- NEW!
by trashcity on November 30th, 2004
While there's no fundamental reason why not, a number of issues have so far prevented an sea plane officially recording a speed greater than Mach 1 - basically, the presence of floats, etc. is an aerodynamic hindrance that tends to hamper high speed flight.
However, the Convair Sea Dart [model YF2Y-1] did exceed the speed of sound on August 3rd, 1954 - this was in a shallow dive, rather than level flight, which is why it is not the "official" record. That is held by the Soviet Beriev M-10 sea plane [codenamed 'Mallow' in the West], which reached 567 mph (911 km/h) on 7 August 1961.
The Sea Dart was a single seat, delta-wing jet fighter, originally developed for operating in forward areas without need of a land base or aircraft carrier, and featured retractable hydro-skis for takeoff and landing. The program was cancelled in 1957, but a YF2Y-1 craft can be seen today at the San Diego Aerospace Museum.
A picture of the Sea Dart can be seen here:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/performance/speed-record/sea-dart2.jpg
For those who like small government..should the FAA oversee the safety of air travel or butt out? Without the FAA would you still fly?
by RosieGHM Jetpacker on September 12th, 2011
| 3 people like this
Can you say that you have gone up in more airplanes than you have come down in? I can!
by Texaspete on June 30th, 2011
| 3 people like this
Do you get aired when you're on the scareplane?
by Andy B has left AB on October 13th, 2011
| 3 people like this
Has radar technology in commercial aircraft really become more advanced or changed much in technical terms over the last 30 years?
by NiCkIzBacK on June 8th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
Why are more modern aircraft including Boeing 747 jumbo aircraft having more controls managed by computer or fly-by-wire? Is it safe?
by NiCkIzBacK on June 8th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
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Comments
Great answer.
by The Leningrad Cowboy on January 14th, 2005