Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Cruise speed vs. stall speed

Asked by: 5383 views Aerodynamics, General Aviation, Private Pilot

I am having some trouble trying to find clarity on what exactly is the difference between stall speed and just speed.

Several aerodynamic articles say that stall speed is the speed at which an airfoil is stalled but other books say that is the speed at which you will almost stall.

Thus, the real question is what exactly is "higher stall speed" VS. "lower stall speed"?

What is high stall speed in relation with the actual speed of the aircraft?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. RickS on Jul 17, 2017

    A wing can stall in any attitude at any speed. But to answer your question, I think this is what you are looking for…. stall speed numbers in your airplanes performance specs refer to wings level flight. As you slow, the wing produces less lift until the point that it cannot produce enough lift to support the airplane, and it stalls. Vso is the same thing, but includes the flaps and gear being deployed in the landing configuration.
    Being in a steep bank increases stall speed due to the increased G load. If your airplane weigs 2000 lbs, and you’re in a bank and at 1.5 G, the wings need to support 3000 lbs to maintain altitude. Obviously, the wing will stop producing enough lift at a much higher speed if it’s trying to support 3000 lbs versus 2000 lbs for level (1 G ) flight.

    0 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.