Originally Posted by
Capn Bloggs
Boeing may say that, but won't it be a writeup and engineering inspection?
Exceeding mach number does not result in exceeding structural load limits and does not damage the aircraft. However, exceeding critical Mach number may result in a nose tuck and THAT will result in all sorts of bad structural mojo. Slightly exceeding MMO for long periods of time may result in early fatigue failure of the wing, tail surface, or other important structure. This is because the structure may experience large numbers of cyclic loads caused by buffet which will fatigue the structure. The extent of fatigue will depend on the duration and magnitude of the buffet.