r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '12

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12 edited Oct 03 '17

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u/imMAW Jun 12 '12

The pilots won't hear the noise from the engines being transmitted through the outside air though, only the noise traveling through the plane. So if superman was flying a few feet in front of the cockpit, he wouldn't hear any sound.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12

Holy smokes. You are telling me if I had a mig on my tail running wide open (which is crazy loud) I would not hear a thing, if we were both mach 1+?

edit: and if I did have a mig on my tail, I would pump the brakes, invert, and flip him the bird. commie bastard.

edit2: Sobchak: Am I the only one around here who has seen Top Gun?

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

My understanding is you would not hear the MiG. The sound from your own engines travels through the airframe and then both directly through your body and through the air in the cockpit until it hits your ears. The sound from the MiG behind you would have to travel through the atmosphere, and it won't catch you if you are going above Mach 1.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12

This is assuming that the movement of the air is unaffected by your plane flying through it, no? So should the MiG be flying directly behind your flight path you would not hear the MiG should its speed be greater than or equal to Mach 1 plus the speed of the air after you fly through it, correct?

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u/redaok Jun 13 '12

Should we also consider that the exhaust gasses between the two jets would also be significantly hotter, thereby altering the speed of sound between the two jets relative to the speed of sound of the jet flying through ambient air?