welcome to the free pilot training channel this is private pilot ground lesson 12. in this episode we're going to be explaining these speeds and the airspeed indicator you don't want to miss out on any part of this lesson since you might see questions relating to this on your check ride or on your written exam just a couple quick notes before we get started with this lesson first is that the letter v in these v speeds stands for velocity it's not just some made up letter to confuse you second is that when we discuss v-speeds we're specifically talking about indicated airspeed this is the airspeed that your airspeed indicator shows that you're going just be aware there are other types of airspeed let's take a really quick look at those we'll discuss exactly how the airspeed indicator works in a future lesson but just know that the indicated airspeed you're seeing may not be the actual airspeed that you're traveling at different air speeds and flap configurations there can be some installation and instrument error manufacturers account for this by putting a chart in the poh this adjusted airspeed is called calibrated airspeed true air speed is calibrated airspeed that's adjusted for altitude and temperature at colder temperatures and higher altitudes there's less pressure this affects our airspeed indicator because it uses pressure to tell us how fast we're going the most accurate way to get your true airspeed is to use a flight computer but a quick way is to add two percent to your calibrated airspeed for every thousand feet of altitude the next one is ground speed this is simply how fast your airplane is flying over the ground for example if you have a headwind you're traveling over the ground slower than your airspeed indicator tells you that you are all right enough of that let's go back to talking about v-speeds these are simply indicated air speeds you need to know to operate your airplane safely first let's look at two air speeds we might want to climb at these are v x and v y now we always want to climb away from the ground with max power but if we pitch for vx this gives us the best angle of clock that means we get the most altitude and the shortest amount of distance this is the airspeed we want to pitch for any time we're trying to climb over an obstacle i remember this by thinking v x i'm dead if i hit that tree next is v y this is the best rate of climb v y gives you the most altitude in the shortest amount of time unless you need to clear an obstacle we typically climb out at vy i'm sorry i don't have a memory aid for this one if you do post it in the comments below so you can help someone else out now let's discuss maneuvering speed this is va talked about maneuvering speed a little bit in our lesson on load factor maneuvering speed is the fastest airspeed you can fly without causing structural damage if you make a sudden input to one of the control surfaces or you run into turbulence at maneuvering speed and below if you put too much of a load on the airplane you will stall before structural damage can happen just remember above va or maneuvering speed if you put too much of a load or gs on the airplane you can cause structural damage or structural failure and an airplane without wings can be kind of tricky to fly let's take a look at our b speeds on the airspeed indicator you'll find that most of your speed limitations are actually color coded first i want to point out something that's not a v speed zero airspeed marker this may seem kind of obvious but it should read zero we're not moving i usually check this during the run up then on the takeoff roll i check it again to make sure it's moving away from zero that's how we check to make sure it works properly now let's take a look at the wide arc the wide arc is our flap operating speed at the bottom of the white arc we have power off stall speed this is the stall speed in the landing configuration meaning that the gear and flaps are extended this v-speed is vs0 you can remember this by stall with stuff out at the upper limit of the wide arc we have the maximum speed with the flaps extended on this particular airplane that air speed is 105 knots this v-speed is vfe for flaps extended if you fly above this airspeed with the flaps extended you could damage the flaps now let's take a look at the green arc which is our normal operating range on the bottom or the lower limit of the green arc we have stall speed with the gear and flaps retracted this v-speed is vs1 you can remember this by stall with stuff in on the upper limit of the green arc we have v-n-o this is our maximum structural crew speed this is the fastest we want to fly in smooth air for this one remember normally operate at this speed now let's take a look at the yellow arc also known as the caution ring only fly in this range in smooth air then proceed with caution the lower limit of the yellow arc is also vno remember this is our normal operating speed and more importantly remember that we only fly in the yellow arc in smooth air on the upper limit of the yellow arc we have this little red line line indicates v in e which means never exceed operating above vne even in smooth air can result in structural damage or even structural failure of your airplane look at a couple more that have to do with retractable landing gear since as a private pilot you could get an endorsement to fly an airplane with retractable gear first is vlo this is the maximum speed for actually extending or retracting the gear remember this one by remembering landing gear lowered next is vle this is the maximum speed you can fly around after you have lowered the gear remember landing gear extended by the way don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell notification so you don't miss out on the next lesson we'll see you next time