Can anything fly at Mach 1?

Flight faster than sound was thought to be impossible. In fact, the sound barrier was only an increase in the drag near sonic conditions because of compressibility effects. Because of the high drag associated with compressibility effects, aircraft do not cruise near Mach 1.



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The transonic regime 80, though no commercial aircraft in operation today exceeds Mach 1. Instead, they can achieve transonic speeds, including the Boeing 747–8I (cruising speed of Mach 0.86) and Airbus 380 (cruising speed of Mach 0.85).

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Mach 10 speed has never been achieved by a manned aircraft, though, so it has never been tested. Mach 10 has, however, been achieved by a spacecraft - on November 16, 2004, NASA launched the X-43A, an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle, and was able to reach real Mach 10 while being pushed into the atmosphere.

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Fifty years ago, the federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land. The rule prohibits non-military aircraft from flying faster than sound so their resulting sonic booms won't startle the public below or concern them about potential property damage.

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The average cruising speed of a helicopter is generally less than 160 knots (184 MPH). A fixed-wing aircraft may be as high as 450 knots (517 MPH). There is simply no helicopter that can cross continents at speeds approaching Mach 1 (the speed of sound), but several fixed-wing aircraft have done this.

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And the jet pilots don't feel a sonic boom from the cockpit, just as passengers on a boat don't feel the effects of the wake behind them, she added.

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