Why are there sonic booms in TN.

I live not far from a air force base in TN., and on occasion we have our day intrupted by sonic booms.
The thing is that I never see any planes. And neither has anyone that I have talked with. I mean no trails, nothing.
I used to live in Tampa, FL. (where another base is located), and we never heard sonic booms.
Can someone tell me what is going on?

I live in Knoxville and dont hear any thing here. A guess, you live near Nashville? Any I-40 construction going on? Blasting, etc.? You know how the interstate construction is around these parts...

[edit on 4-8-2008 by Lost_Mind]

If you could see the jets that are making the sonic booms then your windows would all be shattered. There is most likely a military operations area(MOA) or Restricted area a ways out from you. You can hear sonic booms from several miles away but can't see the jets. It also depends on atmospheric condtions too.

Wright-Patterson AFB is just up the pike from you folks. They take off out over the Wilderness lands and hit Mach just about the time they pass over Tennessee.

I'm in Nashville and have seen F-18's (i think) here in formation before.

Also grew up in St Petersburg, across the bay from MacDill- and when the fighters were stationed there we often heard the crack of sonic booms coming in from the Gulf of Mexico...nothing compared to the booms when they took down the old Skyway Bridge though.

I can't say that I've heard one recently. Been here nearly two years now...

Of course could this also be an indication that the Auroa project is alive and well?

Sonic booms, no planes?

Sounds right

[edit on 4-8-2008 by BSG75]

Its not from road construction.
And I had just heard two right befor I posted this.
As far as blasting out the windows, It darn near does. We have had pictures get knocked crooked. Its realy quite loud.
I live outside of Tullahoma. and they can be heard about once a week or so.
Even if they were supposed to go super sonic over the wilderness. Why dont I see any trails from when they gained altitude?
I live kind of high up. And have a lot of sky that can be seen.

Originally posted by only onus
Its not from road construction.
And I had just heard two right befor I posted this.
As far as blasting out the windows, It darn near does. We have had pictures get knocked crooked. Its realy quite loud.
I live outside of Tullahoma. and they can be heard about once a week or so.
Even if they were supposed to go super sonic over the wilderness. Why dont I see any trails from when they gained altitude?
I live kind of high up. And have a lot of sky that can be seen.

Why do you expect to see trails? Contrails don't form except under certain atmospheric conditions, more often at higher altitude than lower. The planes are probably just too far away to see. They're much smaller than airliners. They don't let them fly supersonic anywhere near houses, so they're probably quite far out. Sonic booms are crazy loud, and they carry quite some distance.

I live near AEDC in Manchester,TN. They use the story of testing F-22's and they also test engines on the base as well. Is this what's actually happening. I would say more than likely. We just experienced one a few minutes ago and It was loud. Maybe they where flying a little lower than they where supposed to(Hot Dogs). Being an Air Force brat I think it's kind of cool, but people not used to the military might have their heart skip a beat. Actually mine did because I was concentrated on something and it was kind of loud today. It's not happening as often as it used to. Yeah I know this is an old thread, but the sonic booms don't happen as often as they used to and some people might not be aware about AEDC located in the Tullahoma,Franklin County,Coffee County area which does a lot of engine testing and has several Wind Tunnels.

[edit on 19-11-2009 by theEXxman]

I live in Missouri and at least once a month there will be loud booms with no visible signs of an expolsion. I have tried to figure this out for years; it is not fireworks because they would show in the sky. No airplanes are overhead at the time.
I once was told that they do work underground construction work? Sometimes the ground will even shake. I wonder if this some sort of construction for underground shelters in case of a 2012 doomsday event?

As the poster a few above said...they can be dozens of miles from you and you will never see them but you'll hear it. Having lived on an AFB for years with fighters and bombers I know that you can hear a plane in one portion of the sky but they are long gone by the time you look at where you heard the noise

-Kyo

i for 4 years lived in an area of land used for fighter jet pilot training low altitude flying, heard sonic booms a few times but never saw the jet cause they were always in a different area of sky than where the boom came from. Heard and seen many jets pass over weekly, but if u never saw the jet approach by the time you hear them pass they are already half a mile away. maybe u looking in wrong area of sky to see the jets, dont look for the planes where the boom came from, look somewhere else.

reply to post by only onus


I live there in Manchester, TN. and after 2 years I FINALLY capture the sonic boom or weird noise on video! I have to agree with the poster I have never seen the jet associated with the sound and also I have called everywhere FAA and surrounding air force bases only to be told it wasn't them...see my video for further details.

youtu.be...

These sounds could be related to the New Madrid fault system.

And while they are usually followed by some seismic activity, I have heard of just booms and not a whole lotta shakin' going on