Is ground speed the same as airspeed?

Question

Is it safe to say they are the same speed indication?

Answer 1

No.

Only in the case of zero wind speed.

Airspeed is the speed of the aircraft relative to the surrounding air and ground speed the speed of the aircraft relative to the ground.

In the case of a light plane such as a piper cub flying into a strong headwind, the aircraft could actually travel backwards relative to the ground and yet  still be flying  since it is travelling forwards relative to the air. With a strong tailwind the craft may be travelling quite fast relative to the ground yet not have enough airspeed to fly.

Aerodynamically, the plane doesn't really care where the ground is except on landing and take-off.

Answer 2

Ground speed - The rate of movement of an object on the ground.

Air Speed - The combination of the rate of movement and head wind velocity of an object.

Answer 3

No, Air speed is the airplane's speed RELATIVE  to the air its moving through. Groundspeed is airplane's TRUE  speed as its passing over the ground. Both are important cos one can tell if an airplane is flying in a tailwind or headwind. Airspeed also tells you when you are flying at safe speeds; near or far from stall speed, maximum speed, etc.

Answer 4

I always thought it was, but when I read the other answers I found out it isnt.

Answer 5

airspeed is faster but on top gear they proved twice ground speed was better than airspeed

Answer 6

No.  

  Alitalia  flight, Newark to Milan.

  Ground speed, 545 knots , ,tail wind 150 knots, airspeed, 695 knots.

Ground speed does not take into consideration any winds.

  Now, same aircraft, Rome to Newark.

Ground speed, 550 knots, headwind,50 knots, airspeed 500 knots.

Answer 7

Airspeed is the instrument readout of relative velocity. Groundspeed is the vehicle's actual displacement with respect to any arbitrary point on the ground. The only situation in which they both become the same is when there is zero wind conditions and the airspeed measuring device is properly calibrated for density and instrumentation errors.

Answer 8

NO

Answer 9

Groundspeed is not the same as airspeed because...

Groundspeed is the speed of how fast the plane is moving if it was on the ground.

Airspeed is the speed of a plane relative to air. It's different from groundspeed.

Try this:

Take a walk. How fast you travel from one point to another is your groundspeed. Let's say it's windy, and you are travelling in the direction of where the wind is blowing. That is your airspeed, and as you would find out in a closed area like your home, airspeed is variable.

Answer 10

They are only the same if there is no wind.

Answer 11

There is no difference of speeds in Airspeed and Groundspeed.

For example, In theory, if a car and an aircraft travel at 300mph and travel the exact same path they will get to their destination at the exact same time. [In practice the distance that the plane ascends and descends must be taken into count]

But there is a difference between the way the speed of an aircraft is calculated compared to the speed of the car.

Airspeed on the speedometers of Aircraft  are measured by calculating the speed of air using sensors that sense the air and thats why they're sometimes called "Indicated Airspeed" because in situations where there are high levels of wind, its accuracy is reduced.

***You can find the accurate speed using something like a GPS navigator, which calculates speed externally related to the satellite and very accurately but the only problem is that the speed updates will be delayed due to the it takes for the GPS receiver to communicate with the satellite each time and thats why the first method is preffered.

Answer 12

Airspeed is the speed at which the airplane is moving through the air.

Ground speed is the speed of the airplane across the ground below.

If the wind is blowing from the west at 20 mph and an airplane is flying toward the west at 130 mph, its ground speed is 110 mph.  If the airplane then turns around and flies eastward in the same wind, the ground speed will be 150 mph.

Answer 13

Indicated, calibrated, equivalent, and true are kinds of airspeed.  

Groundspeed is the speed across the ground.

Answer 14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indicated_a...

Have a quick read, easier than me trying to explain!  :-P