Can F 14 fighter jet break the sound barrier and be just fine. I read where one exploded in 95, why the reason

Question

Can F 14 fighter jet break the sound barrier and be just fine. I read where one exploded in 95, why the reason

Answer 1

The F-14 was capable of Mach 2.3 so breaking the sound barrier was not a problem. The aircraft that exploded in 95 could have been for many reasons. After all by that point some had been in service for over 20 years and there may have been some damage or fatigue.

Answer 2

The aircraft you're speaking of was videotaped exploding shortly after passing a ship at high speed for a training exercise. This video is easily found on video sites like Youtube. The Plane exploded due to a catastrophic engine failure.  The F-14 is a supersonic interceptor. It was designed to safely fly up to twice the speed of sound. This is accomplished by shaping the aircraft in certain ways. Shockwaves are created by anything travelling above the speed of sound, but the F-14 was certainly strong enough and shaped correctly. They, like all other supersonic fighters, broke the sound barrier routinely. In fact, hundreds of thousands of times. Only the very earliest supersonic planes had structural difficulties with supersonic flight. Those problems were studied and designs were changed. Now it isn't a problem. In the case of this aircraft in question, the aircraft was not recovered for study, but it is suspected from other accident studies that an oil pump had failed in one of the engines. The engine was being run at very high power which, without proper lubrication, led to an immediate explosive failure of the engines internal structure. When this happened, the compressor blades and other components exploded outward, pucturing the fuel tanks and destroying the aircraft. Both the pilot and RIO ejected safely. They did not have any problems to worry about with supersonic ejection, as the plane had entered a climb and dropped below the speed of sound.

Here are links to a copy of the video and a report from the pilot:

Video:  http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogaller...

Explanation from pilot: http://www.alexisparkinn.com/tomcat_expl...

Answer 3

Yes an F-14 fighter jet, when they were still in operation, could routinely fly faster than Mach 1.

Answer 4

When an aircraft is flying at subsonic speeds, the air particles before the nose of the plane gets some kind of warning. But when the aircraft reaches supersonic speeds, these pressure warnings are not possible, as a result a shockwave occurs.

The physics of shockwaves are yet to be solved by engineers and scientists. Shockwaves may lead to sudden disintegration of the airframe. So far engineers have tried to delay the onset of shockwaves with the help of swept-back wings.

Compared to the modern day aircrafts which are made of Carbon Fibre, i think F 14's have a much weaker hence they are more prone to structural damage.

I hv seen a video of an aircraft falling apart immediately after the sonic boom. (www.oopslist.com)