Question on Sonic Booms

[bushmaster1313]

I didn't hear anything, but the news reported others up and down NJ hearing sonic booms today.

My question is this: Do people on the ground hear a boom only when the jet breaks the sound barrier or would people all along the jet's path hear a boom as it passed by at supersonic speed?

Thank you

 

[Dennis The B]

The boom is continuous as long as the aircraft is flying faster than the sound barrier.

 

[Kanewpadle]

You will definitely know when you hear one. Probably make you jump out of your skin.

 

[bushmaster1313]

You will definitely know when you hear one. Probably make you jump out of your skin.

I heard one in New Hampshire 50 years ago as a young boy and still remember it

 

[Coldshooter]

Two years ago we were looking at a project at Ft Greely AK and were in a metal sided well house. We pulled a breaker to climb behind some equipment as there wasn't a disconnect on the pumps. My coworker was just getting behind the main manifold when an RAF aircraft blew over us at less than 500 ft and supersonic. My coworker wasn't able to form full sentences for an hour. The pilot had missed a landmark and was full speed up the wrong creek.

 

[Tradewind36]

I heard one back in the early 70's while stationed at Key West NAS. Found out later that is was a Navy buddy in a RA-5C Vigilante. He told me he was being chased away from some place "down south" and had to put it in burner for a short time.

 

[Zipdog]

Used to hear them everyday growing up in the Dallas Ft. Worth area in the 60's. Convair and LTV plants were nearby as well as Bell Helicopter testing the whirlybirds. I'll never forget all those sonic booms.

 

[ditrina]

You ain't lived until you have had the Space Shuttle go BOOOM BOOM right over your house.. on landing approach..

 

[Rastoff]

You will definitely know when you hear one. Probably make you jump out of your skin.

Well, I guess it would...the first time.

Basically, as long as the aircraft is flying faster than the speed of sound (mach) it is dragging a cone of disturbed air. As that cone passes you on the ground, you hear a boom. It sounds like an explosion. The very first time it happened they thought the aircraft had exploded in air. The Bell X-1 was a rocket after all so that was a real possibility.

I don't jump anymore. Here at Edwards we have our own air space. We have a super sonic corridor that our pilots can use at their discretion. Sonic booms are very common here. So common in fact, we sometimes have to reset the fluorescent light bulbs because the vibration can cause them to rattle loose.

However, it is very expensive to fly at those speeds. Only the F-22 can fly super sonic without using the after burner. Even so, when flying at that speed, they are burning fuel at an alarming rate. I was sitting in a T-38 for an engine test. We ran in full after burner for about 3 minutes. I could literally watch the fuel gauge drop because we were burning about 10lbs of fuel a second. That plane can just barely go super sonic.

 

[carpriver]

I was stationed in Okinawa at Kadana AB. There were F4C and RF4Cs . One came fly down the runway at about 100ft. off the runway at the end of the runway pull back on the stick and went 90 degrees up there was a sonic boom. This happened a couple times a week.

 

[redlevel]

Back in the 60s, living about 40 miles from Warner Robins AFB, we heard them regularly. They used to run ads in the Macon Telegraph calling it "the sound of freedom." About the last year I taught, an F-15 from WRAFB would overfly my school at altitude and boom. One day my class heard it and wanted to know what it was. On a hunch I marched them outside to try to catch sight of the fighter. Sure'nuff, he did a 180 and over flew us again and boomed. It was a real "teachable moment." I guess he was around 5000 ft.

 

[k22fan]

Back in the 1980s I was walking along the edge of the Columbia River in a remote canyon with very high rock walls. The only noise was an occasional bird and perhaps a little from the running water. Unexpectedly a military jet came around the corner at high speed lower than the tops of the cliffs. I'm not sure if he was supersonic or not but the sudden noise echoing inside that canyon nearly made me jump out of my socks. I've wondered if as part of a Yakima Firing Range exercise he was making a surprise attack or just screwing around.

I remember hearing sonic booms while I was a kid in the early 1960s. At the time it was acceptable for the military to occasionally fly supersonic near cities.

 

[shotgun693]

I grew up in Galveston County. Ellington (?) Air Base was south of Houston and the Fighters practiced over the bay. We heard'm all the time. We were never sure if it was a Sonic Boom or if one of the local oil refineries had blown up again?

 

[DR505]

Inside the cockpit you don't hear anything...the only indication is the mach needle passing 1.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Well, I guess it would...the first time.

Basically, as long as the aircraft is flying faster than the speed of sound (mach) it is dragging a cone of disturbed air. As that cone passes you on the ground, you hear a boom. It sounds like an explosion. The very first time it happened they thought the aircraft had exploded in air. The Bell X-1 was a rocket after all so that was a real possibility.

I don't jump anymore. Here at Edwards we have our own air space. We have a super sonic corridor that our pilots can use at their discretion. Sonic booms are very common here. So common in fact, we sometimes have to reset the fluorescent light bulbs because the vibration can cause them to rattle loose.

However, it is very expensive to fly at those speeds. Only the F-22 can fly super sonic without using the after burner. Even so, when flying at that speed, they are burning fuel at an alarming rate. I was sitting in a T-38 for an engine test. We ran in full after burner for about 3 minutes. I could literally watch the fuel gauge drop because we were burning about 10lbs of fuel a second. That plane can just barely go super sonic.

You should watch the fuel gauge on an SR-71 at military power during engine run.

Heard the boom a few times from the SR and F-15's at forward alert sites. I'm not jumpy, but I still jump. Too loud not to.

 

[DWalt]

On the ground, you only hear one "Boom" from a single plane traveling at supersonic speeds - and that's when the shock wavefront passes over you. Anyone downstream of you will also hear it, but later.

 

[LVSteve]

Used to hear them everyday growing up in the Dallas Ft. Worth area in the 60's. Convair and LTV plants were nearby as well as Bell Helicopter testing the whirlybirds. I'll never forget all those sonic booms.

Me too. They were a common occurrence when the first F-111s were being tested.

 

[Frank46]

When the Concorde was still flying and us living on long island NY occasionally you'd hear a sonic boom. Was at Jones beach one summer after I finished the 11pm-6am shift. Sitting down with a coffee and the daily rag and not really paying attention then BOOM. I knew as soon as I heard it was it was as the concorde just passed. I think some of the swimmers had to come out of the water and change their swim suits as it was a really loud one. Frank

 

[Beemerguy53]

Here's the official story...

Tremors in U.S. Northeast caused by sonic boom, not quake: agency

 

[BUFF]

I went on a "Family Day" cruise on the carrier U.S.S. Ranger ("CV-By Gawd-61") when a brother-in-law served aboard as a radar tech. The carrier went about 50 miles offshore from San Diego and put on an airshow. The CAG did a supersonic fly-by in an F-14 level with the flight deck, maybe 100 yards off the port side. You could see them coming, in silence, before they got there. BAMM!!! You felt it as well as heard it.

Carrier ops are impressive. DR505, my hat is off to you.