I just heard something terrifying. A missile, or a rocket, or a fighter jet....but

LOW overhead...and louder than anything I have ever heard in our skies before. It got increasingly loud as it broke the sound barrier...but not stopping for quite a long time. It sounded as though it was moving north to south...makes no sense...but incredibly frighteningly loud.

I should add that the sound went on and on and on. It kept getting louder...in the most terrifying way. It rumbled and almost seemed to shake the air around my building.

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cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

Military is very active lately. It may have broken the sound barrier. I live about 20 miles from an AFB and in the path of their landings and takeoffs and it’s happened a couple times not too long ago.

4meAndyou · F

@cherokeepatti I've heard planes and jet fighters breaking the sound barrier before...but this was a deeper more terrifying sound, and seemed to go on and on, and got deeper as it continued, and LOUDER. Honestly, I thought the end was here. I expected to be vaporized.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@cherokeepatti There are military flights that go pretty low and fast, but almost always out of populated areas, also with trailing formations they follow one another by a distance rather than make neat, bird-like formations. Airdrop type of formations were at 300' terrain contour which meant that they clip some hills at 100' at 250 knots, which from the ground can be impressive. But from my memory the military will keep that stuff away from populated areas. Also, heavy B52s, KC135s take a while to accelerate to good climb speeds, and can make a lot of racket.

If it came and went, it could be because the military is looking for a training route and having to change as complaints start to mount :)

Are you near Tinker?

[media=https://youtu.be/LU6DoQOd6z0]

These are newer J model C-130s, older models are 10X louder.

[media=https://youtu.be/fH7lY2b-VG0]

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@Heartlander yes

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@Heartlander We get a lot of AWACS flying over, they send them to Tinker for maintenance. I drove home from work once and got in my driveway. Heard a loud screeching sound that I hadn’t heard before. I parked close to my door but got out quickly and before I got the door unlocked smelled the exhaust. There was no wind that day and some of it drifted down. Hadn’t smelled it like that before or since

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@cherokeepatti Those older 707s/KC135s also had something called water injected takeoffs that boosted power for takeoff, also boosted the noise level. I believe those airplanes held full takeoff power, and the water injection, until accelerating to climb speed which took a while. Old jet airplanes were slow to accelerate, took lots of runway and made lots of noise before reaching climb speeds. It wasn't til the big fan-jet engines replaced the older engine.

Even old fighter jets had issues with acceleration. Like the old F84 was referred to as the "hog" or the "lead sled" and burned up 2 miles of runway just to get airborne.

AWACS are at the edges of electronic warfare, and probably constantly being upgraded. Also super heavy on take-off because they have to stay airborne so long.

[media=https://youtu.be/mk3lwwwPOdY]