“On a clear, crisp day, after a particular strong Southern California winter storm dropped the Jet Stream well south and at a low altitude, I flew my Mooney 231 from Santa Monica, California, to Scottsdale, Arizona. After Landing, I was sitting in the FBO talking about the 100-plus knot tailwind at 19,000 feet when another pilot told me he too had just flown from California in his Mooney 252. He said that he was going so fast that the DME kept going above VNE … so he had to keep the landing gear down most of the way to keep below the “Never Exceed” speed limitation of his plane.”
“I couldn’t close my mouth long enough to ask if he was kidding.”
Short Final
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot experienced an unusually strong 100+ knot tailwind during a flight from Southern California to Arizona, making for a very fast ground speed.
- Another pilot, hearing about the strong tailwind, claimed he had to fly with his landing gear down most of the way to stay below his plane's VNE (Never Exceed speed).
- This second pilot's justification was that his DME (Distance Measuring Equipment), which shows ground speed, was indicating speeds above VNE, revealing a critical misunderstanding of aviation principles and leaving the first pilot speechless.
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