Mystery noise shakes up my county

Okay.... yesterday morning around 10:30 while I was at work, a loud explosion was heard. At first we thought someone hit our building.... I then went outside and saw other people coming out of their offices also wondering what the noise was.... several of them looked up at the sky but didn't see anything.... my boss said it was probably a sonic boom caused by a jet but the naval stations around the area did not detect any jets on their radars.

The noise was very loud and it was heard in in many towns & cities... My mom who was 1/2 hour away also heard it and she said she went outside to see what it was... (think of the movie 'War of the Worlds' when people came out of their houses to see the mysterious lightning). My brother at work said the lights went off all over the store where he works at. We still do not know what the noise was!

Here is the article that came out on the newspaper:

Mystery noise shakes up area
By Hillary S. Meeks

A loud noise that shook up Tulare County residents shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday has not been identified.


Visalia police said they were told the sound was a sonic boom, but that information had not been confirmed late Monday. The sound does not appear to have been the result of an explosion.

But it was something.
"We received numerous calls when it occurred," said Visalia Police Department spokesman Sgt. Allyn Wightman.

Employees of Carroll's Tires in Tulare said the sound rattled the building and caused them to rush outside and look for the source.

"We felt it. We didn't just hear it," R. J. Guitterez said. "At first I thought that someone threw a tire against the wall or something."

Carroll's Tires employees as far away as Porterville, Hanford and Delano reported hearing the noise, Guitterez said.

Tulare City Fire Chief Michael Threlkeld said he first thought it was an explosion. He said reports would be issued later in the day, but the reports never came.

Tulare Police Department officials said they had no clue what caused the sound, though the city's dispatch center was flooded with calls.

Searching for aircraft

Lemoore Naval Air Station officials said no military craft was responsible for a sonic boom Monday. Dennis McGrath, public affairs officer for the base, said any planes in the area — whether they belonged to Lemoore or another military entity — would have appeared on radar.
None did, he said.

"I don't know how to explain the noise," he said. "Our radar people tell us there wasn't anything in the area."

Radar records were being studied at Edwards Air Force Base Monday afternoon. Results were not immediately available, said John Haire, chief of media relations for the base.

"Sometimes a sonic boom can travel a long way, depending on the type of weather," Haire said. "If it's cool and the air is dense, that would greatly help."

Edwards planes that fly at supersonic speeds — the F-22 and F-16 are the most common military craft to break the sound barrier — travel along a restricted corridor. Planes from Lemoore and Edwards do supersonic training over Owens Valley near the eastern slope of the Sierra.

A Vandenberg Air Force Base official said no exercises were scheduled Monday at the base in rural northern Santa Barbara County.

No one at the Fresno Air National Guard could be reached for comment.

Any sonic boom would have to be created by a military aircraft, said Douglas Kredit, an aviation safety inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration. Civil aircraft are not allowed to break the sound barrier over the continental United States, he said.

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What is going on? Something happened, many people felt and heard it, someone is not saying something... :unsure:

How mysterious, Carol! Keep us posted when you hear any news about what it was.....

My Mom and I accidentally saw a "top secret" jet being tested several years back. That was an awesome sight. I wonder if in your case, the military was testing a new jet that can avoid radar detection?

:fyi: Rob and I were playing at the game board this morning. I asked WWTLTY passed gas? He replied this morning. So, could it be? :Hahaha:




All jokes aside. Carol, I hope it wasn't anything serious that caused any injuries or damages. Please keep us posted.

Poor Rob! :Hahaha:

That is spooky Carol. We have sonic booms around here sometimes. Or, at least that's what we think it is........

Lily!

Wow... if they are that powerful Rob... please stay away from campfires!!!! :Hahaha:


*But seriously... I will post as soon as I hear any news on that... it is rather strange...

Carol wrote:

Lily!

Wow... if they are that powerful Rob... please stay away from campfires!!!! :Hahaha:

What Lily failed to mention is that the gas we were talking about is the kind you pump at the gas station. You know the non-flammable kind.

Savannah wrote:

Well, scratch the jet theory. Lily solved the mystery. :Hahaha:

Yes. And she did for sure!

But speaking seriously, what a scaring thing, Carol....Keep us updated. The whole thing is very interesting.

Vanesa. :think:

Rob wrote:

Carol wrote:

Lily!

Wow... if they are that powerful Rob... please stay away from campfires!!!! :Hahaha:

What Lily failed to mention is that the gas we were talking about is the kind you pump at the gas station. You know the non-flammable kind.

Well, Rob, if you wanna get technical on us........ :shifty:


Carol, any more news yet? When something like that happens around here, there seems to be nonstop coverage!

Savannah wrote:

Carol, any more news yet? When something like that happens around here, there seems to be nonstop coverage!

I heard from somoene who works at the police dept they are still getting calls as to what it was. No new news from the media but here are the comments some are posting on the article page....

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Comments by: Cinderblock Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:39 am
I too herd it ,, In fact I was in the phone with the AHA, looking into advanced first aid classes. the guy on the phone though not here in Ca herd it too and asked me if everything was ok. I immediately got off the phone and went outside. I thought there was a natural gas elplosion somewhere.I went out side and I too saw the contrails in the sky. didnt think anything of it as we see them quite frequently. I then called my husband who works in tulare and he felt it in his shop. They thought it was a bomb. I knew there wasnt a scheduled landing of a shuttle so I began to wonder. Why wasnt there any aircrafts detected on Radar either in Fresno or the LNAS. There is sombody covering up something up. We would like to know the truth.

Comments by: m.baurmann Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:48 am
As a former military aviator, I will make a brief explanation (confession?) that may help y'all understand what happened. There is a very fine line between the 500-600 mpg (depends upon atmospheric conditions, altitude, etc.) speed required to break the sound barrier, and getting close without going over can become quite an "E-ticket" ride!

Our base operations didn't know everything we did on training missions, many times we just turned off the IFF (civil aviation knows these as transponders) so that we weren't identified when situations such as this happens. Someplace a pilot is laughing and secretly hoping that he didn't get tagged by the C.O.!

Comments by: lflores Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:44 pm
Thank you Baurmann for your response. I can believe a military pilot performing an act unapproved by the military as you describe. I gladly accept that as a legitate response as opposed to we didn't have any aircraft in the area and we didn't see anything on the radar screen.

I will say this, there were two aircraft. What are the chances that two flyboy buddies from another area such as Fallon, NV on their way to Miramar or some other southern CA base decided to have some fun on the way down and did in fact turn off their transponders so that they would go undetected. They were flying over Tulare County and not Kings so that were essential nonvisible by sight to NASL other than by radar if they had been on.

Either way, those pilots are responsible and the military's responsibility is to investigate it and report it as such the public rather than simply say we don't know anything about it and run along and get back to your daily chores.


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Sooo.... maybe we are getting a little more light on the matter :think:

Do, do, do, do. Do, do, do, do...(that is supposed to be the music from The Twilight Zone)

LOL, Pam...You gave me gossebumps

Vanesa.

Oppps! Sorry, Vanessa! *LOL*

Whoa, Carol...sounds like an X-File to me! :unsure: All joking aside, that would indeed be very scary!!

Well the mysterious noise was a sonic boom afterall. Here is the article in yesterday's newspaper:

F-16 caused sonic boom
Air National Guard plane broke sound barrier over Valley Monday

An F-16 fighter jet from the Fresno-based California Air National Guard 144th Fighter Wing, which provides homeland security for the entire West Coast, was responsible for a sonic boom heard across Tulare County Monday morning, officials said.

The aircraft was undergoing its final check flight as part of extensive routine maintenance that involves taking the plane apart and putting it back together, said Capt. Heather Pratt, wing executive officer. The plane exceeded the sound barrier during its test flight, which took the plane over Tulare County.

"It certainly was not our intent to scare anybody or frighten them," Pratt said. "And for [doing so], we apologize."
Normally, supersonic speeds are achieved above 30,000 feet so the resulting sonic boom cannot be heard on the ground, Pratt said. In this case, the pilot was more than 41,000 feet above Tulare County, she said.

"We were really surprised that the sonic boom could be heard," Pratt said.

The sound was heard — and felt — shortly after 10:30 a.m. in Visalia, Tulare, Porterville, Delano, Hanford and elsewhere. Pratt said atmospheric conditions can cause the sound to carry farther than normal.

She said this was the first time, to her knowledge, that planes from the 144th Fighter Wing had flown over the Visalia area.

"The pilot that was flying that mission was flying very safely," she said. "He had coordinated with the Federal Aviation Association, and was following directions to a T."

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So as you can see... us residents here were going a little crazy since at first they told us they could see no planes on their radars and no test/runs were scheduled for that day but now they tell us.. 'Oh wait, it was a plane, an F-16' Ugh! lol You can imagine how wild my mind was going... maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm a sci-fi fan and a fan of shows like Smallville & Roswell

WOW! Now that's something most people can't say they've ever experienced in a lifetime! That's actually pretty cool! I'm sure at the time though, it was scary!!!

I would say, what a cool experience!!

Savannah wrote:

Well, I guess Rob is officially off the hook. :shifty:

..........for now.

Lily wrote:

Savannah wrote:

Well, I guess Rob is officially off the hook. :shifty:

..........for now.

:Hahaha:

I'm glad you found out the cause of the mysterious noise, Carol.

Yeah... me too

For more info on Sonic Booms, click on the plane below :pilot:

For a cool picture of a plane breaking the sound barrier and going through, check out the picture below.....I just linked it because the picture is rather large.....

BOOM!

Wow! That is insane!