Since exceeding the sound barrier IS NOT a normal practice going into the break, I think these guys may have to answer some questions!
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/12/news_pf/Tampabay/Sonic_booms_shake_up_.shtml
Sonic booms shake up area
Navy jets arriving at MacDill break the sound barrier and shatter the quiet of a Friday evening.
GRAHAM BRINK and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 12, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seminole resident Henry Remi walked outside when he heard what sounded like a series of loud explosions Friday evening.
His neighbor had done the same thing.
"You hear that?" Remi asked.
"Yeah, I heard it," replied the neighbor.
Remi said he wanted to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. He wasn't.
What Remi and thousands of other residents from Citrus to Manatee counties heard and felt was two F-18 jets breaking the sound barrier. The resulting booms resonated from Citrus to Manatee counties.
The two Navy F-18 Hornets arrived from a naval air station in Pensacola and landed about 8 p.m., said Air Force 2nd Lt. Larry Vanderoord, spokesman for MacDill Air Force Base. He called their arrival a "routine landing" and said these planes usually fly faster and lower than typical planes landing at MacDill.
The jets, based out of California, were scheduled to take off again today or Sunday.
"They are very fast, and when they come in, they're very loud," Vanderoord said.
The shaking registered on the U.S. Geological Survey seismograph in Orlando, measuring 2.7 on the Richter Scale, the equivalent of a weak earthquake. Central Florida is not an active earthquake area, said USGS duty officer Madeleine Zirbes.
"They did see it register," Zirbes said from Denver, Colo. "They thought immediately that it could be a sonic boom."
The blast prompted hundreds of calls to area newspapers, TV and radio stations and local authorities. Many residents headed outside to find out why their homes were shaking.
Remi has heard the double boom that comes when space shuttles re-enter the atmosphere. On Friday, he said it sounded more like five or six booms in a row.
"I never heard so many booms come as rapidly as that," he said.
Carrollwood resident Mark Thatcher heard the rumbling over the noise of his television set.
"It just sounded like an airplane really close," he said.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/12/news_pf/Tampabay/Sonic_booms_shake_up_.shtml
Sonic booms shake up area
Navy jets arriving at MacDill break the sound barrier and shatter the quiet of a Friday evening.
GRAHAM BRINK and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 12, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seminole resident Henry Remi walked outside when he heard what sounded like a series of loud explosions Friday evening.
His neighbor had done the same thing.
"You hear that?" Remi asked.
"Yeah, I heard it," replied the neighbor.
Remi said he wanted to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. He wasn't.
What Remi and thousands of other residents from Citrus to Manatee counties heard and felt was two F-18 jets breaking the sound barrier. The resulting booms resonated from Citrus to Manatee counties.
The two Navy F-18 Hornets arrived from a naval air station in Pensacola and landed about 8 p.m., said Air Force 2nd Lt. Larry Vanderoord, spokesman for MacDill Air Force Base. He called their arrival a "routine landing" and said these planes usually fly faster and lower than typical planes landing at MacDill.
The jets, based out of California, were scheduled to take off again today or Sunday.
"They are very fast, and when they come in, they're very loud," Vanderoord said.
The shaking registered on the U.S. Geological Survey seismograph in Orlando, measuring 2.7 on the Richter Scale, the equivalent of a weak earthquake. Central Florida is not an active earthquake area, said USGS duty officer Madeleine Zirbes.
"They did see it register," Zirbes said from Denver, Colo. "They thought immediately that it could be a sonic boom."
The blast prompted hundreds of calls to area newspapers, TV and radio stations and local authorities. Many residents headed outside to find out why their homes were shaking.
Remi has heard the double boom that comes when space shuttles re-enter the atmosphere. On Friday, he said it sounded more like five or six booms in a row.
"I never heard so many booms come as rapidly as that," he said.
Carrollwood resident Mark Thatcher heard the rumbling over the noise of his television set.
"It just sounded like an airplane really close," he said.
