I'm confused. Are you saying that it'll maintain its normal ground speed despite flying through fast-moving air? Or that it maintains the same air-speed?
The former doesn't make any sense, but the latter is what the GP was saying.
The original comment seems to mean, that the plane has to (actively) keep a larger ground speed in high winds while the reply meant that this just naturally happens as the plane is only "aware" of its relative air speed.
The ground speed will vary, but the airspeed will not be affected by wind (except momentarily for gusts or shears).
The poster I replied to was implying that due to the strong tailwind, they had to maintain an increased airspeed. That is incorrect. The airplane has no idea it is in a tailwind, and airspeed will be unchanged.
I think the root of disagreement here is that to you, as a pilot, "speed" means airspeed. But to a layperson, "speed" means groundspeed. So saying that an airplane with a tailwind "must go faster to keep enough air going over the wings" reads very strangely to you, as (although it is technically correct) it belies a groundspeed-first type of thinking that is a poor intuition for staying alive in a plane.
I think the confusion here is stemming in part from the fact that "relative airspeed" isn't a well-defined term. In aviation airspeed means the speed of the airplane through the air (modulo specifiers for true vs. indicated vs. calibrated airspeed).
The original was "relative air speed", which I would simply take as the way a person not familiar with aviation terminology would say "airspeed"--speed relative to the air.
I did. Saying “everyone” when it’s just probably one person is not usually ok. It’s fine to say if you interpreted the comment in a certain way, and ok to be the outlier. But assuming your interpretation applies to others more broadly than it does, is counterproductive.
Both comments were significantly downvoted at the time of my comment, which was what I was referring to. The original comment explicitly mentioned "relative airspeed", which I thought was pretty clear (it's the speed of the plane relative to the air that matters).
I think calling it a "common misconception" is also assuming a lot.
I teach people how to fly. Trust me when I say that this is an extremely common misconception. It's one of the concepts students have the greatest difficulty wrapping their heads around.
The former doesn't make any sense, but the latter is what the GP was saying.