Is there a plane that can break the sound barrier?

U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager, officially broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 in the Bell X-1 rocket plane. Yeager passed Mach 1 following a drop from a B-29 airplane, proving that an aircraft with passengers could break the sound barrier without injury or harm.

What commercial plane broke the sound barrier?

All that changed on October 14, 1947, when Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California. The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 25,000 feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay, rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour (the sound barrier at that altitude).

What would happen if an airliner broke the sound barrier?

When the object has passed over the observer, the pressure disturbance waves (Mach waves) radiate toward the ground, causing a sonic boom. Then, just as the aircraft bursts through the sound barrier, the air is locally disturbed by the resulting shock wave and the condensation/vapor cloud disappears.

Can a Hawk jet break the sound barrier?

What is a sonic boom? Sonic booms are caused whenever an object, such as a jet plane, travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. This is why those flying aircraft with supersonic capability, such as Hawk and Typhoon jets, are only ever allowed to break the sound barrier in exceptional circumstances.

Does the pilot hear a sonic boom?

If you’re WONDERing about how pilots handle sonic booms, they actually don’t hear them. They can see the pressure waves around the plane, but people on board the airplane can’t hear the sonic boom. Like the wake of a ship, the boom carpet unrolls behind the airplane.

Can an RAF Hawk cause sonic boom?

An RAF Hawk training jet “inadvertently” caused a sonic boom during a high speed dive, shaking houses and startling residents in Norfolk. It is the second time this month an RAF aircraft has caused a sonic boom over England.