In looking at a cargo flight from Phoenix to Toledo tonight I see a top speed of over 700 MPH. Is this possible even with a huge tailwind?
Yes. 700 mph = 608 kts. Figure a cruise speed of 420 to 460 kts and a decent tailwind and there ya go.
Is it an African or European 727?
Why is an African peein’ on a 727? 
Well, you have to know these things when you’re a king, you know.
The flight in question: CCI711 tracklog…
scroll down to just before the descent and there it is, a couple minutes of 720 mph/626 kts groundspeed. Flight was planned for 466 kts/Mach .80, and judging by the weather lately, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 160 kt tailwind at FL330.
I wonder if the crew begged the center controller to let them stay up there longer lol…
Wouldn’t the top speed of the 727, like any aircraft, be what the manual says is the Vne (velocity never exceed) speed is? In other words, regardless of ground speed the aircraft’s maximum speed is XXX even if it is going XXX+160 over the ground.
Nope. Vne is the fastest legal or certified speed. Max speed is dependent on pilot stupidity or terminal velocity when the airplane becomes a lawn dart.
I just gotta a visual of Damirosses’ “one of the sexiest planes built” becoming a lawn dart.