We’ve never come right out and said this in print, but everyone knows that many pilots and owners are bald-faced liars when it comes to how fast their airplanes really fly.

For our Used Aircraft Guides, we routinely see 160-knot Piper Arrows and light twins that blaze along at 200 knots, the explanation being that although the POH says otherwise, “mine is faster than the book.” For some pilots, the laws of physics that govern the rest of us seem not to apply. …