Sonic Booms.

I was at a friends house when, I heard something like thunder. I looked outside, only to see that no nimbostratus or cumulonimbus clouds around. Only some fair weather cumulus clouds. I heard two of the booms. It didn't sound like thunder. The second one followed about 5 minutes later. I have heard that over several areas near government facilities 'Sonic Booms' will be heard. These cannot be thunder, as one, it was a clear day, (but lightning can strike on a clear day). Two, they come too often. These are mostly heard around areas close to Area 51. As far as California they'll be heard. So, what are we looking at here?

weird, I recently heard a sonic boom too. I live near an Air Force Base but I've never heard one before until about a week ago. Same as you described. I also live about 30 miles from Ft. Sill so I hear artillery fire all the time. You can actually go up on a mountain and watch the cannons fire and see the shells hit a few miles away

Don't sonic booms come in pairs, close together?

theres an awesome pic of a sonic boom on this site. just click on the pic "Photo Of A Sonic Boom".

I think Sonic Booms are no longer allowed over the Continental United States due to public outcry against noise pollution.

I remember my father saying this a couple years back. I took his word for it seeing as he's a mil pilot, and that "back when I grew up we heard em all the time".

I might be wrong but thats why Ive never heard a sonic boom.

Breaking the sound barrier is still allowed (and common) at several large Air Force ranges, most notable Nellis (where Area 51 is).

Sometimes a pilot will "accidentally" break the sound barrier where they're not supposed to.

Most liley the government is experimenting with an aircraft using sound, or an aircraft similar to concord. Those are really loud, and i think may create sonic booms.

The AFB I live near is going to be training NATO pilots in a few months. I thought I read in the newspaper that they were going to train to fly the F-22 Raptor. The boom I heard might have been someone making a training mistake. It couldnt be anything else since we so no smoke, so probably not an explosion, and some friends of mine that live 15 miles away heard it too.

so big deal they are just sonic booms from military airforce bases why are u acting like its something weird or new?

reply to post by Starwars50


It is allowed for pilots to cause sonic booms in places not around these air force bases you mentioned?
Yesterday in northern Missouri we had two sonic booms around 4 pm. One was so loud is literally blew a heavy patio door shut that leads out onto my deck. We aren't close to any military bases...Whiteman is about 120 miles or so south-west of here, so I was curious as to what the rules are regarding sonic booms by the FAA.

The local news says that Boeing in St. Louis acknowledged that one of their test pilots flying an F15 is responsible for the sonic booms...and St. Louis is around 300 miles from here.

They certainly got my attention but by the time I went outside to see if I could see the plane (after the 2nd one) all that was visible was a long, white line of exhaust/smoke but no plane visible, not surprisingly.

Originally posted by AD5673
Most liley the government is experimenting with an aircraft using sound, or an aircraft similar to concord. Those are really loud, and i think may create sonic booms.

because sonic booms are caused by loud engines right?

ugh.

Oddly, I heard one a couple of weeks ago, and I live in an area where I have never heard one before.

I have heard them before, so I am reasonably certain that is what it was.

what was the weather ? sonic boom or distant thunder - could you tell the difference ?

reply to post by ignorant_ape


I'm not sure if you were directing this question to me, but I'll answer it just in case you were. The weather was nice on Tuesday, the skies were blue and there were a few white clouds in the sky, so no chance it was thunder as far as I can tell.

I am certain they were sonic booms, well as certain as i can be, and they definitely weren't thunder. Apparently some people at the local (very small) airport...the manager and someone else from what I read...went out to investigate after the first one and said they saw what looked like a military jet, similar to an F15 from what they could tell, flying overhead. It was flying from east to west, then turned 180 degrees and flew back in an eastward direction.

The only thing I can relate the sound to, except it was much louder...it literally blew a door shut and all the windows in the house rattled...is when someone lights a large bonfire that is doused in gasoline. I live in a rural area and my neighbors often burn their trash and dead trees, etc and one neighbor douses the pile of wood, etc with gasoline and then throw a match on it (yes I know..very dangerous) and there is always a loud boom when he does this as the fire ignites very quickly...and this was similar to that except many times louder.

Obviously I'm not an expert on sonic booms and I'm not insinuating that this is anything other than just two sonic booms, I was merely wondering if it's odd to hear these when not near a military base, and if there were rules regarding if they are allowed. I do know that several people called the police and fire department thinking there was some sort of explosion such as in a buildup of natural gas, but the local newspaper reported that after calling the FAA they claim that Boeing was testing an F15 out of St. Louis. Anyway, it's probably no big mystery, but it just seemed odd since we aren't close-by to a military base.