Explosive "Boom" Heard in Six Michigan Counties
Feb 11, 2016 21:54:29 GMT -6
Nugget, Mystic Wanderer, and 3 more like this
Post by Michigan Swamp Buck on Feb 11, 2016 21:54:29 GMT -6
This morning (Thursday Feb 11th) at approximately 9:50AM, the woman and I heard a huge explosive sound that shook the house.
I was in the kitchen making breakfast just before 10AM and the ole lady was in the back bedroom folding clothes. I was quite sure of the time as I was watching the clock in the living room in anticipation of a TV program I wanted to watch. Well, I heard a loud noise that sounded to me like a really large tree fell right next to the house, or perhaps a large tree limb fell on the roof. The woman heard the same noise and thought it was an explosion. Actually she thought our propane tank had blown up. Of course neither of us would be alive if that had happened, but we were both sure that perhaps one of our neighbor's houses had blown up in a gas explosion.
It was sudden and extremely loud, it shook the house and made the window curtains move. I immediately turned on the scanner and CB to listen to the chatter. I asked a couple of our neighbors on the CB if they heard the sound and they said yes and it sounded like it came from our direction. After about ten or fifteen minutes I walked out to the road and looked for a smoke cloud and listened for sirens, no cloud, no sirens and nothing reported on the scanner for the rest of the day.
We went on Facebook and found a number of people about ten miles to the northeast that heard the same explosion. One woman thought a car had crashed into her house. One of our friends over that way reported that they heard the sound at about 9:45AM. Someone else about 5 miles to the southwest heard and felt it too.
Well, finally a couple of reports came out on at least two local TV stations and apparently the same sound at the same intensity was heard and felt for at least six counties running from Grand Rapids to the southwest and up to the counties in the northeast. In Evart, the county sheriff's office saw a couple of military planes fly over and then heard the sound. It was apparent to them that it was a very loud sonic boom.
That is a reasonable explanation if it wasn't for the fact that sonic booms have been restricted over inhabited areas since 1973. As a kid in the early 70s I had heard sonic booms at the family farm up in the thumb. The aircraft were way up there and although the sonic booms were loud, they were nothing like what we heard today. So what was going on today? Were a couple of fly boys hot dogging it on a training run? Where did this aircraft come from? Were they chasing something?
Well the news reports didn't have much of an explanation, but here are some quotes from those reports.
WZZM Channel 13 News
9 & 10 News
Clearly the FAA has to give permission for aircraft to exceed the speed of sound and cause a sonic boom, so why don't they know what caused this?
I was in the kitchen making breakfast just before 10AM and the ole lady was in the back bedroom folding clothes. I was quite sure of the time as I was watching the clock in the living room in anticipation of a TV program I wanted to watch. Well, I heard a loud noise that sounded to me like a really large tree fell right next to the house, or perhaps a large tree limb fell on the roof. The woman heard the same noise and thought it was an explosion. Actually she thought our propane tank had blown up. Of course neither of us would be alive if that had happened, but we were both sure that perhaps one of our neighbor's houses had blown up in a gas explosion.
It was sudden and extremely loud, it shook the house and made the window curtains move. I immediately turned on the scanner and CB to listen to the chatter. I asked a couple of our neighbors on the CB if they heard the sound and they said yes and it sounded like it came from our direction. After about ten or fifteen minutes I walked out to the road and looked for a smoke cloud and listened for sirens, no cloud, no sirens and nothing reported on the scanner for the rest of the day.
We went on Facebook and found a number of people about ten miles to the northeast that heard the same explosion. One woman thought a car had crashed into her house. One of our friends over that way reported that they heard the sound at about 9:45AM. Someone else about 5 miles to the southwest heard and felt it too.
Well, finally a couple of reports came out on at least two local TV stations and apparently the same sound at the same intensity was heard and felt for at least six counties running from Grand Rapids to the southwest and up to the counties in the northeast. In Evart, the county sheriff's office saw a couple of military planes fly over and then heard the sound. It was apparent to them that it was a very loud sonic boom.
That is a reasonable explanation if it wasn't for the fact that sonic booms have been restricted over inhabited areas since 1973. As a kid in the early 70s I had heard sonic booms at the family farm up in the thumb. The aircraft were way up there and although the sonic booms were loud, they were nothing like what we heard today. So what was going on today? Were a couple of fly boys hot dogging it on a training run? Where did this aircraft come from? Were they chasing something?
Well the news reports didn't have much of an explanation, but here are some quotes from those reports.
"The whole ground was shaking, the house was shaking,” said Sue Eastman of Coral. It was just before 10 a.m. Thursday when she heard the loud boom. As she was trying to figure out what was going on, so were several others.
Christine Rizor of Howard City thought it was an earthquake. "I was sitting in a chair and all the sudden, it was like a big shake. I was like, 'Whoa!'"
Kasey Field, also in Howard City, posted about it on social media. "I had people from all over the lake area. They felt it in Morley and Evart. In Sears, they heard it up there."
. . . Several people posted on the WZZM Facebook page that they saw military planes passing through the area.
So far, no military bases in Michigan seem to know where the alleged sonic boom came from. According to the Michigan National Guard, there are no planes fast enough and based in Michigan that can create a sonic boom.
It is possible that a supersonic jet from another state is conducting military exercises in this area.
Christine Rizor of Howard City thought it was an earthquake. "I was sitting in a chair and all the sudden, it was like a big shake. I was like, 'Whoa!'"
Kasey Field, also in Howard City, posted about it on social media. "I had people from all over the lake area. They felt it in Morley and Evart. In Sears, they heard it up there."
. . . Several people posted on the WZZM Facebook page that they saw military planes passing through the area.
So far, no military bases in Michigan seem to know where the alleged sonic boom came from. According to the Michigan National Guard, there are no planes fast enough and based in Michigan that can create a sonic boom.
It is possible that a supersonic jet from another state is conducting military exercises in this area.
Some people say it sounded like an explosion.
Everyone who heard the sound agree it was sudden -- and loud.
"The sound level was so loud, like firing a large weapon without hearing protection," says Teresa Swift-Eckert, administrative assistant at the Evart Police Department.
A thunderous boom caused buildings to tremble and it came from nowhere.
Teresa was alone at her office in Evart when it happened.
"Chief Beam had just gone out on a call," Swift-Eckert says. "I was alone in the building and had just come in from getting the mail and shut the door. It shook the whole building. My windows right here cling together and I thought something fell on the roof so i immediately went outside to see if something did."
. . . The Evart Fire and Police Department says military jets were the source.
"Some jets had just flown over, I panicked slightly, thinking that something fell from one of them and maybe hit our roof or maybe hit something close by," Swift-Eckert says. "People outside just seemed to be going about their daily business. I've worked around officers and know the sound of firearms. It sounded like somebody shot a shotgun right next to the building."
Everyone who heard the sound agree it was sudden -- and loud.
"The sound level was so loud, like firing a large weapon without hearing protection," says Teresa Swift-Eckert, administrative assistant at the Evart Police Department.
A thunderous boom caused buildings to tremble and it came from nowhere.
Teresa was alone at her office in Evart when it happened.
"Chief Beam had just gone out on a call," Swift-Eckert says. "I was alone in the building and had just come in from getting the mail and shut the door. It shook the whole building. My windows right here cling together and I thought something fell on the roof so i immediately went outside to see if something did."
. . . The Evart Fire and Police Department says military jets were the source.
"Some jets had just flown over, I panicked slightly, thinking that something fell from one of them and maybe hit our roof or maybe hit something close by," Swift-Eckert says. "People outside just seemed to be going about their daily business. I've worked around officers and know the sound of firearms. It sounded like somebody shot a shotgun right next to the building."
We reached out to the FAA and the National Guard, who are looking into what happened.
Clearly the FAA has to give permission for aircraft to exceed the speed of sound and cause a sonic boom, so why don't they know what caused this?
FAA Promulgates Strict New Sonic Boom Regulation
January 1973
January 1973
The Federal Aviation Administration has recently issued a new sonic boom regulation which bans nearly all supersonic flight by civil aircraft over the United States and its territorial waters. The regulation, which became effective April 27, 1973, prohibits the operation of civilian aircraft at speeds greater than March 1 without authorization from the agency.