Comments on: What does it sound like inside an aircraft that is breaking the sound barrier?

By: Spitfire

Spitfire — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:51:59 +0000

Inside the aircraft you hear nothing.
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By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:30:59 +0000

It was ascertained many decades ago that the speed of sound isn’t a barrier.
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By: Ram

Ram — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:56:59 +0000

Not that much noise. The sonic "boom" is a compressed noise packet thats created since the airplane spends a brief moment at the speed of sound. All the noise from that brief moment is packaged into "one" noise and its several times louder. But the noise radiates away from the plane, so only we hear it. The plane leaves the noise behind since its going that fast!

After you’re supersonic, you’re actually going faster than the sound, so it actually gets quieter!

Amazing isnt it?!
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By: ayesha

ayesha — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:34:59 +0000

Going supersonic and while breaking the sound barrier does not create any additional noise than what was prevalent during subsonic flight. In the older aircraft, especially, which were capable of merely Mach 1+ the controls needed extra care since the aircraft momentarily buckled while crossing the sound barrier.
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By: Larry454

Larry454 — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:27:59 +0000

I took a T38 to Mach 1.1 in 1973. That aircraft is very quiet inside the cockpit. The loudest noise that I heard was during takeoff with full afterburner, and that sounded more like a whoosh than a roar. When passing the sound barrier, there is no noticeable sound at all. The only indication that the pilot has is that the readings on his exterior pressure instruments (airspeed, altitude) suddenly change - the hands unwind like a second hand going backward - as the shock passes across the pressure probes. Pretty uneventful inside the cockpit.
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By: Bit Pilsman

Bit Pilsman — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:06:59 +0000

Well, the only reason that I can think of without breaking out the graphing calculator, and not spending more than half a minute of my answer, mostly because I type slowly, is that since the aircraft is going faster than the speed of sound, it might just be that the sound won’t reach the aircraft.

This could be due to the fact that the aircraft is going faster than the speed of sound. This is just a guess, as I’m not a physics major.
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By: Warbird Pilot

Warbird Pilot — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:44:59 +0000

No different than subsonic.
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By: Victor Ellis

Victor Ellis — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:16:59 +0000

There isn’t any sound inside the aircraft. The boom is caused by the compression of the air at the nose of the plane. The shockwave is basically a rapid change in air pressure. On the ground, we hear a crack or boom like thunder. Because the plane is travelling along with the shockwave, there is no pressure change for the pilot to hear. The only noises are roaring of engines and wind.
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By: Kevin J

Kevin J — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:00:59 +0000

I live in Florida close to where the space shuttle takes off and lands and when it is coming in for a landing the are 2 sonic booms that shake the windows and it sounds like 2 shoot gun blast back to back.
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