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isn't this true of drive on land as well? it's immaterial in real world, but theoretically the wind and/or movement of the earth should effect land speed.

But it won't affect speedometer measurement, which is based on wheel RPM, assuming a known tire diameter.

That's why when you put on wheels/tires that have a slightly different diameter (like going from 32" to 35" tires on an off-roader) you have to recalibrate your speedometer. 

That's why when you put on wheels/tires that have a slightly different diameter (like going from 32" to 35" tires on an off-roader) you have to recalibrate your speedometer.

That makes perfect sense

The short version is this.  It was a beautiful November day and I thought I'd take my son who was about 12 flying and teach him a bit about navigation.  There was an airport in Indiana that had cheap gas, so we flew there, had a coke, filled up, and I took off.  I was climbing out and the engine which had been newly rebuilt seemed to be laboring.  I reached about 2,000 feet above ground level and it was missing notably.  I made a mayday call at that point and was trying to reach Richmond, Indiana airport, and about 3 miles north of that the engine seized, quite dramatically, shook the plane, and quit.  I dead sticked into a soy bean field that was cleared.

Made the Dayton 11 o'clock news, caused quite a ruckus.

The hilarious thing is we eventually got a flat bed tow truck out into the soy bean field and got the Cessna on the bed and tied it down and drove it to the airport with a police escort shutting down the road.  I got the tow bill, I was treasurer for the flying club, and it was $200.  Only in rural Indiana.

The engine had a new cylinder in it, and apparently the rings were seated improperly.  That cylinder melted down, I have photos of it somewhere.  Broke the crank.

You basically land dead stick anyway if you set it up right.  I had barely enough room in that field, which was muddy, and I was skidding while braking a bit, you can brake each wheel independently.  I did not want to ground loop, and didn't.  Made for an interesting log entry in my book.

Shit.

Our flying club got the check and the other board members wanted to buy a different airplane, a 172, which they did, and that plane had so many issues it broke the club.

It had apparently been underwater in Alaska.  I was against buying it, but I had no idea it was in such bad shape.

I didn't think I personally incurred any damages like "pain and suffering".  It was clearly not my fault, but I landed safely with no damage to anything.  I thanked my instructor when I got home for his training.  Ha. 

The good thing about a light plane like that is you can land it almost anywhere there is an opening.  I could land it in a very short distance on pavement.  You have to demonstrate that when you do your flight exam.  I really liked flying the 152, but the 172 was just OK to fly, it wasn't as easily handled in my opinion.  It's larger, four seats instead of two, with a more powerful engine of course, and heavier.  It just seemed bulky to me, Ha.

We sold the plane I landed to a club member for $5000.  He was building his own plane and was going to use the gauges.  He never finished his plane though.

I wanted to put a new engine in the 152, would have been choice.

I never saw it, he had some kind of kit plane, probably not that expensive.  He was the sort who claimed to be very handy, and perhaps he was, but he worked and had no time.  He was in charge of maintenance of our club planes (two of them).

Most of the board members worked for GE Aircraft Engines and were engineers.  The club name was "Jet Flyers" and dated from the 1950s when folks thought we'd have jets to fly around in 10 years.

HA!Truth