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Sonic boom from F-22 rocks the Central Coast

December 20, 2012

F-22

An F-22 fighter aircraft flying off the coast of California caused a sonic boom that shook the Central Coast Thursday morning, according to an Edwards Air Force Base spokesman.

People all over San Luis Obispo County said they felt shaking around 9:30 a.m., and some in coastal areas said they heard a big boom.

Sportscaster CJ Silas was hiking near Avila Beach at the time and said she heard a very mysterious boom.

“I heard a gnarly, big boom,” Silas said. “It was different than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

But, Edwards Air Force Base spokesman John Haire said the sonic boom was not out of the ordinary. The F-22 flight coupled with cool weather and moist air led to the loud boom and shaking, he said.

“It’s not unusual in the winter time,” Haire said. “Anytime you have cool weather like today, you have moist air, high humidity, it will make the sonic boom more audible for a longer distance.”

Haire said that similar F-22 flight tests occur on a near daily basis, but people usually do not notice due to different meteorological conditions. Haire speculated that the proximity in time of the sonic boom to the alleged apocalypse prophesied in ancient Mayan culture could have caused people to overreact.

“It’s not something they’d be used to hearing, and there are people who are going to have on the back of their mind this Mayan thing,” Haire said.

Haire added that people at Edwards Air Force Base, located in the Antelope Valley, hear sonic booms very frequently.

“At Edwards, we hear sonic booms and, unless it really rocks the building, it’s business as usual,” Haire said. “And if it does, we say that was a really good one.”

Some Central Coast residents initially believed an earthquake occurred, but the U.S. Geological Survey did not report any earthquakes in the area at the time.


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So the “sonic boom” that shook my house for 10 seconds, also shattered my bathroom window (west facing). I live 100 miles away from the incident (Creston). The wierd thing is, it’s a double pane window & only the inside broke. Go figure.


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But then again we do have a nuclear power plant on a cliff, on a major fault line in an earthquake zone. Trust us it’s safe……just ask the experts hired by PG&E to reassure you how safe it is. Why the need for seismic testing? Because it’s just a matter of time. This seems like one big ass seismic test.


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Obviously, this was caused by Bush and Cheney.


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Might as well tell us that “swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus”.


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That wasn’t a UFO, it was just a weather balloon with some swamp gas reflecting off of it at sundown….


NOT


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Not fallin for no banana in the tail pipe. Possible? Don’t know……

Trust in my government, Zero!


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There is ABSOLUTELY no way that was just a sonic boom. The walls of my house were shaking violently, never heard of a sonic boom doing that plus it went on for a good 10 seconds. They must be testing some new type of weapon.


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Have to admit, never felt anything like it. And couldn’t find any conformation of a sonic boom causing 5-10 seconds of window rattling. All reports of sonic booms I could find stated they were just that–a quick boom sounding event that could also be felt.


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I have to agree with you. I felt two (what felt like) earth quakes. The first was much stronger than the second. My house didn’t vibrate, it shook. The first time it shook for at least 10 seconds and I waited to see if it was going to get worse. It was the ground that shook and not just my windows vibrating.


I also have to question why it took 3 hours for NORAD and the Red Cross and other agencies to determine that this was caused from Andrews Air Force base aircraft. I should think AAFB would have known the answer immediately? Second this has never happened before and I have been here for 14 years. I didn’t hear any sonic booms here in A-Town at all, I just felt the ground shaking.


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I agree, also.


What was interesting about the whole deal was when VAFB was first contacted to ask what the heck was that, they said they didn’t know, and then later they said it was a sonic boomish whatever.


One would think, with the oceans of money we pour into the VAFB facility and its operations, they would have a PIO who could actually inform us what is going on when such a powerful event occurred.


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Their mission is space launch, missile defense and ICBM testing, not air defense. There are no planes at VAFB.


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I love the sound of sonic booms in the morning, It sounds like freedom.


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Thanks to the Air Force and the rest of the military for keeping us safe.


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