
Speed means how fast are you travelling. Airspeed implies how fast are you travelling through 
the medium of Air. As you would have seen from the earlier video the measurement of airspeed 
is by a pitot tube which is an indirect measurement. This is so because we are measuring the air 
pressure to arrive at the airspeed. This is unlike the GPS provided speed in your car which 
calculates the distance travelled and divides it by the time which is a direct measurement.  
This indirect measurement has two problems associated with it, which gives rise to different 
airspeeds.  
Let’s relook at the equation that was used for measurement of speed 

Since there is no method to measure dynamic pressure directly we measure static pressure of 
the free stream air and subtract it from the static pressure rise when the flow is brought to halt. 
What we have really done is – we have brought the air to stagnation and then compared the 
pressure rise with that of the free flowing air. The difference gives us the speed. The faster you 
travel the higher will be the pressure rise.  
How you indicate is by using a diaphragm with a needle connected to it. The faster you travel the 
more the diaphragm is pushed and the needle indicates a higher speed.  
 
Indicated Air Speed
For a simple instrument to measure the speed this arrangement has to be calibrated for a value 
of density. That value is set at 1.225 or sea level density at ISA temperature and the speed so 
indicated is called the Indicated Air Speed. This gives us a measure of the dynamic pressure and 
will tell us the true speed at which we are travelling through the air only when the ambient 
density is equal to 1.225 or at sea level. But this is sufficient for aerodynamic point of take off, 

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landing, stall etc because aerodynamics is about the dynamic pressure over the wings and 
control surfaces and not really about how fast you are travelling.  
As we saw in module on aerodynamics / Forces & moments the lift generated by the wing and 
the control surfaces to create moments is a function of the dynamic pressure and not speed. So, 
the indicated airspeed measured by the method explained above and in the video lecture is 
used for Flying the aeroplane and always displayed to the pilot. 

PILOTS USE IAS or INDICATED AIR SPEED for FLYING THE AEROPLANE. This is not Real 
Speed but Pressure 

True Air Speed 

At higher altitudes as the density falls you have to travel faster to get the same value of dynamic 
pressure or IAS on your instrument. But this is the correct speed at which you are travelling 
through the air and is called the True Air Speed. This speed is important for navigation point of 
view. So, irrespective of the Altitude, Indicated Air Speed means the same dynamic pressure but 
different Air Speed.  
 
TRUE AIR SPEED or TAS is USED FOR NAVIGATING THE AEROPLANE. This is Real Speed 
 
 
Equivalent Air Speed 
This was the first problem. The second problem is that at higher speeds when we are bringing 
the air to stagnation, density of the air changes by compression. Therefore, the pressure rise is 
slightly more than what should be there. Therefore, the indicated dynamic pressure or V on the 
ASI is slightly more than actual dynamic pressure. The correct dynamic pressure is called the 
Equivalent Air Speed or EAS. Since this corresponds to the correct dynamic pressure this is 
always used for Aerodynamic purposes. But the errors are insignificant at critical speeds such as 
take off & landing and therefore not applied in practical usage. This correction has to be applied 
when computing true airspeed from IAS/CAS at speeds >300 kts.  
 
EQUIVALENT AIR SPEED or EAS is NOT USED BY PILOTS 

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Calibrated Air Speed 

Due to the location of Pitot Tube, there are certain errors that come in the measurement. These 
errors are removed by applying corrections to the Indicated Air Speed & called as Calibrated Air 
Speed. As an analogy, you can say that it IAS is like the Compass heading & CAS is like the 
Magnetic Heading in compass system. We will study more on this in Instruments 
 
CALIBRATED AIR SPEED is a MORE ACCURATE INDICATED AIR SPEED 

Ground Speed 
We studied True Air Speed which is the Speed at which the Aeroplane is travelling through the 
air. But this air is itself moving with respect to the ground called the wind. So, to an observer on 
the ground the aeroplane will be seen as moving at a speed which is vector sum of TAS and 
Wind Velocity. This is the speed at which you are physically covering distance on ground. As an 
analogy, consider you are running inside a moving train at 10 kmph opposite to the direction of 
motion of the train. The speed with which you are moving on the floor of the train is TAS which is 
10kmph. If the train is running at 60 kmph, for a static observer outside the train your speed will 
be vector sum of Train speed and your speed, where Train Speed is akin to Wind Velocity & Your 
Running Pace is akin to TAS. So he will see you moving at 50 kmph only.  
 
GROUND SPEED is DERIVED from VECTOR SUM of WIND VELOCITY & TAS and is USED in 
NAVIGATION.   

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How do we calculate these Speeds?

 
 
 
 

Calculating True Air Speed.  

 
You need to know the density for True Air Speed Calculation. Although it can be done using 
formulas, it is easiest to use a basic flight computer to solve problems related to TAS 
computation. There are three 'windows' in the inner scale. Select the window marked 'FOR TRUE 
AIRSPEED & DENSITY ALTITUDE’' and opposite zero ‘PRESS ALT 0‘, ie. sea level, set a temperature 
of +15°C.This scale is for converting RAS (Rectified Air Speed) to TAS. You will notice that the 
inner and the outer slide scales now coincide, which is what you would expect because the ASI is 
calibrated to read correctly at +l5°C at mean sea level, and the computer is showing you that the 
RAS (inner scale) is the same as the TAS (outer scale). 

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Try this : Increase the temperature at sea level and you will find that the TAS for the same IAS 
will increase, which is what we discussed earlier. This can be used to calculate IAS from TAS also, 
but that’s a completely theoretical question because you never calculate IAS, you ​measure IAS​ & 
calculate TAS   
Download Flight Computer App on iOS or Play Store. You will need a physical Flight Computer 
for Your Exams.  
 

Mach No. 
 
Mach No. is the ratio of True Air Speed to the Local Speed of sound. That is  
TAS / LSS  
LSS = 39√T, where LSS is in Knots & T is Temperature in Kelvin (Kelvin = ℃ + 273) 
Mach No. > 1 means your are travelling more than the speed of sound also called as supersonic 
speed.  

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Why do we need Mach No​. ?  

Mach No is required for two reasons.  
(a) There are aerodynamic limits to Mach No. for reasons of structure and stability. Pilots 
need to fly the aeroplane within the limits of Mach No. 
(b) The measurement of Mach No. does not have the problem of density/compressibility 
error. If i were to reverse calculate TAS from the above formula i will get a more accurate 
result than the flight computer method when the Speeds are higher. (There is a 
correction to be applied to the TAS when its more than 300 kts which comes in CRP5 
computer & we will see it later). But for this to be used you need a Mach Meter in the 
aeroplane which most small aeroplanes do not have. We will learn more about it during 
the course on instruments.  
Solving Questions  
If the temperature & Mach No is given, you can either use a scientific calculator or use the flight 
computer to calculate the TAS. You can use it vice versa also. I.e. if TAS & M.No are given you can 
find temperature.  
 

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