Hi,

I was cruising over Germany in the Aerosoft Airbus a320, and I noticed that the autothrottle had the speed at 290 KTS. I searched online, and found out that the Airbus a320's real cruising speed (at the same altitute I was flying at) was 480 KTS. Is there a reason for the Aerosoft a320 to have such a low cruise speed? thanks.

480kts is being refered to as Ground Speed or True Air Speed

290 is the indicated airspeed (IAS) found on the speedtape on the primary flight display, true airspeed (TAS) which is found on the upper left of the nav display is used for cruise speed/flightplanning. Mach number may also be used as cruise speed and for the A320 is normally around M0.78.

Hi,

I was cruising over Germany in the Aerosoft Airbus a320, and I noticed that the autothrottle had the speed at 290 KTS. I searched online, and found out that the Airbus a320's real cruising speed (at the same altitute I was flying at) was 480 KTS. Is there a reason for the Aerosoft a320 to have such a low cruise speed? thanks.

Hi,

Where did you notice 290KTS? If you see it on PFD (Primary Flight Display) then it shows the indicated airspeed(IAS), which is unreliable at high altitude. The 480KTS you searched might be the ground speed (GS) or true air speed (TAS), I believed the later one. At high altitude airliners measure Mach for speed.

You can search difference between IAS, GS, TAS, Mach to make it clearer.

Cheers.

Hoang Le

Hi,

Where did you notice 290KTS? If you see it on PFD (Primary Flight Display) then it shows the indicated airspeed(IAS), which is unreliable at high altitude. The 480KTS you searched might be the ground speed (GS) or true air speed (TAS), I believed the later one. At high altitude airliners measure Mach for speed.

You can search difference between IAS, GS, TAS, Mach to make it clearer.

Cheers.

Hoang Le

Thanks! The Mach speed in the aerosoft Airbus was showing .733, so I guess it is the correct cruising speed.

Thanks again