I flew (almost) at the speed of sound: everything on board was dancing and creaking, but what an adrenaline rush!

It is the highest speed at which I have ever flown: 601 knots, 692 miles per hour, 1,113 kilometers per hour. No, I was not a 'guest' on some two-seat military jet. I was instead aboard an ordinary commercial jet, to be precise a Boeing 787-9 from the Mexican airline Aeromexico between Mexico City and Madrid.

A few minutes before departure, the commander had announced that for much of the duration of the flight we would encounter "a lot of turbulence", recommending that we keep our seat belts on as much as possible, even throughout the night. An announcement that had made me think of very strong winds at high altitudes, as there is no other explanation for prolonged turbulence at 37-39,000 feet (11,300-11,900 meters), the altitude at which, again according to the commander, we would have traveled that night to Europe. And, given, our direction from west to east to very strong tailwinds.

Thus, after taking off and finishing dinner., while watching some episodes of a series on the IFE screen, I would occasionally 'jump' on the 'Flight Tracker', the name Aeromexico has given to its mobile map and flight information system, Noting one thing right away: usually flights between the Mexican and Spanish capitals follow a rather 'southern' route, which passes over the Gulf of Mexico (or of America), flies over Florida and then crosses the Atlantic almost horizontally without that inverted 'U' trajectory that, for example, flights between North America and Europe follow.

That evening, however, we were aiming straight north and toward the east-central part of the United States, transiting over New Orleans and then over Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New England just above Boston and then again Nova Scotia before beginning the Atlantic crossing.

We started dancing a bit already as we approached the Louisiana coast, which made the dinner quite 'adventurous', as much for the flight attendants as for us passengers, but the real 'flutter' began over Alabama and lasted almost continuously for a good hour, all the way to Pennsylvania. And it was during that stretch that the speed gradually ramped up from just under 1,000 kmh to 1,113, which is then just 79 below the speed of sound in the air, which is 1,192kmh, as the plane vibrated like crazy.

Thinking about the fact that the Dreamliner is built almost entirely of carbon fiber, I must say I got a chill. Nonetheless, I hoped that the speed would increase again, while with my son (seated in the row in front of me) we shouted at each other (to the peace of mind of the other passengers) the speeds we read on our screens. But from that 1,113kmh we only went down and when the speed stabilized just above 1,000 I went back to my TV series before falling asleep.

The flight, in the end, lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes, which is 26 minutes less than its average duration, according to Flightradar24, an indication that we yes went fast but not very fast, considering the entire journey. That peak, though, accompanied by the vibrations of the 787, was exciting. E the next day I understood the reason: off the east coast of the U.S. there was a very powerful cyclone (what then brought record snowfall to the two Carolinas and adjacent states). and we most likely 'caught' the outermost gusts of the cyclone.

The change of course, from the usual one, was chosen by pilots in preparation for the flight precisely to take advantage of those winds and travel very fast while burning little fuel, thanks to the push of 'mother nature.'

• Curiosities