*****Supersonic Aircrafts*******?

Hugo Pittari: In aviation, a supersonic aircraft is one that is designed to exceed the speed of sound in at least some of its normal flight configurations.The great majority of supersonic aircraft today are military or experimental aircraft. Most of them, including many military fighter aircraft, are designed to exceed the speed of sound only in certain exceptional flight regimes; a handful of aircraft, such as the SR-71 Blackbird military reconnaissance aircraft and the Concorde supersonic civilian transport, are designed to cruise continuously at speeds above the speed of sound.Supersonic flight brings with it substantial technical challenges, as the aerodynamics of supersonic flight are dramatically different from those of subsonic flight (i.e., flight at speeds slower than that of sound). These challenges have largely been met. However, political, environmental, and economic obstacles of greater magnitude continue to severely limit the actual deployment of supersonic ! aircraft, particularly in the civilian world. Additionally, the need and demand for supersonic flight have often been insufficient to justify development or deployment of supersonic aircraft, particularly in the domain of civilian transport. The aforementioned SR-71 and Concorde aircraft are no longer flying today because of multiple problems and impracticalities associated with supersonic flight....Show more

Maynard Phoubandith: Aircrafts flying at a speed equal to or greater than the speed of the sound are generally termed as supersonic or hypersonic depending on the speed range.The speed of sound is 340.29 m / s at sea level at a temperature of 21 °C (70 °F). The speed of sound is termed as Mach Number. Generally no aircraft is flown at Mach 1 - [speed of sound]; due to excessive vibrations by resonance phenomenon.Supersonic aircrafts have an edge over other aircrafts in the virtue of speed, but not without disadvantages.Aerodynamic disadvantages follow speed;som! e of the associated are lack of manuevarablity due to high spe! ed and most important SONIC BOOM. Sonic boom is the sound produced by the supersonic aircrafts during the transition from transonic regime to supersonic regime. Sonic boom is produced by the sudden compression and expansion of the air ahead of the aircraft;[similar to the crackling sound oif a whip].Another disadvantage of supersonic a/c is the shedding of the compression waves. These waves are powerful enough to damage buildings and human life Waves are shed when a/c is brought to sudden deceleration by changing course.To avoid such damages and sonic boom these a/c are generally flown at a higher altitude[generally near the edge of the atmosphere where the density is less and drag is minimal].Another advantage of high altitude flying is the decrease in the speed of sound. Speed of sound depends on the temperature and density. As both these factors decrease with altitude Mach number can be easily crossed.Some of the a/c manufacturers like Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, De! utsche Aerospace AG have constructed and flown such a/c successfully.SOme of the supersonic successors counts in Concorde,Tupolev Tu-144LL,SR-71 Thunderbird. Even certain subsonic aircrafts like Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 747 have even broken the sound barrier during trial runs. So most of modern a/c's are powerful enough to cross Mach 1 but not enough to withstand high pressures associated. So aircrafts like Hornet, F22 raptor, Joint Strike Force,Sukhoi, Mig are all an achievement in their own respects.Certain aircrafts like concorde & SR-71 have been grounded due to maintenance costs.Certain aircrafts have even flown the hypersomic regime ranging 11 mach for space shuttle....Show more

Boris Hadsall: All I could say is REAL FAST. Faster than speed of sound in fact.

Shan Lanen: They are very expensive and noisy and they go faster than the speed of sound.