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For the last 3 days at 11.38 CEST there has been a supersonic bang about 50km SW of Montpellier. Is this some french military flight attacking Libya ( so they know when it is coming :) ! ), does anybody know where are they launching flights from? At about the same time you can hear some background rumble of aircraft? or is that just disturbance from the shockwave? In the past ten years or so there have been the occasional military training flights around here but in the last 3 years or so they have cut back from pairs to singleton aircraft (fast jets) - economy measures or all that is left? Not see any in the last 3 months.
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>>so they know when it is coming :) ! ),
No. The shockwave trails the aircraft, so they can hear when they've *been*.
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>> >>so they know when it is coming :) ! ),
>>
>> No. The shockwave trails the aircraft, so they can hear when they've *been*.
>>
Sorry not a clear statement - I knew that the shockwave trails the aircraft. What I meant was it is an attack at a regular time. Maybe a restriction of the working time directive - so the french airforce ground personnel can have the requisite 2 hr break for a litre of Vin Rouge :)
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The regime may know the time, but not the target!
It could be escort duties, bound to be loads of supplies being ferried in by now.
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SFAIK the French effort against Libya is being done by carrier based aircraft in the Med so not likely to be audible to you in Montpellier, Further to that almost no aircraft is capable of going supersonic when carrying external fuel tanks and munitions and in any event there would be no tactical reason for going supersonic even if it was possible.
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The French air force are flying from Corsica with their Rafales, as the carrier is going back into port for a refit.
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Most likley trainig or testing out over the Med? Possibly an exercise on?
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Going supersonic in the Libyan context would be a pointless waste of fuel, there is no Libyan airforce per se now. And if there was supersonic speeds would only be used in combat situations. More likely some sort of testing/training thing.
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OP's site cannot be that far from the Centre D'Essais en Vol at Istres (or Tolouse)? Plenty of supersonic stuff at either.
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I don't know what the rulesare, if any, in France, but in UK it was no supersonic flight over land or over the sea when pointing at land. Not allowed to annoy the people or frighten the animals.
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I heard a Typhoon go supersonic one morning recently there was comment in the press about it....
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It was doubtless an unusual error, hence the press comment, and the pilot may have had what is known as "An interview without coffee and biscuits"!
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IIRC it can be quite difficult to predict how far a sonic bang will travel. Variables include wind/weather and atmospheric pressure.
Concorde's transonic acceleration on the North Atlantic was supposed to be inaudible on land. But there were regular reports of a hearing a sonic boom in SW UK or Ireland at times that tied closely with BA1's schedules. Whether Concorde or something else I don't know but I recall hearing one while walking in the New Forest c1988.
ba---boom, it's quite a distinctive noise.
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>>Concorde's transonic acceleration on the North Atlantic was supposed to be inaudible on land. But there were regular reports of a hearing a sonic boom in SW UK or Ireland at times that tied closely with BA1's schedules.
>>Whether Concorde or something else I don't know but I recall hearing one while walking in the New Forest c1988.
>>Was AF Concorde allowed to go Supersonic before the Atlantic? IIRC one of the Concordes regularly used to be heard in Devon.
My work mate regularly heard the boom at Bracknell. It was the AF Concorde and the sound, so we were told , reflected off cloud levels.
What I do know for certain, when I was working in Aldernay, the AF Concorde went supersonic way before it should thus causing the boom to rattle the windows. The guys working at the airport said that was normal AF procedures.
Remember Concorde was right on the limit of its range and it used less fuel at cruise so lots of incentive to get a move on and to hell with the plebs.
The BA Concorde was limited to 80 passengers in the summer on the Washington route.
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>> I heard a Typhoon go supersonic one morning recently there was comment in the press
>> about it....
>>
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/7188328.stm
I wonder if the original fault was FNF?
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Restrictions on supersonic flight over land presumably only applied to commercial not military operational.
Was AF Concorde allowed to go Supersonic before the Atlantic? IIRC one of the Concordes regularly used to be heard in Devon.
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>> Restrictions on supersonic flight over land presumably only applied to commercial not military operational.
Military bangs over land not generally allowed since the fifties though no doubt that would be relaxed in wartime.
IIRC there have been occasional exemptions though. I was at Yeovilton airshow in 1978, the 25th anniversary of something to do with the Hunter. several examples of the beautiful machine on display and a few dropped bangs in the finale.
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Ready to be shot down here, :<).
Might it be a rarely used or re-opened quarry reasonably close to you? They will often have restricted or set times for blasting and reverberations from the noise may sound like the double bang of an aircraft's shock wave.
Waiting........
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>> The French air force are flying from Corsica with their Rafales, as the carrier is
>> going back into port for a refit.
Again? lets hope they put the right props on it this time.
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Supersonic bangs - Mapmaker
