scifi: "The nearest guess that I have made is that it is the 4th root of 3."

Correct, it is the 4th root of 3.

This all is a rather interesting theoretical discussion and it brought back discussion on a TWA 727 accident. The 727 was/is a very interesting aircraft. Had a rather complex wing design with flaps that extended along the wing line for a far distance before extending down. Combine that with higher thrust engines, started with three producing a little over 7000 pounds of thrust each and ended production with jets capable of +/- 20,000 pounds of thrust. Meaning the aircraft had enough thrust to out fly the wing.


Check out: Accident: TWA 841