Preventing steep dive over-speed in aircraft?

How do aircraft in steep dives keep from going so fast that their wings don't separate from the fuselage?



They don't. Aircraft avoid steep dives precisely because it can cause them to overspeed. You can't bypass the laws of physics.





In some dives, having spoilers or speedbrakes extended, or gear, or flaps, can hold the speed down to safe levels, but any sufficiently steep dive will cause most aircraft to exceed their maximum airspeed. The wings are not necessarily the parts that will fail first.




A steep dive is rarely a necessary maneuver, so if the airspeed is increasing beyond the limitations of the aircraft, the pilot should just (carefully) shallow the dive.





In aerobatic airplanes, fighters, and any other airplane where steep dives are expected, the structure of the airplane is strong enough to handle the forces involved.





More advanced airplanes have speedbrakes and spoilers to help create drag, slowing the aircraft down. These could be used in a dive as well.




the dauntless dive bomber from WW ll used a combination of sturdy construction designed to handle the stresses induced by the steep dive, as well as flaps that can be split to operate as "dive brakes" to limit the maximum airspeed the aircraft can achieve is its 70 degree dives. other aircraft use light weight as well as a proper structure to limit their speed in a dive, the japanese dive bombers of the same era were done in that manner. aerobatic planes like the pitts special use a combination of light weight, proper structure, and built in drag to limit maximum airspeed in a dive.




Keeping an aircraft from over speeding has got to be one of the easyest things to do. If you are going dangerously fast, just pull up.




flaps, speed brakes, landing gear down, slips




Aircraft are designed to withstand the maximum speed they can achieve.