Video Standing Shock-Wave on Subsonic Commercial Aircraft

[Airbubba]

I remember seeing these years ago as a passenger in a 727. We were in a transonic dive and the sun was coming over the other side of the fuselage. I could see the shock waves shift and then disappear as slowed on level off.

This phenomenon has been used for many years to view shock waves in the lab and wind tunnel, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography

Here's another picture from a pax window:

http://amasci.com/wing.html