Well- this was interesting...

I was sitting here at home at about 8:30 AM-ish, I think, when I heard a rumble. Since the last time I heard 'a rumble', a tornado blew by the house.. I went outside, couldn't see a thing, no contrail, no aircraft- it was partly cloudy, so I didn't have a good clear view of the sky. Whatever this thing was, it rumbled south, slightly SW, and had passed from overhead when I heard it to past the horizon (yeah... that loud and distinct) in less than a minute. For the technical minded, Greensboro, NC is where I was sitting at the moment. The sound was so distinct, I could hear it as it went from (relatively speaking) the kitchen, over my head, past the front door, etc. It faded out after it (presumably) shot past the horizon.

Horribly fast aircraft, secret aircraft, or what?

Just something going fast.

Or what?

Absence of evidence.

Hard saying.

Aircraft would be gone by the time you begin to hear it.

a reply to: wylekat

if it was a F15 / F35 at normal cruising it would have gone passed at quite a clip, 250-300 m/s, time you would have heard it, it would have been way a away

Could have been a sonic boom. The sound they produce varies. From something not much louder than thunder to a booming concussive blast.



It might just have been thunder. And there are many other natural explanations.

But it might have had a more mysterious cause.

What do you think it is?

originally posted by: neo96
Or what?

Absence of evidence.

Hard saying.

Aircraft would be gone by the time you begin to hear it.

Then this one was gone, gone, gone. We don't get loud, rumbling jets flying that direction. They all come the opposite way. And a whole lot slower.

I wonder what the hurry was...

originally posted by: Moresby
Could have been a sonic boom. The sound they produce varies. From something not much louder than thunder to a booming concussive blast.

It might just have been thunder. And there are many other natural explanations.

But it might have had a more mysterious cause.

What do you think it is?

Hmm. After hearing these, I'd say it was a jet that had gone supersonic before it reached me. Thunder doesn't last for 45 seconds at a stretch around here (nothing for it to echo off of), and the last time I heard that much noise, it was that stupid tornado chewing its way at me. No tornado weather, thank goodness.

What makes me think it was a sonic boom is the fact I could hear it pass over.

Now, the next question is why is a jet booking it like that, and going north? All our air traffic here goes *south*, and a whole lot slower than that. Unless he's some hotshot flyboy.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I'm curious as to what, tho.

a reply to: wylekat

There are any one of a few dozen reasons for it. There are all kinds of military bases in the region, plus Lockheed is flying their trainer replacement entry in that area.

a reply to: Zaphod58

plus Lockheed is flying their trainer replacement entry in that area.

Ah. As long as they stay away from the transmission tower (that I live exactly next to). I don't want to ever find out what happens when hotshot pilot meets antenna at mach whateverthehell. Especially not from 2 football fields or so away.

Ugh. Wham, Bam, it's raining shrapnel N spam.

a reply to: wylekat

They demonstrated what happens when an F-16 hits one at subsonic speed in Arizona a few months ago.

a reply to: Zaphod58

O_O

Do I wanna know...

a reply to: wylekat

It breaks it enough that they have to put it on a bigger plane to go get torn apart to decide if its worth fixing, which it probably won't be.

a reply to: wylekat

I too live near Greensboro and it came back that evening as well. The low overcast made it very hard to see anything and there was no traffic on flight 24 within about 50 miles. I literally shot up from the couch and ran outside as soon as I heard it along with my kids. It rumbled your chest like you were standing next to a tower of speakers at a rock concert.
I work in East of Greensboro (about 20 miles or so) and heard the AM flyby and mentioned to my office mate that we should go see what that was. By the time we got outside it was too late..
This loud flyby is interesting given the amount of other military hardware flying around here lately.