Thanks everyone, well explained
Hi notaplanegeek,
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Quote:
Also one other thing which I cannot explain is that I was looking out the window in the cruise (I also noted this on a B777) and noticed a sharp vertical line of what looked like the difference between two mediums of air. About 20% chord, illusion? Maybe I'm not sure.
I've noticed the same effect in the cruise also. I thought it was the onset of a shock wave as explained in figure 7.1 of this document:
http://www.dept.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Ma...Transonics.pdf
Wow, I always though that a/c flew under Mcrit because of the problems associated with transonic flight. Well I managed to get a picture of what it looked like, it was very apparent during flight but you can just make it out on the leading edge, mid way..
