Loud boom still unexplained

Originally posted by Tippys Dad


By reading the reader submitted comments at the bottom of the news article, it sounds as if this boom was heard from St Louis, MO all the way to Des Moines, IA, a distance of about 400 miles. I'm guessing some form of military test, but I'm submitting this because I heard of a similar incident recently and thought maybe this was becoming more commonplace. The next generation of fighters? American Flying Saucers, perhaps?

www.thehawkeye.com
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Sounds to me like they're disposing of old dynamite.

This might well have been a fair sized meteoroid entering Earth's atmosphere. A bright fireball that caused a sonic boom was reported over California just a few hours later.

It's not possible that these events were directly connected, but the California event demonstrates that there are large rocks in our vicinity at this time (and indeed most of the time).

Originally posted by Memysabu
400 miles? I dunno thats several times the size of my state even. I dont believe sonic booms travel 400 miles to the point people hear it and think its odd. I hear booms out back all the time from trash cans or whatever and dont know what it is. I dont think its odd. Couple hundred miles or less? Maybe.

[edit on 27-12-2008 by Memysabu]

You're thinking wrong. You're talking about the pressure wave off a sonic plane as if it was a discrete event in which the pressure wave can only propagate so far out. Wrong way to think about it. Think about it as follows: it's a pressure wave that moves with the plane...so if the plane travels 400 miles at sonic/transition speeds, the pressure wave will travel that same flight path. You could literally invision it as being "dragged" behind the leading edge of the wing of the plane. So every one in its path will hear it.

Now, the pressure wave created by a sonic aircraft is, in fact, an N-wave that actually creates two booms in a sonic boom. They can be so close together that if you don't know what to listen for you could think it was an echo (and actually, it kind of is), but a sonic boom should go boom-boom in quick succession.

Was this a clearly single boom, or did it appear to have a bit of reverb to it. In order to stand the sound of the N-wave, imagine attempting to pull both triggers on a double-barrel shotgun and getting an ever-so-slight lag between the two going off...that's the n-wave "sonic boom" from a winged aircraft.

[edit on 12-28-2008 by Valhall]

reply to post by Marked One


Hi Marked, That was the initial thought around here. We have an ammunition plant a few miles from here, but they do not "burn" at night. My Dad worked there for years, several of them in the "burning field" where they dispose of old ordinance, and he confirmed only daylight operations. This boom occured at night. Also, I've grown up hearing the boom of ordinance disposal, this seemed different.

It could have been someone blasting rock as well, they test jet engines just down the road from here and Lockheed is within the range I would expect to hear sonic booms...I'm sure that's all it was, either someone blasting rock or a sonic boom, nothing more.

I live in Bloomfield, IA about 30-40 miles from the original reported incidents and it's still continuing. We heard it for the first time here today, Jan. 1, 2009. It sounded like it was coming from under or inside the house. It rattled the floors and windows. Searched the basement and around the house...nothing. I got on the internet thinking about a report I'd read about similar incidents in the southwest US but found booms way closer to home.

I've heard sonic booms before too. This wasn't one. We used to have a guy in the service who would fly over to give his dad who lived here a "hello" that way before they made him quit it. This wasn't the same sound and it's been going on for over a week now spreading west from the reports coming in.

i've gotten to experience a live sonic boom n 1986 stationed aboard the USS Jouette. (cg29)

we were on our way to the indian ocean with our battle group and got a head's up one day that we would be getting a "fly-by" (!)

i was on the "02 level" at the "sigs" station and had the big-eyes on looking aft for the approaching plane.

i caught its visual and watched it come up the rear of the ship, took off the big-eyes, and watched it "sip" by. the sound it made as it blew by the 02 level at face height was amazing!

basically, no sound but a whisp as it passes by visually, then BAM!!!!!! very cool life experience.

edit to say: damn that sounds cheesy... sorry



[edit on 1/1/2009 by zooplancton]

[edit on 1/1/2009 by zooplancton]

I live in mid Missouri, right by Ft Wood, I heard no boom, but I WAS awakened by several loud planes in a row flying overhead. Usually, I never hear planes, so they seemed to be rather low flying.

no...a boom is withen a short distance..a planes wings build up a pressure of air around the wing...from time to time it sheds that presure and a portion hits the ground...depending on the shape of the vehilce and flight path the pattern will go from razor thin to heart shaped...now as the vehilce continues at speed...it does this many times....so...at any random point along lets say a 500 miles path many will here a boom... and many will not...i suggest this 400 mile boom was actually a series of booms across its path...