Strong high-altitude winds over the Mid-Atlantic sped up sky traffic on Saturday night, getting passengers on at least two commercial planes to their destinations early, after both aircraft hit supersonic speeds topping 800 mph.
[...]
"Although its ground speed — a measure that combines the plane's actual speed and the additional push from the wind — was greater than the speed of sound, it was still moving through the surrounding air at its ordinary cruise speed. It just so happened that the surrounding air was moving unusually fast," the Post reported.Another 787, a United Airlines flight from Newark, N.J., to Lisbon, Portugal, that took off at 8:35 p.m. on Saturday, reached a peak ground speed of 838 mph, shaving 20 minutes off the scheduled flight time.
Certainly not the first time as Wired's UK site reported on a similar event in 2019.
Wired UK article: The wild physics of the passenger plane that just hit 800 mph - 20190221
(Score: 3, Insightful) by OrugTor on Friday February 23, @04:33PM (4 children)
This is old news to students of high school applied mathematics. Wild physics? No, basic Newtonian physics. And don't even mention the speed of sound. It's irrelevant.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Nuke on Friday February 23, @05:11PM
It's not even that is it? I'm sure that cavemen must have noticed that their hollowed-out log boats took them down river faster than they could make it back up again.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Freeman on Friday February 23, @05:27PM (2 children)
Relevant "Ten Thousand" [xkcd.com] XKCD comic.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Friday February 23, @05:32PM (1 child)
So you're saying planes should carry some Diet Coke and Mentos to power some booster rockets?
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Friday February 23, @05:39PM
PS, I don't want to run into the ten thousand people discovering mentors powered jets for the first time. That's way too many people.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 23, @05:01PM (10 children)
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Friday February 23, @05:29PM (7 children)
As I understand it, this plane was only at a "supersonic speed" relative to the ground. But not supersonic within the moving air it was flying in. The plane was not braking the sound barrier or causing a masonic boom.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 23, @05:43PM (2 children)
(Score: 4, Touché) by Tork on Saturday February 24, @03:37AM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday February 26, @02:17PM
That was brilliant and your teacher should have given it to you. Instead of whatever negative came from your statement.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Funny) by pTamok on Friday February 23, @05:59PM (2 children)
Yes, it's a good job the driver was standing on the breaks so as not to free a lot of masons by misteak. I'm sure someone would lodge a protest if that happened. An explosive increase in masons running around unfettered would be unsound, make no bones about it, and it's a good thing there's a well-founded barrier in place to prevent that.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday February 23, @09:29PM
Agreed. We don't need to make Steve Guttenburg a star again.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 26, @04:00PM
I think the masons would only explode in a particle accelerator. Running around unfettered.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by lush7 on Saturday February 24, @01:42AM
Masonic boom lol. That's great, lol.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23, @05:45PM
You can confirm that by reading the whole summary.
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Friday February 23, @05:50PM
How Quick Thinking Saved the First Airliner to Break the Sound Barrier
In August 1961 a crew of Douglas Aircraft test pilots proved the new DC-8’s worth by diving it through the speed of sound
https://www.historynet.com/the-first-sst-the-first-airliner-to-break-the-sound-barrier/ [historynet.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by DadaDoofy on Friday February 23, @06:41PM (2 children)
"both aircraft hit supersonic speeds"
No, they didn't. Ground speed is irrelevant when determining whether an aircraft is flying supersonically.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Hauke on Friday February 23, @09:13PM (1 child)
Exactly.
Wake me up when they reach superluminal speeds.
TANSTAAFL
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Saturday February 24, @01:36AM
Maybe ride a solar flare?
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by crafoo on Saturday February 24, @03:48AM
I always like to repost this wiki article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_corner_%28aerodynamics%29 [wikipedia.org]
it's more about commercial airlines flying high to reduce drag/increase fuel efficiency. it is interesting though. stall speed and max flight speed only being a few knots apart.