HI, I'm wondering why the maximum cruising speed for the Stock B60 and the Grand Dukes are higher than the never exceed speed in the user manual (page 13-14). Why is that?

Cruise speeds are given as a true airspeed, while never exceed speed is an indicated airspeed.

At sea level, true airspeed and indicated airspeed are the same, but at high altitudes in the thin air, true airspeed is considerably higher than indicated airspeed.

Here's an article explaining the difference between true airspeed and indicated airspeed:

https://www.boldmethod.com/blog/lists/2024/10/the-four-types-of-airspeed-and-how-each-one-works/

Edited November 11, 2025Nov 11 by martinboehme

To expand a bit:

Cruise speeds are given as a true airspeed because that tells you how fast you're actually moving through the air. This allows you to calculate how much time you'll take for a given leg. (You need to take wind into account too, of course.)

Never exceed speed is given as an indicated airspeed because this is a measure of the aerodynamic load on the airplane.

Thank you.

I define indicated air speed as how fast air molecules hit the pitot tube.

1 hour ago, bofhlusr said:

I define indicated air speed as how fast air molecules hit the pitot tube.

Not quite. It also depends on how many air molecules are hitting the pitot tube per unit of time, which depends on the density of the air. This is why, with increasing altitude, indicated airspeed decreases for a given fixed true airspeed.