Originally Posted by
UAL T38 Phlyer
...In airliners, this buffeting air usually is felt as aileron "buzz," as swept-wings have a natural tendency to stall wingtips-first. The turbulence is right in front of the ailerons so it gets transmitted through them...
We were talking about this over in the
power question thread where a DC-8 was dived through Mach 1 and it exhibited a lot of this same buzz according to the pilots. It can also happen on the rudders. This explanation is supplemental to understanding why airliners have such difficulty going supersonic- as shocks form they add a lot of drag to the airplane. When they start to occur what seemed like easy going a few knots before suddenly becomes very difficult.