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But doesn't the plane have any inertia?


Yeah. Good question. It would really seem to depend on how fast the air speed changes.

I mean, the opposite effect is well attested to - you fly along with a headwind (and sufficient airspeed), then comes along a sudden tailwind, and your airspeed drops sufficiently that you stall, or at any rate descent. Wind shears, often associated with cold fronts or thunderstorms.

Maybe a) mach 1 is further from cruise speed than cruise speed from stall speed, and b) drag slows down the plane more effectively and quickly than the engines can accelerate it.

That could explain why wind shear has and does lead to stalls, but not to sonic booms/structural disintegration.




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