Mach Tuck Concern Unjustified ? Help me Understand & I'll pass it on !
As a listener-only to a recent flightline debate, I would like to ask some of you more knowlegeable aerodynamicists or practical-world aviators about differences in suseptability to mach tuck between design parameters. Here's a summary/asimmilation of the debate in my own very "mach-knowledge limited" King Air pilot recollection & terminology :
Bizjet pilot: "Hey Avanti Pilot; that's an interesting airplane. How fast does it go ?"
Avanti Pilot: "We're can cruise at just over 400 kts."
Bizjet pilot: "That's pretty good for a turboprop. What mach number do you cruise at at say FL 370 ?"
Avanti Pilot: "We can fly at 0.70 there".
Bizjet Pilot: "0.70 at that altitude ? That sounds a bit dangerously close to getting into a mach tuck condition !" Are you sure ?
Avanti Pilot: "No worries mate. This is a pusher aircraft with a forward canard so the aerodynamics are all different. We don't need to worry about pushing that limit with this aircraft as you guys do in conventional swept-wing jets."
Bizjet Pilot: "Are you sure ? You better check that out with an Avanti authority or factory test/development pilot - it doesn't sound right to me".
****End of Dialogue****
Question for my fellow PPrune professionals: Can someone advise what they think of this ? Maybe a true aerodynamicist, test pilot or Avanti Aero expert. Unfortunately, I can't get this question into Burt Rutan as I know he'd explain it perfectly . . .
I look forward to your response and will try to get the true story back to these Avanti pilots to prevent some sort of scare or incident if they are wrong...
Thanks, FLYHIGUY