His exploits were told in Tom Wolfe’s book “The Right Stuff,” and in the 1983 film it inspired. In 1947, test pilot Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the first person to fly faster than sound in an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF SUPERSONIC TRAVEL - AND BOOMS? The F-16 Fighting Falcon can fly 1,500 mph or twice the speed of sound, known as Mach 2, according to the Air Force. The F-16s flying over Washington on Sunday were “probably trying to go as fast it could to catch up” with the wayward Cessna airplane, said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of applied aviation sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “When this line of shock wave passes by, listeners on the ground hear a very loud noise," according to an explanation from Australia's University of New South Wales. That speed is typically about 760 mph near sea level, but can vary depending on the temperature, altitude and other conditions, according to the Congressional Research Service.Īs the plane speeds through the air, molecules are pushed aside with great force, “and this forms a shock wave, much like a boat creates a wake in water,” according to NASA. Sonic booms are heard on the ground when airplanes overhead fly faster than the speed of sound. The business jet eventually crashed in rural Virginia, killing the pilot and three passengers.īelow is an explanation of what sonic booms are, their history in the U.S. The result was a thunderous rumble that resonated across a metropolitan area that's home to more than six million people. The Air Force gave the F-16s permission to fly faster than the speed of sound - something civilian aircraft rarely get to do - as the jets scrambled to catch up with the Cessna Citation. military dispatched six fighter jets to intercept an unresponsive business plane flying over restricted airspace.
– People living in and around the nation’s capital experienced a rare, if startling, sound that has a rich history in American aviation and possibly a muted future: A sonic boom.
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