Is it permissible for military aircraft to fly over the US at supersonic speeds? I didn’t think so, but now I’m getting conflicting information, and I thought that the SD might be able to clear it up.
This morning, my husband and I heard three extremely loud booms that sounded like explosions. We weren’t sure what happened, but when I went out to the car, one of the windows had been shattered in place. (The safety glass had kept the entire thing together…no rocks in the car, no holes in the glass, nothing…)
Connecting the two events in my head, I called the police department, and asked if they knew of any explosions this morning. Sure enough, they said that their officers, a couple of miles across town, had also heard it, and that it was a sonic boom from nearby air force jets. The officer that came to look at the car said that it was either frost damage or damage from the sonic boom. I told him that I thought flying at those speeds over the US wasn’t permitted, but he said it was.
So, what’s the real answer? I googled it, but wasn’t too successful. Is it possible that a sonic boom did occur over my town in rural Missouri this morning? If it did, could it have been responsible for breaking my car window? If so, is there anything I can do about it?
The only sonic boom I’ve ever heard was in rural northern California, near Mt. Lassen National Park. It was the loudest noise I’ve ever felt (not just heard–it was so loud, I felt it physically). In the quiet of the mountains, there was no mistaking it for some kind of industrial noise or explosion.
They say that the Concorde passenger jet was not allowed NY to LA over the US because of sonic booms, but I suppose the military has priority.
I used to fly fighters for the USAF back in the 1980s. Coincidentally, I live in St. Louis, not too far from you in Rolla.
The general rule then (and presumably still now) is that supersonic flighjt is prohibited over the US landmass. There are exceptions for some military training areas, normally in nearly uninhabited parts of the country. I’m talking places like Northern Arizona, not rural MO.
As well, there is/was an exception for military necessity. If somebody needed to be intercepted, the interceptor aircraft could go as fast as they needed to.
There is an F-15 Air National Guard squadron based in St. Louis. Their normal aeriel training arena is not far from Rolla. Modern fighters can pass through the so-called sound “barrier” like your car can pass through the so-called 55mph barrier. In other words, it’s a non-event for the plane and the pilot.
It’s entirely possible they were out doing their air combat practice and somebody goofed and inadvertantly ended up supersonic.
OTOH, I sort of doubt what you heard was really a sonic boom The overpressure of sonic booms is very rarely enough to crack glass, particularly not modern car glass which is lots stronger than late 1950s home window panes whose failures first made sonic booms controverisal, then prohibited.
I grew up in St Louis in the 70’s and I recall hearing sonic booms every so often. I always assumed it was McDonnell-Douglas testing fighter jets.
I live and work near both a fertilizer plant as well as another factory-type building that has lots of external pipes, tubes, and such. In the last few years both have experienced a fairly significant explosion that rattled windows for miles around, so it’s possible the “sonic boom” you heard may have been an explosion of some other sort.
Well, I guess it could have been an explosion of some sort, but it was felt a few miles away also, and the police officer I talked to said it was enough to cause his entire patrol car to shake violently. And it was LOUD and we certainly FELT it! It shook our whole apartment and made the windows rattle. (Apparently, nobody notified the police that there was an explosion, although around here, it’s pretty hard to rule out a meth lab bursting into flames…) I guess it it possible that the window was just a conincidence, and it was some sort of frost damage.
For some unknown reason, military aircrafts frequently flew over the little village lost in the middle of nowhere where I was living as a child. At supersonic speed. So, we would quite often hear the supersonic “Boom” and though it was a loud noise, and the windows indeed rattled, nor us, nor any neighbor ever complained about having a window broken. So, like other posters, I somehow doubt yours was broken as a result of the plane flyover.
Of course it isn’t allowed. Get officer Barney to get in his squad car, pull that F-15 over, and give that hotshot a speeding ticket.
don’t settle for any lame excuse like his car won’t go 800 mph. You are a citizen demand your rights.
[/scarcasm]
I also doubt that your car window was broken by a sonic boom. Car glass is way tougher than house glass, but it can shatter from uneven heating / cooling.
Lucky! That was probably a sonic boom from an SR-71 Blackbird. A squadron of them were based out of Beale AFB in Marysville, CA. A typical route for them when they were flying east was to fly over northeast California because it is thinly populated.
When I was young and living near an air force base in Kansas, the jets would occasionally do supersonic flight and the “booms” were almost a daily occurence. It ended up cracking windows, and rattling dishes and plates pretty seriously. One time the Thunderbirds came for a show, and we sat and watched them from outside the base on a large rockpile that overlooked the runway (we were too poor to get in for the show), and one of the jets broke off, and vanished. Then, for some reason, a half-minute later I turned around to talk to my sister, and saw this jet streaking towards us, maybe only 500 feet off the ground…and dead silent.
In fact, is passed over us dead silently, extremely creepily, and then there was the “BOOM!” and an actual rush of air that actually either blew us all off the top of the pile, or else we slipped out of fright. I don’t know what.
I’ve also seen B1s go supersonic over Missouri, and heard the boom as well, but it’s been more than a decade since I heard that.
I thought that supersonic flight was prohibited over the US also…But it seems that in certain cases it is allowed.
Here around Chattanooga, we’ve had MANY Sonic booms over the last several months.
In fact, back in august Lockheed Martin Marietta, sent a group here to explain what we were hearing- it seems that we lie under airspace that Lockheed has permission to test the YF 22 in.
Notice the last paragraph which lists contact info in case of property damage. Now while that Info is specific to the testing of the F 22, if you can prove that there was a supersonic flight in your area, and you can link that flight to the damaged window, it should be covered by the agency that owned the plane.
Useless anecdote follows-
Two weeks ago, I was lying in the floor when one of the 22’s overflew, I kid you not, the entire house heaved Impressively loud those booms are.
Had a somewhat similar experience at a Thunderbirds show at Otis Air National Guard Base when I was young. Is the supersonic solo run still part of the act? I don’t know, but it was at the time. My parents had gotten lost driving from a secondary base entrance to the air show location. There we were in the scrub of an abandoned section of the base when the T-Bird show began, so Dad pulled over on the side of the road and we climbed on top of our VW bus.
I don’t know what altitude the run-in for the supersonic run is flown at, but it scared the hell out of us kids. You’re looking off into the distance trying to see the main group, and suddenly an F-16 zips right over your head from behind you. Then you get the boom.
I’d assumed super-sonic flight was allowed over the US, just at certain altitudes.
I remember about thirteen years ago, while I was at NC State, walking home from class, I heard this odd “Wuh-wump”. It wasn’t too loud, but it was loud enough to make a couple of us take notice. When I got home, a DJ on the radio mentioned there was a jet flying super-sonic, and to please stop calling him to find out what that noise was.
Currently, I live about ten miles from an air base, and I occasionally hear a faint “Wuh-wump”, which I assume is from the jet fighters.
When I was a kid growing up in South Eastern IL (farm land for 100 miles in any direction basically), we’d have jets fly over and produce a sonic boom on occasion. No one really seemed to care, no damage was done. I was always told they would do it out here just because it wasn’t a highly populated area.
I could believe that having a very cold window that may be more brittle could be more likely to break if rattled. Don’t know for sure though.
I’ll tell you what was worse than a sonic boom from an F-16 : a KC-135 tanker taking off fully loaded, slooooooooooowly creeping across the sky over your house, so low that your hand at arm’s length cannot cover the plane from view. All engines at maximum thrust or over. These things produced a roar that was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard in all my life - it hurt your ears to the point of clutching your head and running inside, and made plates dance across the table.
Personally, I’d take 10 sonic booms a day over that.