WTF was THAT!

So last night sometime around 10:30 there was a massive boom. The house shook, the windows rattled and the pictures danced on the walls. Went outside and car alarms were going if all over the neighborhood.

News this morning reports it being heard from Waco to Georgetown. Ft. Hood said loud noises should be expected. Space X has not said anything.

When the army is clearing it's throat at Ft. Hood, given the distance from my house, it's more like a rolling thunder off in the distance. For an explosion to set off car alarms in my neighborhood from Ft. Hood it would have to be a massive ordinance. I don't think it was them.

Space X can be heard when they are testing rockets but it's even fainter at my house than Ft. Hood. If it was from them something would have had to go terribly wrong and it would have been all over the news this morning.

Honestly, it reminded me of when aircraft from Wright Patt would break the sound barrier over our house when I was a kid.

I don't know what it was but it was massive. It woke my son from a dead sleep.

Another "fast fire" at SpaceX?

Sorry. I had too much fiber. You really have to plan your day around raisin bran once you reach a certain age.

Any quarrys in the area?

Waco to Georgetown is a pretty good stretch. I'm going with aircraft or space junk derived sonic boom.

Aurora program. It's the SR-71 replacement.

Are the branch davidians setting up shop again? Or maybe some left over bombs from when the feds burned them down?

KyAllroad wrote: Aurora program. It's the SR-71 replacement.

That makes a series of booms Might make sense to use it right now though, tricksy NK might be doing work when they know the satellites aren't watching...

Ima take a wag at it being a sonic boom from USAF fighters practicing an interception against a medium or low altitude target, and that they were below 6000 feet agl. That'll wake you up!

Sonic boom from a military jet breaking the sound barrier. We have them several times each day living in an air force town. Sometimes they have enough force to make dust sift out of the drop ceilings where I work, or to blow the blinds back a little from an open window at home. They're pretty unnerving to people who aren't used to them, but we don't even notice most of the time.

Apparently it was the sound of freedom.

http://www.kcentv.com/mb/news/local/verify/fort-hood-claims-responsibility-for-loud-booms-heard-wednesday/442888825

The thing is my house is 25 miles from the gate. And probably 35 from the range. I would think there would be a hole the size of Rhode Island on Ft. Hood if they were exploding enough E36 M3 to shake my house.

They can't even proofread articles anymore.

Ford Hood... What type of Ford was it?

The sound was heard from Waco to Georgetown. That's about 75 miles apart. So the blast could be heard by just about anybody within a 37 mile radius of the base. That's a big boom.

From the article, it sounds like there might have been an inversion in the atmosphere (warm layer above a cold lower layer). They mentioned a weather system coming in. People who work with heavy explosives need to watch out for inversions. It can act like a wall in the atmosphere and reflect the sound, or worse the shockwave, back down to the ground. That is probably why such a large area heard it. Mythbusters got caught by this shooting one episode. They had to pay for a number of window replacements.

Fun Stuff.

Huckleberry wrote: Sorry. I had too much fiber. You really have to plan your day around raisin bran once you reach a certain age.

"Colon Blow? Sounds delicious, but is it good for you?"

My house if fairly close to Redstone Arsenal, so I'm fairly immune to large bangs. They are constantly testing various rocket engines and blowing things up. In fact, most of the houses on our end of town have some sort of cracks in them. However, the first time I heard one after moving there, it was definitely, shall we say, a moving experience.

Whenever I go to the range, I keep my windows rolled down; booms blow glass. Also, under some conditions, being near the boom for more than 10 consecutive rounds will cause heart murmers and sleepless nights.

wvumtnbkr wrote: They can't even proofread articles anymore. Ford Hood... What type of Ford was it?

Duh- Exploder.

914Driver wrote: Also, under some conditions, being near the boom for more than 10 consecutive rounds will cause heart murmers and sleepless nights.

Truth. There used to be a cruise-in where some less desirable elements would come up and have sound-offs, and going near that row would make me feel quite uneasy/sick in the chest. Like my heart wasn't beating properly.

WildScotsRacing wrote: Ima take a wag at it being a sonic boom from USAF fighters practicing an interception against a medium or low altitude target, and that they were below 6000 feet agl. That'll wake you up!

USAF fighters in texas? We dont have any fighter bases near there as far as I know.

My assumption is a big, scary, friendly, bomb.

In reply to yupididit:

But there is the 138th Fighter Group in Tulsa with f-16s. With a centerine tank they can make it all the way to Houston in an hour cruising at 400 knots, and still have enough fuel to practice an intercept before having to hit a tanker and practice a few more. Mach 1.6 at 10,000 feet is easy