Wild simulation showing what Mach 50 speed looks like at ground level is leaving people stunned
Published on Feb 11, 2026 at 3:52 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Feb 11, 2026 at 3:52 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
People have become fascinated by a simulation showing what Mach 50 would look like at ground level.
Some of the fastest airplanes in the world include Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the North American X-15, but the fastest of those, the X-15, topped out at Mach 6.7.
Since then, no aircraft has gone faster, but a simulation by YouTuber Airplane Mode has shown what Mach 50 would look like, but from ground level.
The wild ride shown in the video sees the world pass by in a blur, at a speed difficult for us to comprehend.
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What does Mach 50 look like from the ground?
Airplane Mode’s video has amassed over two million views.
The YouTuber created it by using a Lockheed Darkstar in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Darkstar was the fictional hypersonic aircraft used by Tom Cruise’s character, Maverick, in Top Gun: Maverick.
After conducting the flight at Mach 10, the YouTuber then sped the footage up 5x to simulate Mach 50.
Watching it, everything below flashes by in a crazy blur, and there is no time to pick out what is below the plane.
It dazzled viewers of the video with some interesting comments.
“This is how I imagined flight as a child… like a 747 just doing this,” said one of them.
Of course, in real life, no airplane can fly as fast as we saw in the simulation.
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The fastest airplanes in the world
Concorde is, of course, the fastest airliner the world has ever seen.
The airplane first flew in 1969 and entered service with Air France and British Airways in 1976.
It had a top speed of 1,354mph, or Mach 2.04.
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest airbreathing manned aircraft ever made.
Blackbird could fly at a maximum speed of 2,200mph or Mach 3.3.
The North American X-15, however, more than doubled the speed of the SR-71.
Powered by a liquid-fuelled rocket engine, the X-15 flew at a top speed of 4,250mph.
That was Mach 6.7, and no aircraft has ever flown faster, even 58 years after it was retired.
That is fast in itself, so we can only imagine what Mach 50 would feel like if an airplane were to achieve it.
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Henry joined the Supercar Blondie team in February 2025, and since then has covered a wide array of topics ranging from EVs, American barn finds, and the odd Cold War jet. He’s combined his passion for cars with his keen interest in motorsport and his side hustle as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman at a leading heritage steam railway in England.
