What a Scare!!

[Janet]

The boy had just left for work about 20 minutes earlier...Rick was resting on the couch and I was sitting in the chair with (as usual) the dogs on my lap. All of a sudden this loud boom shook the house and knocked over a glass in the sink.

Rick and I both jumped up, the dogs scurried and Rick yelled..."what the he!! was that." I told him probably a jet breaking the sound barrier and sure enough, we then heard a jet.

I didn't think they were allowed to do that anymore, but guess I was wrong. This thing shook the whole house. After we changed our pants......lolol.....we were as before....Rick on the couch...me in the chair with the dogs on my lap. What a life!

[DianaB]

Oh, wow!! I bet that was a scare!! We have jets that fly over a lot. Wichita is just an hour and a half away and they often fly over. We don't get too many booms but once in a great while we have one. Sometimes at night you can see the lights of the fighter jets practicing.

[Blueyes]

I haven't heard a sonic boom in a long time! Mike's great dane would have died on the spot...he can hardly stand thunder, lol!!!

[Marilyn]

Wow, it's not legal for them to break the sound barrier. We used to have an air force base near us before it closed & Matogorda Island was a bombing range. We were between the base and the island so we saw lots of jets, and when they first developed super-sonic, we heard lots of booms, but they made it illegal for them to do so.

Not sure how they are getting away with this. The Concords were not allowed to go super-sonic except over the Atlantic Ocean, either.

I haven't heard a sonic boom since they made the law.

[Janet]

I hadn't heard one since I was a child or early teen either because I thought they made them illegal. Thanks for verifying that Marilyn, because I wasn't sure. We live about 45 minutes away from Gissom Air Force Base. It was suppose to be closed a year or two ago, but they still run manuevers...at least that's what I think they are doing.

It sure was scary at first...if it had just been the sound it might not have been so bad...I don't remember them being soooo loud before. It literally shook the house....I really thought....something bad was happening for a second.

[Marilyn]

Thinking back, we had a couple of mysterious booms in our area a couple of years ago. We all expected to see something in the paper about an explosion somewhere, but heard nothing. Maybe we did have a couple of sonic booms but at the time didn't even think that could be what it was. So strange!!

[judy]

There are no more Concords, are there? I haven't heard a sonic boom in years either.

[Marilyn]

Concords were retired. I read or heard something recently though that they may bring back commercial super sonic travel. Won't make any difference to any of us. It was too expensive for anyone but the rich and famous anyway.

[Janet]

All I know is....it scared the bejeebies out of us for a second and sure did raise the heartbeat...LOL. Been a very long time since I heard one. Just wish they would give us warning.

[Tiramisu]

We're about 10 miles (as the crow flies) from Houston Intercontinental Airport, and live with constant airplane traffic noise. The g-kids sit out back and watch the planes. When one comes directly over, we shout out, "Don't flush!". I haven't heard a boom in awhile, but some planes are definitely louder than others, depending on the weather and such.

My parents' property, which is now part mine, in Louisiana, borders with the Army base, Fort Polk. I grew up listening to bombs and blasts when they were on training missions and believe me, it seemed constant as it was during Viet Nam and everybody knew when they got stationed at Fort Polk, their next stop was Viet Nam. Night training was scary!

[Janet]

That would have been scary Sandy. I don't think I would like to live that close to all that.