My usual Sunday am routine, checking flights from around the world. One caught my eye, BAW268 - zooming across the US with peak speeds of **711 **MPH ? Is that right ? Perhaps due to a tail wind ? I would think the aircraft would not like such a sustained speed. 
You said it, tailwind.
711MPH= 618KTS
Its feasible
We saw 601 Kt. Ground speed for a few minutes last month.
Now *thatās *hauling ass.
My PR is 598. Havent broken the 600kts barrier yet. I do have an interview for a G200 gig this week so maybe next winter I can set a new PR
Good luck with the interview J.
good luck, even a āpretendagulfstreamā might see 600 once in a while!
Thank you for the replies, Iām amazed how fast a big -400 can move. All that metal and āstuffā clipping along so fastā¦
Thanks man- I got the job, Class starts on Thursday!
the book says .85!?!
Wind can drastically affect ground speed for sure, especially with winds reaching above 150KT in the higher flight levels through the jet stream these days. On a related topic, itās important to note that 1.0 Mach in terms of airspeed decreases as altitude increases. Most importantly, ground speed != and !~ indicated airspeed or true air speed. For example, your aircraft might have been flying 280 knots indicated at .86 Mach while doing 711 mph ground speed.
Unfortunately, those exceptionally high jet stream winds contributed to the disastrous tornado outbreak across the Midwest and Southeast. The Weather Channel people explained it really well, showing how the speeds (welll over 150 mph) caused intense lateral and vertical wind shear. At least the areas were well-warned. I wonder how much carnage the same weather system might have caused just 20 or 30 years ago.
BTW, many years ago I was on a TWA 747-100 that landed in London an hour early, despite the fact that we left ORD an hour after the scheduled departure time. (Yes, it was that long ago ā¦ TWA had a nonstop 747 ORD-LHR flight. Flight #714, as I recall. Boy I miss that airline!) As we approached Heathrow, the pilot told us our ground speed had been well over 200 mph at times. There were a couple of mid-flight bumps, but nothing unusual. The downside was that we had to wait for our gate to free up.
I fly the ORD-SYR route often and in a CRJ-700, in the winter months, it is common to see ground speeds of over 700 MPH on a handheld GPS. My personal record is 714.
Joe
First post guys. Love this forum with a rich mixture (haha) of perspectives. Thought this would be more appropriate on the GA charter, fractional site but you pick fruit where you find it. On the topic of ground speeds and airspeeds ( no I have never been in an SR71) the disparity between true and indicated in a jet at 410 is amazing. For you jet guys this is old news but for the non-flight level set or back seaters a Learjet at FL 410 indicating .80 mach is also indicating 235 Knts and truing 440 on an ISA day. Add 200 knots of wind on the tail and the DME reads 640. I cut my teeth shepherding boxes around in 20 series Learjets and seeing that groundspeed (a couple of times) is a two edged sword. It means you get to come home at 450 (pre RVSM) indicating 210 with 160 on the nose and a fuel stop in MEM or LIT. Those Learjet days are gone but they sure were fun.