Total and static air temperature
Static (outside) air temperature from the total air temperature a probe reads, or the reverse, with the ram rise at your Mach number.
Planning and education aid. Not for primary navigation. Full disclaimer
Experimental: not yet fully verified. How results are checked
The static air temperature is -48.73 °C. Ram heating adds 28.73 K.
- Total air temperature
- Ram rise
Provenance
- Computed by
- aviation.airspeed.tat-sat 1.0.0, core 0.1.0
- Model
- SAT = TAT / (1 + 0.2·r·M²)
- Accuracy
- Exact for the stated recovery factor; real probes have r from about 0.75 to 1.0
- Notes
- 1 shown with the answer
- Cites
- William Gracey, NASA Langley Research Center, Measurement of Aircraft Speed and Altitude, NASA Reference Publication 1046
Something look off?
How we got thisFormula, worked example, sources, and proof
Model: SAT = TAT / (1 + 0.2·r·M²)
Accuracy: Exact for the stated recovery factor; real probes have r from about 0.75 to 1.0
Worked example: TAT -20 °C at Mach 0.8. Source: add-aviation-suite airspeed scenario: SAT -48.73 °C, ram rise 28.73 K. It is golden test vector v001, and every build checks the tool still gives its answer within its tolerance.
You enter
- Mach
- 0.8
- Temperature
- -20 °C
You get
- Static air temperature
- -48.73 °C
- Total air temperature
- -20 °C
- Ram rise
- 28.73 K
Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a flight instructor (CFI).
Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.
Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.
Checked against: 5 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.
Sources
- Measurement of Aircraft Speed and Altitude, NASA Reference Publication 1046, William Gracey, NASA Langley Research Center, NASA RP-1046. Chapter 2 (airspeed equations: subsonic and Rayleigh supersonic pitot relations) and Chapter 16 (temperature).
Experimental means this tool has not yet met the stable bar: at least 20 golden vectors, differential tests, and an independent worked example.