PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - B737. Can it go supersonic in steep dive?
Old 19th July 2001 | 19:39
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Manflex55
 
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: France & UK
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Well my (basic) understanding of aerodynamics is that if U exceed an a/c's MMO (eg by reaching Mach 1 in a 737), which is a structural limitation, chances are it will fall into pieces. In this case the a/c was still in one piece before hitting the ground, so I would say it didn't go supersonic.
Even @ 50,000fpm (about 474 kt) in an absolute vertical descent, we would B far from the spd of sound @ FL200 (613kt) & obviously even further from the spd of sound @ lower levels.

MF
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