I’m confused. I found a couple of sites that said Kittinger’s max speed was 614 mph, and that this was just short of the speed of sound. I found a couple of others that said he did exceed the speed of sound; one mentioned a speed of 714 mph.
In any case, it seems clear that he wore a pressure suit. One glove came off or otherwise malfunctioned, but cause no lasting problem.
Speed of sound is lowest at low altitudes. That is why the first attempts were down low, we could not go fast enough to break it at higher altitudes. Back in the days when you could go up front in large airliners, you could sit and watch them going .80 Mach at 33,000 feet and indicate an airspeed of less than 160Kts. They were just above stall. There you are going 600MPH over the ground and about to stall out. Takes some getting used to.
There are fewer air molecules and your speed over the ground has to be faster to make them work right in holding the aircraft up. So, at 100,000 feet you can go real fast and not break the sound barrier. Can a skydiver get to a high enough actual speed to go faster than the speed of sound as he comes into denser air? Donno, but he is not going to need anything to stay warm, his temperature is probably gonna rise. I do not think even in a delta position he will make it unless his attire is tight and slick, flapping jump suits cause much drag.
Water, blood, at 98 degrees, a lot of things will boil at 55,000 feet.
I would have a hard time clearing my ears doing that kind of sky dive as I do at diving with rocks for fast descents, I don’t clear easy and this has caused me some problems over the years in emergency situations. I hope these folks don’t have a head cold when they try this stunt.:eek:
GusNSpot…
Umm, not so sure about your statement about the speed of sound. Mach 1 is a HIGHER indicated airspeed at lower altitudes…as you climb, your indicated airspeed decreases in relation to Mach number. You alluded to this in your post, but the numbers were off…not four hours ago I was on my way back from Mexico City at 33,000 ft and .78 Mach. Our indicated airspeed was 280 knots.
As for riding the edge between going supersonic and stalling, I believe the U-2 came closest to this. Even with it’s giant non-swept wing at altitudes above 65,000 ft the margin between airfoil stall and sonic shock waves was only a few knots of indicated airspeed.
To complete this hijack: to go Mach 1 at sea level you have to go VERY fast indicated (ie lots of air molecules over your wing and into the pitot tube)…on the order of 700 knots. At 30,000 ft Mach 1 is more like 380 knots indicated.
You’re right, I got my indicated airspeed and my go fast tangled up. That is why the limiting Mach # VS the airspeed becomes so important. Not all things should go faster than the speed of sound.
Also, I gather you fly ‘big’ iron. I never have and have never heard why biz jets can usually run higher Mach #'s than an airliner? Or has that changed in the past few years? Design, or size, or…??
If you fly of have flown a DC-10, I have a question but would like to do it off board. Would like the scuttle butt on an incident that never made it to the NTSB as far as I know.
GusNSpot,
That’s why these boards are so great…I almost always come away knowing something I didn’t know before!
Yes, I fly (relatively) big jets. The cruise speed of airliners and bizjets has everything to do with design, and even more these days with marketing. The early jets (707, 727) were designed to go FAST because, after all, they were JETS. The later generations of designs (MD-80, 757) concentrated more on fuel efficiency and less on flat-out speed. The wing design is usually the limiting factor in speed at high altitude, and airliner designers tried to find the perfect blend of speed and fuel efficiency.
Bizjets run the gamut - from the Citation II (AKA Slowtation) to the Citation X, which cruises at .9 Mach. Different strokes for different folks.
Right now I’m on the MD-80, affectionately know as the “roadblock in the sky” because of our mid .7 cruising speeds.
Haven’t flown the DC-10, but have lots of friends that have flown both the DC and KC-10.