What was the big boom?

[Anonymous]

NYTimes is reporting it.

[Anonymous]

"Explosion-like noise heard across DC area was a sonic boom, officials say"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Rockville and didn't hear anything. I see no one from Montgomery County is responding to this thread.

Did anyone in MoCo hear it? If not, why would that be?

I heard it in Chevy Chase. I was inside and it was pretty faint but it made me stop because I had one kid upstairs sick and one outside, so I was trying to figure out where it came from. When nothing else happened I just figured purple line construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n611vg#3093ec91

So the Cessna was just flying to Long Island, but not landing? Did someone forget their cellphone or something?

Dumb of them to fly right over DC.

It is assumed, the theory so far goes, that the pilots/passengers were unresponsive - it was supposed to land in Long Island, I think, according to the flight data. But it u-turned and did a very remarkable straight-line flight over DC ... by then, apparently, unresponsive. Don't know all the details, but the conjecture was this wasn't a choice.

I understand they were unresponsive as they apparently bee-lined over DC, but were they unresponsive beforehand? Approaching Long Island?

Presumably not? And they didn't violate DC airspace when traveling in that direction. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n611vg#3093ec91

A local (to DC) Fox affiliate correspondent seems to be picking up on and verifying what the amateurs and news hounds had begun to propagate. There's an apparent screen grab of an FAA statement floating around twitter with no direct links (having a friend who actually works at the FAA, I think it is easier for them to send out emails than get the website updated because... digital isn't a strong suit, so that jibes to me. But who knows). https://twitter.com/lucasfoxnews/status/1665461262489141250?s=61&t=PckSN3mS7uR02yTgDc2tCg

[Anonymous]

The jet pilots didn't see anyone in the cockpit. So the pilot went hypoxic, fell down and the plane gradually descended. And at some point, the plane made a neat U-turn and flew right through the no-fly zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NYTimes is reporting it.

They've got the sonic boom part. Not yet reporting the pursuit of a plane or a plane crash yet.

[Anonymous]

I heard it in Takoma Park, which is eastern MoCo so maybe that's why. I assumed an eagle crashed into one of my upstairs windows.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, I took a look at the Twitter feed of Citadel Air and oooh boy.

[Anonymous]

Another Fox correspondent quoting FAA - and Congressional sources about how the Capitol Police acknowledged all this, and temporarily responded before the plane crashed. https://twitter.com/chadpergram/status/1665462103447150592?s=61&t=PckSN3mS7uR02yTgDc2tCg

[Anonymous]

Now on Reuters:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/loud-boom-shakes-washington-dc-fire-department-reports-no-incidents-2023-06-04/?fbclid=IwAR11d9o6khckQFoaAPdiC36GQ48KXMs85gIbTF099KfphsJSxs8UHOJumJE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard it in Takoma Park, which is eastern MoCo so maybe that's why. I assumed an eagle crashed into one of my upstairs windows.

I heard it in Silver Spring as well

[Anonymous]

WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/04/sonic-boom-washington-virginia-maryland/

[Anonymous]

Did the Air National Guard F16 go supersonic just as the Cessna was flying near Chesapeake Bay?

A mysterious explosion has been heard across a large area surrounding Washington DC on Sunday afternoon.
The “loud boom” reportedly shook houses in the US capital and was heard as far away as northern Virginia and Annapolis, Maryland, at about 3.15pm.
Officials have yet to issue a statement about what caused the explosion, but it may be linked to a plane crash in southwest Virginia around 3pm.
The Federal Aviation Administration told The Independent a Cessna Citation aircraft bound for New York had crashed into sparsely populated mountainous terrain near Staunton.

“The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York,” a spokesperson said. There was no immediate word on whether there were any casualties, or how many people were on board.

The plane had flown close to Washington DC, according to flight tracker FlightAware. There was speculation the pilot may have been unresponsive, and fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the plane. The DC Fire and EMS Twitter account said emergency response officials were aware of the reports of a loud boom in the area. Washington DC Metro police referred The Independent to the US Department of Defense for further information.
The DoD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew Leydon, a DC-based freelance journalist, claimed the DC Air National Guard had been conducting drills over Chesapeake Bay on Sunday afternoon and was cleared to go supersonic during an alert scramble exercise. On the Radio Reference forum, users reported hearing an F-16 pilot say they had gone supersonic while flying Chesapeake Bay. A Ring doorbell camera appeared to capture the sound at 3.07pm, according to footage posted to Twitter.

The United States Geological Survey did not report an earthquake on the East Coast at that time.

Twitter users reported hearing the explosion as far away as Alexandria, Virginia.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mystery-explosion-heard-across-washington-195006811.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume sonic booms do not normally register as seismic activity? These jets must have been really low to escort a (depressiruzed unresponsive) Cessna through the no-fly zone at the Capitol and across the DMV.

Based on the flight data it was pretty high, like 30k feet.

Can cessnas do that? I didn’t think they could go much over 10,000 ft or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did the Air National Guard F16 go supersonic just as the Cessna was flying near Chesapeake Bay?

A mysterious explosion has been heard across a large area surrounding Washington DC on Sunday afternoon.
The “loud boom” reportedly shook houses in the US capital and was heard as far away as northern Virginia and Annapolis, Maryland, at about 3.15pm.
Officials have yet to issue a statement about what caused the explosion, but it may be linked to a plane crash in southwest Virginia around 3pm.
The Federal Aviation Administration told The Independent a Cessna Citation aircraft bound for New York had crashed into sparsely populated mountainous terrain near Staunton.

“The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York,” a spokesperson said. There was no immediate word on whether there were any casualties, or how many people were on board.

The plane had flown close to Washington DC, according to flight tracker FlightAware. There was speculation the pilot may have been unresponsive, and fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the plane. The DC Fire and EMS Twitter account said emergency response officials were aware of the reports of a loud boom in the area. Washington DC Metro police referred The Independent to the US Department of Defense for further information.
The DoD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew Leydon, a DC-based freelance journalist, claimed the DC Air National Guard had been conducting drills over Chesapeake Bay on Sunday afternoon and was cleared to go supersonic during an alert scramble exercise. On the Radio Reference forum, users reported hearing an F-16 pilot say they had gone supersonic while flying Chesapeake Bay. A Ring doorbell camera appeared to capture the sound at 3.07pm, according to footage posted to Twitter.

The United States Geological Survey did not report an earthquake on the East Coast at that time.

Twitter users reported hearing the explosion as far away as Alexandria, Virginia.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mystery-explosion-heard-across-washington-195006811.html

This explains why Yahoo maps never really took off.