[meteorite-list] Suspected Sonic Boom Heard Over England

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 9 00:24:35 2004
Message-ID: <4190546E.2D563353_at_bhil.com>

Hi, All,

    One of many "sonic boom" reports. Some things to bear in mind.
    National air forces always deny immediately that one of their planes are responsible. Notice that in this story that the RAF is "investigating," but have
already denied it was a military plane. What, then, are they investigating?
    They do so because pilots are not supposed to pop the "sound barrier" over the civilians and we all know pilots never do anything they're not supposed to,
right? As was said in the story, "There are regulations governing supersonic flight..." And regulations are never broken!
    Some years ago, I spent a lot of time investigating a "sonic boom" in my region that was felt over an eighty mile area, a substantial event that broke some
windows over a thirty mile wide area. Really big boom. Could well have been a meteor.
    After about a week of military denials, it turned out that it had been a test flight of a new plane with an enthusiastic test pilot from the plane's
manufacturer. He hadn't reported violating flight regulations, of course, until the story wouldn't go away.
    As for "civilian" planes being incapable of causing sonic booms, that too is a myth. They are perfectly capable of doing so, but are not supposed to, an
entirely different matter. In times past, all large planes were designed with the possible conversion to military use in mind. Many commercial planes in use
today could easily go supersonic, but would the pilot and crew want to badly dent their careers by admitting that it had happened, even accidentally? (It's
easier than you think...)
    An uncle of mine, a private corporate pilot, took delivery of a brand new Boeing 707 back when that plane was the very latest craft (1960). As it was to be
a cargo carrier, it had no seating and no "creature comforts." It was a bare stripped-down shell, all engines and fuel tanks.
    After having shaken down the ship flying from Seattle to New York, he refuelled and set out to fly from New York to Saudi Arabia non-stop, a long and
tedious trip which he enlivened by travelling at a speed comfortable for the vehicle in this configuration. Almost all of his route was over ocean, except for
crossing Italy, but then Italy is rather narrow and he thought it wouldn't really be a problem.
    He was quite surprised when what seemed to be the entire Italian air defense force was scrambled to intercept him as he passed south of Rome at 1120 mph. A
lot of explaining to do. It seems they thought he might be a Russian bomber. A silly notion, as the Russians in 1960 didn't have any plane that large that could
fly that fast.
    Then, there are the cases of the many sightings of a hypersonic experimental craft for more than a decade and whose existence is still thoroughly denied.
But it's been seen, often over the North Atlantic, so many times and with such agreement in detail that you can go and buy a plastic model of this airplane that
"doesn't exist." A vehicle travelling at speeds of up to 5000 mph creates a sonic boom that carries for many hundreds of miles and whose extent and persistence
is very hard to predict accurately.
    If only every sonic boom was a meteor about to deposit a fresh fall... But it ain't necessarily so.


Sterling K. Webb
---------------------------------------------------------

Ron Baalke wrote:

> http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED08%20Nov%202004%2017%3A55%3A31%3A097
>
> UFO boom - Unidentified Foreign Object
> EDWARD FOSS
> EDP24 (United Kingdom)
> November 8, 2004
>
> A suspected sonic boom heard across north-east Norfolk today was not
> caused by a British aircraft, it was confirmed tonight.
>
> The loud bang, heard at least from Sheringham to Halvergate near
> Yarmouth, startled hundreds of people going about their daily business
> at around noon.
>
> But a Ministry of Defence spokesman said it was not a domestic fighter
> that caused the incident, although he was unable to confirm the source
> of the sonic boom.
>
> "We believe there was a sonic boom, but it was not a British aircraft
> that caused it," said Lt Col Stuart Green. "t was not one of ours."
>
> Whether the aircraft was European or American was not clear, but they
> would be the most likely suspects. But it would have been a military
> aircraft, as no civilian plane is capable of going fast enough to make a
> sonic boom.
>
> A spokesman for the UK Civil Aviation Authority said the now out of
> service Concorde was the only civilian craft that had ever been able to
> travel fast enough to create the phenomenon.
>
> North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb described how he had been sitting in his
> office in North Walsham when he heard an "incredible boom".
>
> "The building shook and like many people I was shocked. I thought 'has
> there been some sort of gas explosion?'"
>
> Mr Lamb said he felt the "disturbing" incident begged questions that
> needed to be answered. He pledged to approach ministers for an explanation.
>
> Ben Dunnell, assistant editor of Aircraft Illustrated and formerly from
> Norfolk, said sonic booms were rare in the UK. "There are regulations
> governing supersonic flight, but it is not clear what happened on this
> occasion."
>
> When the sonic boom was heard, windows and homes shook while some people
> were reported to have been running for cover.
>
> "I heard this enormous explosion," said John Hilton, who was in Stalham
> at the time. One or two people were very worried, although most realised
> fairly quickly what it probably was. But I don't feel things like this
> should be happening."
>
> Police and RAF bosses received scores of calls from those concerned at
> the explosion.
>
> A sonic boom is a loud noise generated when an aeroplane travels faster
> than sound waves, which move at approximately 750mph at sea level.
> Pressure waves merge to form shock waves, which are heard as sonic booms
> when they hit the ground.
>
> Although there has been no official confirmation of the noise being a
> sonic boom, a spokesman at RAF Coltishall said there had been an
> assumption it was. He added that the Ministry of Defence in London was
> handling the investigation into the incident.
>
> A spokeswoman for Norfolk police said it was possible the noise was a
> sonic boom and that the investigation was in the hands of the RAF.
>
> The noise was heard in Overstrand momentarily before it was heard in
> Cromer, suggesting it came from an aircraft travelling east to west.
Received on Tue 09 Nov 2004 12:23:58 AM PST