Whoa... how did you manage M0.99 at 500ft!? Did you watch my track? I was at 700ft in my test and couldn't break M 0.90 until the final few miles when I got to Mach 0.91... and I didn't even have wingtip Sidewinders and started with 20% internal fuel at 14 deg Cel. air temp.
Are you on 9.2.3 and do you have a track of your flight?
**EDIT** Well, I'll be darned!! I went back and tried my test again, Raven. But this time, I created a new mission from scratch (I believe my first test was the stock Persian Gulf Carrier Launch Supercarrier mission or some similar, older stock mission). Same config, same altitudes, air temps, and fuel loads...and got almost exactly what Wombat describes. 😀
BIGNEWY, unless we still want to do some testing with the extra pylons and the Mach passes as displayed in my two real world pics above (which I have not yet) to see how she does in-game, I guess you can go ahead and delete this thread...but I'm wondering if there is some mission corruption with the new update and stock missions?
wilbur81's post in Current FM Thrust-Drag w/ 3 bags vs Real World was marked as the answer