HIGH-SPEED FLIGHT- SPEED RANGES

The speed of sound varies with temperature. Under standard temperature conditions of 15°C, the speed of sound at sea level is 661 knots. At 40,000 feet, where the temperature is –55°C, the speed of sound decreases to 574 knots. In high-speed flight and/or high-altitude flight, the measurement of speed is expressed in terms of a "Mach number"—the ratio of the true airspeed of the airplane to the speed of sound in the same atmospheric conditions. An airplane traveling at the speed of sound is traveling at Mach 1.0. Airplane speed regimes are defined as follows:

Subsonic—Mach numbers below 0.75
Transonic—Mach numbers from .075 to 1.20
Supersonic—Mach numbers from 1.20 to 5.00
Hypersonic—Mach numbers above 5.00

While flights in the transonic and supersonic ranges are common occurrences for military airplanes, civilian jet airplanes normally operate in a cruise speed range of Mach 0.78 to Mach 0.90. The speed of an airplane in which airflow over any part of the wing first reaches (but does not exceed) Mach 1.0 is termed that airplane's critical Mach number or "Mach Crit". Thus, critical Mach number is the boundary between subsonic and transonic flight and is an important point of reference for all compressibility effects encountered in transonic flight. Shock waves, buffet, and airflow separation take place above critical Mach numbers. A jet airplane typically is most efficient when cruising at or near its critical Mach number. At speeds 5 – 10 percent above the critical Mach number, compressibility effects begin. Drag begins to rise sharply. Associated with the "drag rise" are buffet, trim and stability changes, and a decrease in control surface effectiveness. This is the point of "drag divergence," and is typically the speed chosen for high-speed cruise operations. At some point beyond high-speed cruise are the turbine powered airplane's maximum operating limit speeds: VMO/MMO.

VMO is the maximum operating speed expressed in terms of knots. VMO limits ram air pressure acting against the structure and prevents flutter. MMO is the maximum operating speed expressed in terms of Mach number. An airplane should not be flown in excess of this speed. Doing so risks encountering the full effects of compressibility, including possible loss of control.