Sonic booms from military fighter jets rattle residents in Illinois and Oregon
December 22, 2021 / 9:41 AM / CBS/AP
Military aircraft creating sonic booms in separate incidents left communities in Illinois and Oregon rattled over the past week. Officials said shaking was felt by many residents, with some fearing an earthquake had struck.
On Tuesday, an F-15 fighter jet traveling over central Illinois created a sonic boom that rattled the region, prompting concerned residents to flood local police stations with calls about the noise, a state agency said. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency said in a statement that the department was alerted about 11:20 a.m. CST about "a large noise and shaking felt by many residents" across central Illinois.
The state agency said it began investigating with federal, state and local officials and found that the sound was a sonic boom from a military fighter jet.
"It was determined that an F-15 fighter jet in the airspace above central Illinois course corrected creating a sonic boom. When the aircraft broke the sound barrier, the pressure wave created an audible noise and minor shaking in the region," the state agency said in a statement.
There have been no reports of damage caused by the noise, it added.
The sonic boom in Illinois follows a similar incident in Oregon last week. Military officials said a sonic boom that caused widespread concern on the Oregon coast that an earthquake had happened was caused by an aircraft that "inadvertently went supersonic."
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