Bengaluru (Karnataka): A test flight of an Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jet had triggered a sonic boom over the city on Wednesday afternoon, sending its residents and officials into a tizzy, an official said.
"It was a routine IAF test flight involving a supersonic profile, which took off from Bengaluru airport and flew in the allotted airspace outside the city limits," PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence tweeted hours after the incident reported.
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whose Test Pilots & Flight Test Engineers routinely test out all aeroplanes. The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">whose Test Pilots & Flight Test Engineers routinely test out all aeroplanes. The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020whose Test Pilots & Flight Test Engineers routinely test out all aeroplanes. The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020
The mysterious sonic boom at around 1:30pm rattled the citizens as well as the authorities in this aerospace hub, sparking rumours of an earthquake, an explosion or a fighter jet cruising at top speed.
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The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person.
— PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020
The fighter aircraft was of the IAF's Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE), which uses the defence airport of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in the city's eastern suburb for test flights.
The ASTE's test pilots and flight test engineers test out all military aircraft. The sonic boom was heard while the aircraft was decelerating from super-sonic to sub-sonic speed between 36,000 and 40,000 feet altitude.
"The fighter was far away from the city limits when the event occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard even when the aircraft is flying 65-80 km away," said the official in another tweet.
Ruling out an earthquake as the cause of the unusual sound, a Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Committee official said seismo meters did not capture any ground vibration, which occurs during a mild tremor.
"The activity is a loud unknown noise," said the official in a brief press note.
An NDMA official, however, attributed it to the effect of a heavy vacuum caused by the sudden entry of cyclonic wind between hot and cold air, as it happened a year ago.
"The explosive sound is not because of a quake in the city and no need to panic," asserted the official.
A city fire brigade official told a news agency the massive sound could be due to mining blast of rocks in a quarry for construction.
(With inputs from IANS)
Also Read: Loud boom heard across eastern Bengaluru, police unsure about source
