A Touch Too Fast

[Richard in Smithville]

This guys needs to trade in his wheels for wings!

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/541628

It happened a few miles just outside of my town. Not surprised. It seems most people only have two stops on their gas pedal with no in between.

[pelligrini]

Hehe, sure does suck when you get caught.

I used to drive like an idiot around that age too. I once passed a cop traveling the opposite direction doing about 110mph. His lights came on, but I didn't stick around. The speedo on my '69 GTO only went to 120mph. By my tach I figured I topped out at 146mph. The friend I was having fun with topped out a lot earlier on his little bike.

[Mr__Bill]

A friend used to fly a small plane and act as a spotter for the Minn. Highway Patrol. You know, speed checked by airplane! He said once that he spotted a speeder and gave chase with the plane to route patrol cars to the scene, only thing was, the car could go faster than his airplane!


Bill, now on the Sunny Oregon Coast

[Uncle Cracker]

only thing was, the car could go faster than his airplane!

...but not faster than his radio, methinks.

[jackellis]

only thing was, the car could go faster than his airplane!

An airplane's ground speed increases with increasing altitude as the air gets less dense (airspeed remains pretty constant). At 3,000 feet, I can do about 140 knots or just over 160 MPH. Faster than most cars, though perhaps not as fast as some, like the Tesla. At 18,000 feet, I can do closer to 200 MPH, which is better than any car unless it's on a track, but at that point the cars are tiny and a bit hard to spot.

Of course, if I had a tail wind...

[JSUPreston]

I got confused pretty quickly...I don't do Canadian units of measurement.