Have you heard a Sonic Boom?

[Wireworm5]

I was reading the paper today on what causes a Sonic Boom. Air compression build up in front of an airplane when it approaches the speed on sound and then breaks this barrier. I heard one once some 30 years ago, I was in my parents home when this sound louder than thunder ripped through the house. Everyone including all the neighbors had run outside to take a look at what had caused this sound. It was determined to be a sonic boom, since we live near an airport, that seemed a logical conclusion.
So I was wondering how common is it for people to experience this? I would think that since many of you live in large cities it happens regularly with all the airplanes flying over. So how bout it, how many Akers have heard a sonic boom?

[rca2000]

I watched the Shuttle take off, in may of '99, in Florida. It took about 30 seconds, or maybe a little more, until the Shutle had exceeded the speed of sound, then this INCREDIBLE, rippling, rumble, that shook everything, and everyone, around. It is not really something that can be described very well, it has to be heard live, to be understood.

[yamahammer]

local air national guard jet accidently let one rip rumor is ( confucious say "women who fly upside down have hairy crack up") :lmao:

[outlawmws]

Heard then fairly often when I was a kid. not for many years now though...

It used to be more common from the early 60's on back, as the AF/navy was less worried about complaints about busted windows. After that they got tired about hearing about it and stopped the pilots from doing it over populated areas.

[markthefixer]

My understanding is that supersonic flight is forbidden by the FAA at altitudes less than 30,000 feet.... anywhere over the U.S.

That said, I was in Antelope Valley,Ca on May 6, 1991 when Edwards A.F.B. was the planned landing site for the STS-39 Space Shuttle Mission.... The landing was diverted to KSC because of unacceptably high winds at planned landing site, Edwards, but within a few hours I had heard SEVERAL unmistakable double booms popped off while meandering/sightseeing in the valley. High altitude contrails for each and every one.

[OvenMaster]

I live four miles from an Air National Guard base. When I was a kid I'd heard them all the time... but never quite got used to it. The loudest noise I'd ever heard.
Tom

[mg196]

While living in Israel I heard them constantly. While patrolling the Mediterranean coast, they would hit about once every couple of hours. I can't believe windows didn't need to be replaced on a daily basis!

[stormy]

Yes, everytime the space shuttle lands at KSC we get sonic booms in Orlando. A while back when it came in in the middle of the night, I woke up thinking someone had fired a couple of shotguns blasts in the apartment.

[foetusized]

There was one over this area earlier this year. Puzzled quite a few people, and the local news was later able to report it was a sonic boom -- Foe

[Celt]

Sonic booms were common when I was a kid. I seem to remember the ban going into effect during the early 70's. At the time there were two Air Force bases in my area and they would fly over here weekly. I thought it was cool, but it always freaked the birds out.

[mhardy6647]

We had an amusing experience when the kids were little and we were living in California. We were vacationing up near Mt. Shasta, walking through a geothermal 'mineral hot springs' field, quite conscious of Shasta as a somewhat (!) dormant volcano, when we suddenly heard and felt a boom. Scared the bejabbers out of us (this was not too long after the Loma Prieta earthquake, which we'd experienced up close and personal), 'til we noticed a con trail in the sky in the shape of a "J". Ahhh, sonic boom.
We felt pretty sheepish.

EDIT: Actually I think it was Mt. Lassen... gotta check on that. Jeez, getting old and feeble-minded.

[Wornears]

I was an Air Force kid who in the '60s lived in the CA and NV deserts always near air bases, so sonic booms were commonplace. The F-100s and 104s Starfighters my dad worked on were always doing them. (The Starfighter is the bitchinest lookin' modern figher ever IMO.) Also heard many at air shows in the '60s. Saw/heard the X-15 do one once out at Edwards in '62 or so (totally on memory now). The F-11s at Nellis AFB (Las Vegas, NV) in '65 seemed to do them at will -- I think the pilots were trying to keep them in the air -- this was when they were crashing too frequently.

[cruisaire]

Had 'em once a month at Ramstein in the late 60's early 70s. "Hey Mom, better call CE, we lost another window".

[gonzo]

There was a picture in the paper a few years back of a TomCat,I think right on the pressure edge of going through.It was awesome and in color.Back home in Ohio before they were banned a loooong time ago the cows on the grandparents farm would lose it.Scared the hell out everything.

[Wornears]

Not too stray too far off, but almost as impressive as a sonic boom is when a single stream or pattern of jets blasts off with full afterburner filling the sky with an unmatched roar. My folks had the uncanny knack of buying civilian houses near the flight paths (take-off and landing) of most of the air bases we were stationed near.

At McConnel AFB near Witchita, KS, we were a couple of blocks off of the take-off path -- every Saturday morning at around 7:30a.m. bunches of three to five F-4C Phantoms would haul ass into the air and just flood the neighborhoods with sound.

More entertaining is that we were in the approach path for one of the runways at Boeing, this is back in the late mid--late '60s when Wichita was the air frame capital of the world and Boeing had a huge plant and runway. B-52s would come in on approach low enough for me to see the yellow caution signs on their sides. I have never, ever heard a sound like that. I half expected to see a pilot's arm outside the cockpit waving to me to get down! Probably why my ears are the way they are now....

"That's not noise son. That's the sound of freedom!"

[Reel 2 Reel]

One of the builders we do work for has his office across the street from the airport runway here in Saginaw. A while back there were a couple of f-15s take off...(they do this regulary)...they took off out over the saginaw bay...which is where the finger portion and the thumb protion of michigan come together.....well they are loud enough to begin with...but after about 45 seconds to a minuite after take off...There was a super loud rumble from the direction of the bay...so I could only believe they kicked in their afterburners....

For reference ...the bay would be about 25 -30 miles away from where we were!....

[Toasted Almond]

Fighter guys only go supersonic out over the water now. Boeing still has the huge plant at McConnell.

A really good blast was when an F-105 lit it's afterburner. It's a "hard" lighting burning. They'd be at the end of the runway spooling up their engines. All of a sudden it got dead quiet and then KABOOM that burner would light and they'd go hauling ass down the runway. 106's had the same engine but without the water injection feature.

[cubdog]

The last one I heard was about a week ago. I was trying to sneek a new set of speakers into the house. The wife got home earlier than expected and BOOM!!! The sound was amazing! :naughty:

cubdog

[Lefty]

When I was around 10 in 1957 we lived within site of Hamilton AFB here in the San Francisco bay area. The fighter interception squadron received the then brand new F-104 starfighter, 'missle with a man in it'. Heard many a boom over a few years time until the complaints got too numerious and they seemed to cool their jets a little. One boom caused some ceiling plaster to fall in my then infant sister's room and nearly fell into her crib. The AF sent out some investagators to inspect the damage but nothing came of it...

Anyway, way cool was the 104 and a few of us use to sneak onto the base and watch them take off and land. One pilot died in a flame out on take off, he injected but the 104 injected out the bottom of the plane and at low elevation he just got fired into the mud flats. :no:

Lefty

[Wornears]

T/A thanks for the update on McConnell. Our next door neighbor in Wichita was an EE for Boeing and was in the thick of converting all the electronics of the B-52s from tubes to SS in the '60s.

My dad also worked on the avionics of the F-105 and you are right about its afterburner sounds. I'd forgotten about that. We would hear them at night sometimes. I once got to see a squadron of F-106s practice a scamble from an air base at Dulth, MN (they didn't know it was practice) -- and I've never forgotten how those fighter jocks stood those darts on their tales before reaching the end of the runway, full afterburners blazing.

[ginovino]

I was stationed at Grissom AFB(formerly Bunker Hill AFB) in Peru, Indiana between Jan 1968 - Feb 1969. This was SAC (Strategic Air Command) extremely high security base In the middle of rural "cornfield" Indiana.

The B-58 was a single mission Delta wing bomber. Before the B-70 and the F-111 bombers, the B-58 was a 4 engine Mach 2 (1400 mph) High altitude monster. Each engine produced 20,000 hp! It set speed and altitude records that still stand today. Only bested by the famous "BlackBird" SR-71 spy plane.

The B-58 was capable of sustained 900mph afterburner speeds for 1/2hr at a time before going back subsonic. It was capable of mach 1 at 600ft above the ground!!!
It's service ceiling was 80,000ft and operational ceiling was 65,000ft.

Unfortunately it could get you there FAST, though you would never return!

It's sole mission was to deliver one 15 megaton air burst thermonuclear (H bomb) device.

Because of high maintainance costs and its limited mission it quickly outlived its mission.The russians had nothing that could keep up with it, nor missles able to reach it at the speeds it flew.

I worked on the flightline in Mission planning... nuf said... when those suckers fired up those 4 GE monsters nothing stood still. Everything rattled like a giant subwoofer!!! It stayed that way until they passed the 5000ft marker and went Airborne. The flames from those beauties could be seen for about 3 miles in the night sky.
The Coup deGrace was when SAC pulled a launch alert (which happened frequently, like in the movies) and then you had 50 bombers lined up on the runway in the mixed Triad configuration - 32 of those bombers had live Nukes in their bellies taxiing and taking off at 10 second intervals... All those engines!!!! Still gives me goose bumps.We did have one fatal accident, when a total flameout occured on take off and the aircraft crashed on its belly, with live weaponry. All 3 crew members were killed. Bases was cloed for over a week until everyone was debriefed.

In terms of sonic booms,they were never allowed to go supersonic over or near the base. Only after the Reached 40,000ft over Lake Michigan. Then remainded so over the the TOP of the world on their way to Russia. They were deactivated in 1972 and replaced with the F-111 Bomber.

[Toasted Almond]

The B-58 was so ahead of its time it is beyond belief. The only problem with that aircraft was you couldn't keep enough gas in it.

As fast as it was, below 5,000 ft., it still couldn't keep up with a 105. Nothing to this day could, below 5,000 ft.

[ginovino]

The B-58 was so ahead of its time it is beyond belief. The only problem with that aircraft was you couldn't keep enough gas in it.

As fast as it was, below 5,000 ft., it still couldn't keep up with a 105. Nothing to this day could, below 5,000 ft.

That may well be true. However, they had a bad habit of landing with their noses and canopies stuck in the ground vertically like a telephone pole and their tails sticking straight up in the air 30 feet! Care to argue that point? :banana:

[Sandy G]

Ahh, the "Hustler". To a plane-bemused schoolboy, the B-58 was pure sex. Didn't it carry what weaponry it had in that big missile looking thing slung underneath its belly? Was it ever deployed in Viet Nam? I wonder if there's any of 'em left...They could let me have one..-Sandy G.

[ginovino]

That is absolutely correct. If the Aircraft was configured to be the jamming Bird (Electronic counter measures) of the Triad, the underslung pod could be used to carry extra fuel when needed to loiter at Fail-safe points,
If the Aircraft was carrying the Weaponry, it was enclosed in the pod. For training purposes, the pod was generally filled with a dummy weapon, so that aircraft reacted as though it were loaded for a mission.

Unfortunately, "cruise missles" came on the scene too late for the B-58 or it may have lived another few decades as a delivery platform for cruise missles by mounting 4 of them under those strong Delta wings.

Their a few B-58's around for high speed testing for Nasa, most of their missions are higly classified. In fact Nasa and the USAF deny ANY are operational. I am not a conspiracy theorist, mark my words, they are out there currently in very good use. Now with terrain hugging radar, imagine mach 1 at 600 feet above the deck! thats faster than a .45 cal bullet ! ! !

[lynnm]

I have heard a couple of sonic booms and certainly the roar of an after burner kicking in when a fighter jet went into a vertical climb sent shivers.

One of the more interesting things I saw when in the air force was a demonstration of RATO.A Hercules cargo plane ( AKA C-130 ) fitted with Rocket assist on both sides of the aircraft went from a stop to airborne in what looked like about 50 feet although I am sure that the distance was actually longer than it looked from a half mile away. It also made a most impressive racket in the process.

This link has a nice shot of a Herc using RATO

http://www.kokopelli.org.uk/wings/DWP4_007.html

[Sandy G]

Wonder if they'd let me have one of them there now RATO-thingies to strap on top of my '67 Impala...I'd bet that sucker'd make it GO !!!-Sandy G.

[Toasted Almond]

Hey Gino Vino,

I'll argue with you any day of the week and twice on Sunday, that those Thuds and their drivers were magnificent. You want to try shooting down a Mig-17 in a Thud? Go nose to nose with some N.Vietnamese SAM sites in an airplane that was not designed to do any fancy turns? Those fucking pilots were MAGNIFICENT, and the performance they wrenched out of those airplanes was unbelievable.

And under 5,000 feet, B-58's only got a look at a Thud's ass.


I doubt your comment regarding active use of B-58's, or anybody denying their use.

[dingus]

thank God for John Boyd.

[ginovino]

Hey Gino Vino,

I'll argue with you any day of the week and twice on Sunday, that those Thuds and their drivers were magnificent. You want to try shooting down a Mig-17 in a Thud? Go nose to nose with some N.Vietnamese SAM sites in an airplane that was not designed to do any fancy turns? Those fucking pilots were MAGNIFICENT, and the performance they wrenched out of those airplanes was unbelievable.

And under 5,000 feet, B-58's only got a look at a Thud's ass.


I doubt your comment regarding active use of B-58's, or anybody denying their use.

Touche', The Thud and the Hustler are now both dead and Ergo it is now a non issue.

[Celt]

Speaking of sonic booms...did I ever tell you about the time I went to an "all you can eat" buffet dinner at Taco Bell? :para:

[Sandy G]

Hahahahaha..Good Gawdamighty !!-Sandy G.

[OvenMaster]

:lmao::lmao::lmao:
Tom

[brainsmasher]

When I was growing up out in the middle of nowhere sonic booms were almost a daily event. We were about 200-250 miles from denver and that seemed to be the right spot for those pilots to kick it in to overdrive.

[mhardy6647]

IIRC, Convair also used the B-58's engines (presumably somewhat 'detuned') in the commercial 990 airliner. The 990 supposedly got its name from its speed (990 feet per second) and was almost certainly the fastest commercial airliner ever made. Probably also the most un-economical jet airliners ever, too... as well as awfully complex and hard to keep running right.

The 880 and 990 were sexy looking beasts, too.

http://www.luftfahrt.ch/images/aissr990.jpg
http://www.airlines-airliners.de/airliners/cvjet/n5620.jpg

[Sandy G]

Yeah, I remember that the 990 had something called an aft-fan engine that was fast & powerful, but liked gas pretty well. Seems like a 990 would go supersonic if you put it into a shallow dive. The 880/990 program nearly sunk General Dynamics..the planes weren't a commercial success, and in those days it was hard to go up against the boys from Boeing & McDonnell-Douglas.-Sandy G.

[Toasted Almond]

Tough to beat the classic lines of the 707. I think it's the best looking airliner ever built.

[Trawlerman]

Yup. Heard one of those. Needed a change of underwear afterwards :)

It was when it was about 9-10 years old. The RAF were still flying BAC Lightnings. I had gone with my father and grandfather fishing on Spurn Point which is a spit of land some 5 miles long and only 90 feet wide. Most of Spurn is just sanddunes and it has an access road that goes to the point that services the Humber Lifeboat and Coastguard station.

About 10 miles up the coast is the Bombing range of RAF Cowden. More often than not, they used to do a hit-and-run on Cowden when returning to their bases at RAF Binbrook which was only 2 miles from Spurn but on the other side of the rive in Lincolnshire.

This particular day a pair of Lightnings had been on Cowden and were returning to Binbrook and were practising low level flying using the built-up sanddunes for cover. As they were over land they weren't allowed to use supersonic or fly as low as they did that day. Anyway, they flew over our heads and the place was silent for about 3-4 seconds then the noise hit us. My grandfather almost choked on his chicken soup and I almost crapped myself.

It was certainly one hell of an experience and not one that I would like to repeat without a bit of fore warning.

Sadly the Lightnings have long since gone from these shores and so has my Grandfather :(

[shrinkboy]

i think if you're a baby boomer, you're more likely to have heard one. i grew up near Ling, Tempco, Vaught in Grand Prairie Texas ( i was in Oak Cliff, just east) in the late 50's, and they were a very frequent occurence

[mhardy6647]

TA: No denigration of the B-707! Indeed, these birds still define 'modern' in their design (inside and out) and are of much more historic import than the cantankerous, but still beautiful, Convair jets.

http://www.chicagocentennialofflight.org/images/images_aircraft/Boeing707_Boeing.jpg

some might prefer the original version:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/construction/images/10-00-03_002.jpg

but I think we all know the real reason TA likes the 707 best...

[mhardy6647]

...

http://www.telcom.es/~jcastjr/aviones/kc-135.jpg

[Sandy G]

Yeah, the 707, along w/the DC-3, is an example of what a plane "should" look like.-Sandy G.

[RussinOhio]

I remember hearing (feeling!)F-8 Crusaders & F-4 Phantoms making sonic booms as a kid during my growing up years on Marine Corps airstations.

Man! Those were the days when Military jets were all marked in the "hi-Vis" color schemes. Now everything is splotches of "Ghost-Grey".

Russ

[Bogframe]

When I was spending my summers on Monhegan Island in Maine, We'd occasionally get sonic booms from SSTs coming over from Europe. Being that the island was 15 miles out to sea, they'd still be in supersonic mode when they flew over. The first time I actually heard a sonic boom, I nearly made one in my pants! I thought a bomb had gone off right outside the house!

[golden age]

I sometimes hear one when the space shuttle would land at Edwards AFB. Remember it as sometimes being a double sonic boom. With the shuttles problems I may not hear that again.

[Super866]

So.. You've heard one. But have you SEEN one?

no?..

Me either :dunno: But, if you did. This is what it would look like.

[mageworlder]

Over most populated areas, aren't aircraft prohibited from breaking the sound barrier? Although, I've heard a few sonic booms in the form of gunshots.

[mhconley]

Used to hear the occasional Space Shuttle double boom at my parent's home in Chatsworth (NorthWest San Fernando Valley) as it returned to Edwards Air Force base.

Martin

[thedelihaus]

I have.

Then I got divorced.



Seriously, I lived by a Naval (???) Air Force Base. Heard it often. Very cool indeed.

The base is closed now, sadly. I grew to love those "interuptions".

It's soon going to be strip malls and condos.

[speakerlust]

I have heard them but it's been like 35 years ago ...... That pic of a plane
breaking the sound barrier.....That's not for real right ???

[NeedForSpeed]

Being on a few Carriers (Ranger, Coral Sea, Independance), I was witness to so many Tomcat/Hornet fly-by's, I never go to air shows. They cracked the sound barrier daily.

[Bigyank]

Lived near Willow Grove Naval Air Station in the 60's outside of Philadelphia, PA and heard them all the time as a kid. Loud as hell they were!

Yank

[bentpencil]

Having Oakland NAS, McClellan AFB, Mather AFB, and Travis AFB within a 60 mile radius, it used to be pretty commonplace around here, until they started shutting the bases down.

We do have something else that's almost as good. Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Laboratories is about 25 miles from here, and they have a kind of satellite site(?) in the foothills that's known as "Site 300". I used to do business with a company that did work at the site. They'd take a piece of 1 1/2 foot thick armor plate that the had developed, put it in a cave they bored a mile deep in one of the mountains, and try to blow a hole in it.

They're supposed to notify the surrounding towns in advance when they do it, but they usually don't.

BOOM!!!

[avionic]

20 years in the USAF ...Seen and hear quite a few...One time when I was in Iceland about 40km from the Naval air station Keflavik I thought I heard a sonic boom..nope :no: turned out to be a earthquake/tremor...:yes: They sounded about the same.:yes:

[avionic]

I have heard them but it's been like 35 years ago ...... That pic of a plane
breaking the sound barrier.....That's not for real right ???
For real yes.

[NeedForSpeed]

I have heard them but it's been like 35 years ago ...... That pic of a plane
breaking the sound barrier.....That's not for real right ???

It is for real, That pic is a USN Hornet approching the sound barrier, Or Mach 1 (761mph) at sea level. Pilots said a drop in air pressure around the jet causes the droplets. At air shows you will see mist during banking with the afterburner lit, Was told that was due to the wing edges "Cutting" the air.

[KeninDC]

Navy brat. Heard 'em all the time growing up. I hear about one a year when I go to the beach in Nags Head, NC and the Navy jets (from Va. Beach area) will "pop" one out at sea. Cool stuff.

[Zeromancer]

I have.

[similost]

Being an AF brat, I used to hear them a lot when I was a kid growing up.. especially when I was living in Germany..

[mhconley]

It is for real, That pic is a USN Hornet approching the sound barrier, Or Mach 1 (761mph) at sea level. Pilots said a drop in air pressure around the jet causes the droplets. At air shows you will see mist during banking with the afterburner lit, Was told that was due to the wing edges "Cutting" the air.

Here's a video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HbMcg-quwA&mode=related&search=

Martin

[jblmar]

Thunder! That's a sonic boom. Lightning super heats the atmosphere to a hotter temperature then the sun for a small fraction of a second. The air 'explodes'. That's the 'boom'.

Ron

[NeedForSpeed]

Here's a video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HbMcg-quwA&mode=related&search=

Martin


I've seen that, Brings back memories! Thanks.:thmbsp:

[SoCal Sam]

Yes. On the way to Edwards, the Space Shuttle flies over Southern California. I've heard the twin sonic booms several times. In the early eighties at the Miramar Air Show (Top Gun Base), I saw and heard an F-14 do a low level flyby at supersonic speeds. It broke windows at UCSD.

[godzilla]

I heard a double real close once when I was a kid. It was in 1983 and we were at the Outer Banks in N.C. in Rodanthe. They were having Naval games out in the Atlantic not too far off. We could see the flash of light and hear the slight boom when they would fire their guns at night...that was so cool...they had the Battleship USS New Jersey out there firing. I was always a model freak as a kid. A couple of F-14 Tomcats flew about 50-75 ft. above the water while we were swimming one morning. We could see the pilots when they flew by. After they passed they angled out to sea and let it rip...all of a sudden there was a double big boom and they shot skyward. That was so cool! Made our hair stand on end. They were maybe a mile away when the sound hit. We were there for a week and they were out there almost the entire time...every so often we'd hear a boom in the distance.

[whoaru99]

Been a while for the boom...

Did a stint in the AF as a jet engine mech. Spent most of my time working at the test cell. Not much is like the tingle you get standing within a foot or two of a jet engine running at power. :thmbsp:

[WhiteSE]

The last one I heard was about a week ago. I was trying to sneek a new set of speakers into the house. The wife got home earlier than expected and BOOM!!! The sound was amazing! :naughty:

cubdog

thats the noggin'barrier that has been crossed!!...LOL

[IXLR8]

Over most populated areas, aren't aircraft prohibited from breaking the sound barrier? Although, I've heard a few sonic booms in the form of gunshots.

You are correct that is why when using a silencer one uses sub-sonic ammo. If not the secondary crack after 1100 FPS (around there) is sharp and will make your presence known pronto.

[sleddogman]

I've heard 2 in my life and they do tend to scare the wits out of you if you're not expecting them.

While we're on the subject... ever wonder whether if it's the cigar or disc shape (and lack of wings) that keeps UFOs from creating sonic booms as they rapidly dart back and forth across the sky...? :scratch2:

[mwr885]

I've seen that, Brings back memories! Thanks.:thmbsp:

I miss the Tomcat and Supersonic Passes! I really miss the Alpha's Launching in burner!

[Donkey!]

local air national guard jet accidently let one rip rumor is ( confucious say "women who fly upside down have hairy crack up") :lmao:

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

[ARguy]

Many times growing up in the 60's and spent much time around the F-4 Phantom and the crack of it's twin burners fully lit reaching towards the heavens...I miss those days!

[RayW]

I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers out of college doing acoustics research, mostly for noise abatement around bases. One of our studies was testing C-4 blasts to sonic booms out in the desert near Fallon, Nv. We were setting off 5lb blocks of C-4 and we tried to match levels with the booms. Somebody had calculated about how high the planes would have to be to match ~125dB. They were wrong. Our first flyover was about 5000', they hit the gas right over us, and we measured somewhere in the high 130's. It shook stuff off the shelves in our measurement truck. We eventually got it all straightened out and spent a week listening to various booms.

Ray

[xylopilot]

The last time I heard "The Sound Of Freedom"was the summer of 1985. My son was 5 years old. We were visiting my best friend in Alamogordo N.M. Said friend was an F15 pilot at Holloman A.F.B.. By arrangement my son and I were way out in White Sands Monument. It was my pals turn to lead a night flight of 4 Eagles. I know the rest of pilots were happy to give a little boy a thrill. Exactly on the agreed time the 4 aircraft flew low over us and one after the other went to afterburner and flew straight up into the darkest blue New Mexico night. Absolutely one of our all time moments. Go Air Force:thmbsp::thmbsp::thmbsp:

[RaymondLeggs]

My speakers make sonic booms! :D

[RaymondLeggs]

My speakers make sonic booms! :D

I did hear a fighter jet Boom once!

[Strawman]

I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers out of college doing acoustics research, mostly for noise abatement around bases. One of our studies was testing C-4 blasts to sonic booms out in the desert near Fallon, Nv. We were setting off 5lb blocks of C-4 and we tried to match levels with the booms. Somebody had calculated about how high the planes would have to be to match ~125dB. They were wrong. Our first flyover was about 5000', they hit the gas right over us, and we measured somewhere in the high 130's. It shook stuff off the shelves in our measurement truck. We eventually got it all straightened out and spent a week listening to various booms.

Ray

Me setting a small C-4 charge at the Eniwetok Atoll, 1978.

[bluesky]

Heard a sonic boom this morining. Space shuttle returning to earth!!