Check out the descent that the SWA 737 made.http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA812/history/20110401/2225Z/KPHX/KNYL/tracklog

Ahh yes, we need him for the RTW races..Thats how you do it.. :)

It must have been quite an exciting ride.

Only 5,600 ft/min. I could beat that! :( It's curious how the airspeed dropped so low when they bottomed out at 11K. Wonder if they got it that slow on purpose?Vicious

Only 5,600 ft/min. I could beat that! :( It's curious how the airspeed dropped so low when they bottomed out at 11K. Wonder if they got it that slow on purpose?Vicious

It was prolly on purpose to prevent airframe stress especially after turning into an aerodynamic rock.

It was prolly on purpose to prevent airframe stress especially after turning into an aerodynamic rock.

First, that's not airspeed, it's ground speed.For the somewhat tight right turn to the south to head toward NYL, coupled with the poor time resolution of radar data used to derive the ground speed, it's not surprising that that the displayed GS is much lower than what's was likely true at the time. Statistically, those spikes are anomalous.