TBM 930 cruise speed?!

[Darkreaver1980]

It says cruise speed for TBM 930 is around 300 knots.

i fly at 100% throttle and i cant seem to go faster than 230 knows in level flight?

Do i do something wrong?

[Dee-Jay]

What altitude? The cruise speed will be at cruise altitude, so if you're low it wont get near that and the TBM can go high.

[Darkreaver1980]

Thats weird, cos the higher i go the slower it shows my speed in knots.

[Mirex Jr.]

Look at the ground speed, or true air speed. Respectively GS and TAS.

[jed]

That's in TAS, not IAS. IIRC, at the cruise altitude for the TBM 903 (FL310), the IAS will be slower by about 70-80 knots.

[Darkreaver1980]

So this means you are faster the higher you fly? Even if the IAS speed on the NAV display shows less?

Does this apply for all planes? if i fly higher, i will arrive sooner on my destination?

[Maki Nishikino]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_airspeed

[Darkreaver1980]

Originally posted by Maki Nishikino:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_airspeed

This does not answer my question at all. Its basicaly just nonsense babbling about how to calculate it.

I simply want to know if i will reach my target sooner when flying higher.

If i travel to the same target at 20.000 feet ALT instead 5000 ALT, will i arrive sooner?

[Maki Nishikino]

Originally posted by Darkreaver1980:

Originally posted by Maki Nishikino:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_airspeed

This does not answer my question at all. Its basicaly just nonsense babbling about how to calculate it.

I simply want to know if i will reach my target sooner when flying higher.

If i travel to the same target at 20.000 feet ALT instead 5000 ALT, will i arrive sooner?

If the winds are in your favor (like a strong tailwind) then yes, your GS will be high.

[paranauevas]

Originally posted by Darkreaver1980:

Originally posted by Maki Nishikino:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_airspeed

This does not answer my question at all. Its basicaly just nonsense babbling about how to calculate it.

I simply want to know if i will reach my target sooner when flying higher.

If i travel to the same target at 20.000 feet ALT instead 5000 ALT, will i arrive sooner?

Of course it depends on the distance between your targets, since it takes longer to climb to 20000ft than to 5000ft. But, generally speaking, at higher altitudes you can fly at faster TAS, as the decrease in air density allows your aircraft to "feel" less pressure. And TAS is what you want to arrive sooner (you also have to take into account the wind to convert TAS to GS, but this is usually out of your control)

[SomeBloke]

Originally posted by Darkreaver1980:

So this means you are faster the higher you fly? Even if the IAS speed on the NAV display shows less?

Does this apply for all planes? if i fly higher, i will arrive sooner on my destination?

Yes, that is exactly what it means.

As you get higher, the 'air pressure' is less, the molecules are not as closely packed together then at sea level. This means the Indicated Air Speed will show less than the actual velocity the aircraft is flying in the 'sky'.

[Maki Nishikino]

Don’t worry about what your IAS is telling you up high, you may be seeing an airspeed that may seem very slow but take a look at your TAS, chances are it will be much higher.

[Amaretto]

IAS (What you see on your PFD) = Wind speed over your Wings
TAS = True air speed without calculating in Wind
GS = Ground speed, TAS + Wind. This is the interesting value for passengers, how fast they'll arrive.

Ps: The link provided by Maki is not nonsense, it's exactly what u need.

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Darkreaver1980:

Thats weird, cos the higher i go the slower it shows my speed in knots.

Are you changing your fuel mixture? The higher you go, the more you need to reduce the fuel mix to maintain power.

[Burning Bridges]

Your confusion is normal, we all had to learn this at some point. Theoretically a plane could move backwards if it has enough headwind, and it is only the IAS that keeps it in the air.

The good thing is that the TBM 930 is very modern and shows TAS as a small number. In many aircraft you can only calculate it with complicated tables, but since we have GPS it is very convenient.

[Burning Bridges]

Originally posted by Darkreaver1980:

Originally posted by Maki Nishikino:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_airspeed

This does not answer my question at all. Its basicaly just nonsense babbling about how to calculate it.

I simply want to know if i will reach my target sooner when flying higher.

If i travel to the same target at 20.000 feet ALT instead 5000 ALT, will i arrive sooner?

No one can answer this question in a simple way. If you fly higher you will normally consume less energy because of the drag but it is complicated, because there is also wind and engine efficiency.

When you arrive is determined by the integral of TAS. And TAS is dependent on wind, speed relative to air which is related to throttle, propeller torque etc .. complicated.

So the best way to operate an airplane is to fly at the recommended optimal height and engine throttle. But you can always arrive faster if you fly wit full throttle.

Airliners have a cost index that you must enter into the FDC and which determines wether the autopilot tries to prioritize speed or fuel consumption. Those are the 2 main antagonists in your question.

PS (a simple, but ambiguous answer is that 20,000 is better than 5,000 because 5,000 is too low. It is not only consuming more fuel but puts serious stress on the airframe, which was a serious problem in the low flying Vulcan bombers. It created material fatigue. )