Piece of cake then really. Can't imagine why anyone would make such a fuss about it. I mean, what are a few fourth-order differential equations in 8 variables? These experimentalists just can't be bothered with a bit of simple math.
For my part, I'm with piperboy. Of course if you want to make a plane go as fast as you can, you make the cross-sectional area small, reduce the drag coefficient, and all that stuff, but you still won't know how fast it will REALLY go until you jump in and fly it.