fastest ground speed in a 172?

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jspilot

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Hi All. I went on a great short little XC today. The tailwind coming back was insane! Nearly 45 knots. So I was wondering what the fastest ground speed you all have gotten up to in a 172? I got my best today-- 144.

Now no cheating here! This was taken during level flight so don't go posting pictures of a crazy dive where you gain a lot of speed. Here's a picture to prove it actually happened!
 

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Nice one, GlennAB1!

Mine is a mind-blurring 154kts, thanks to a tailwind. Don't recall a descent at that point. Impressed the heck out of the friend I was taking flying, but I did confess this is unusual for a Cessna 172.

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Big day, too. Here I am turning 127,000 miles on the car - at about the same speed as a Cessna 172 into a headwind!
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Fastest I ever got was 185 knots almost red lined with a 45 knot tail wind. R model with a 180hp conversion
 
not a 172, but I got 212 in straight and level several years ago. I was flying east to NC at 7000ft. I typically get 152ish TAS, so I figure I had a 60 knot tailwind. Unfortunately, I ran into a 40 knot headwind the next day.
 
Also not a 172, but I got the Beech 18 up to 220 kts ground speed last weekend crossing the Appalachians, that was 70 kts on the tail at 9000'!
 
In a v-tail bonanza I got 250 knots ground speed at maneuvering speed with my head hitting the ceiling. Near white sands middle range at 13k, right in front of a cold front. It was scary and I hope that never happens again.
 
I once, climbed into what felt like flight levels because I got 50kt tailwind and exceeded 165kts GS. (about 115KTAS + 50TW) That was at 9,500'. That was the day I exceeded my highest GS achieved in a ground vehicle.

FWIW, "fastest" and "speed" cannot be used together (it makes me wanna crawl up walls) because "fast" already implies speed. So you may use "high speed" or "low speed" if you care to use your mother language properly. :p
 
TheGolfPilot said:
In a v-tail bonanza I got 250 knots ground speed at maneuvering speed with my head hitting the ceiling. Near white sands middle range at 13k, right in front of a cold front. It was scary and I hope that never happens again.
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That's crazy! Bet it felt good to be on the ground after that. :eek:
My dad used to work out at White Sands on the Minuteman missile program. When we drove cross-country from SoCal to Texas, he'd stop there and let me and my sister play on the sand dunes.
 
BigBadLou said:
FWIW, "fastest" and "speed" cannot be used together (it makes me wanna crawl up walls) because "fast" already implies speed. So you may use "high speed" or "low speed" if you care to use your mother language properly. :p
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As already mentioned, my fastest goodest speed was 212. :D
 
I've done like 150 in a 172. Today was 220 in an SR22. In the CRJ I've done 535ish.
 
BigBadLou said:
LOL, you call that GS? If I find the picture of my speedometer burried, I will post it. At 3400rpm in fifth gear, I exceed the indication range of the speedometer. ;)
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Uh, no, actually, it was about the mileage.

But, I'd enjoy seeing your buried speedo needle pic. What vehicle buries the speedo at 3400 rpm?
 
Me too about 150 with a 45kt tailwind, 9,500 from Ohio to Maine. Smooth ride, but OAT was at 0 degrees F. We were shivering pretty hard despite full on winter gear.
 
I was in my Husky with Amphibs and there is a weather phenomenon where the desert gets hot and blows hard east to west wind. This was up by Mt St Helens Washington. I think it was an 80 mph tailwind, briefly. I saw 175 knots groundspeed in my GPS as I blew by Mt St Helens in like 1 minute I was through the funnel. Not turbulent at all. Very amazing...
 
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BigBadLou said:
I once, climbed into what felt like flight levels because I got 50kt tailwind and exceeded 165kts GS. (about 115KTAS + 50TW) That was at 9,500'. That was the day I exceeded my highest GS achieved in a ground vehicle.

FWIW, "fastest" and "speed" cannot be used together (it makes me wanna crawl up walls) because "fast" already implies speed. So you may use "high speed" or "low speed" if you care to use your mother language properly. :p
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Fastest cant imply time? My fastest mile was 5min...
 
G-Man said:
Uh, no, actually, it was about the mileage.

But, I'd enjoy seeing your buried speedo needle pic. What vehicle buries the speedo at 3400 rpm?
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Yeah, I know it was about the mileage but I took the liberty of giving you flak for the speed. :p

Burying the speedometer at 3400rpm is no problem for a V8. (I am talking real cars here, not the 4-banger rice-cannon toys for kids)
I turn 2000 on the highway at 80-ish mph. 110mph (my speedometer top marking - rather sad, actually) can be achieved with extra 40% of RPM which is still below 3000 :) )
That's what I love about my V8, I built it for economy and a LOT of torque down low. I normally upshift below 2000. The only time the engine sees more than that is when I am having fun. :)
Just ask Matt here. He's ridden with me. He was questioning why drive in 4th gear at 1200rpm through his neighborhood. I said "because I easily can".

Okay, back to regular programming now.
 
BigBadLou said:
FWIW, "fastest" and "speed" cannot be used together (it makes me wanna crawl up walls) because "fast" already implies speed. So you may use "high speed" or "low speed" if you care to use your mother language properly. :p
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Not really. Speed is just the rate of motion. Could be super-slow, slow, fast, or super-fast.
 
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