Mechanical Engineering Interview Question:

How fast is a jet plane?

Submitted by: Administrator

Fighter jet aircraft fly at speeds in the low mach numbers. Mach 1 is roughly 750 miles per hour, give or take, and military jets can fly at well over a thousand miles per hour. Back in the day (July of 1976), the SR-71 set the jet speed record. Radar clocked the thing at 2242 mph. Oh, and the record still stands. This highly sensitive aircraft project probably holds back data that would top this figure, but the information will not be coming out soon if it exists. The Blackbird is the answer to your prayers. As a caveat, there is a much faster jet called a scramjet, but it is unmanned. The NASA X-43A can hit Mach 9.6, which is about 7300 miles per hour.
Submitted by: Administrator