Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Interestingly enough, it seems there are reports that the fastest corporate jets today have, in testing, slightly exceeded M1, at least in local area flow. Both the Cessna Citation X (10) and the Gulfstream G650 are said to have exceeded M1 in a dive. This was done for certification purposes. There were even reports of a G550 reaching M1.07 in a dive.
Not with me onboard, thanks...
Any time that you're over about 0.92 IMN, there will be local supersonic flow. The path around the fuselage, over wing roots, etc. will add to the relative motion of the air flowing over the airplane and those critical areas exceed Mach 1. That's why there is such a drag rise at roughly 0.92. Careful design, including a supercritical wing, can delay the onset of local supersonic flow, but it still will happen well below an overall speed of Mach 1.
That is quite true. In fact, even at lower speeds around M 0.87, we can occasionally see a shock wave form on top of the wing. It's most visible at sunrise and sunset.
I asked my Gulfstream G650 test pilot friend, and he mentioned that the G650 did indeed break the sound barrier in a dive. Including the sonic boom to ground observers.
The official report is as follows: In order to achieve the maximum speed of Mach 0.995, Gulfstream experimental test pilots Tom Horne and Gary Freeman along with flight test engineer Bill Osborne took Serial Number (S/N) 6001 into a dive, pitching the aircraft’s nose 16 to 18 degrees below the horizon. During the dive, flutter exciters introduced a range of vibration frequencies to the wing, tail and flight control surfaces to ensure the aircraft naturally dampened out the oscillations without further action from the pilots. Even under such extreme circumstances, the G650 performed flawlessly.
The sonic booms tells another story...