Originally Posted by
CVividasku
I know an airbus rated test pilot, he answered that the airplane probably would have exceeded VMO/MMO but not so significantly because of exponential mach drag, preventing the airspeed from increasing too much and the airframe from breaking apart.
You have to be really trying to get to the structural limits. The test flight manoeuvres to which your friend refers involve full power dives, slightly different profiles in each side of the Atlantic but ostensibly the same.
That there is so much buffer is the topic du jour in Airbus training. Many in flight events have been reported where Aircraft have exceeded Vmo/Mmo briefly due to wind shift and subsequently ended up in alpha floor, due to pilot exuberance at dumping speed to stay out of the red.