Loud Bang Followed by Building Shaking

[smarty009]

the law above is for civilians, military has their own laws....and they pay the price....if any damage is done from doing a boom, then the nearest base has an office that a claim can be filed at to collect for the damage. But....booms nowadays are long gone...airspace restrictions, better high altitude flight, and sleaker jets that makes less booms, blah blah blha....

Dayton ehh....thos booms you heard years ago were UFO's.....

did you read that nick...the law is for civilians...we are talking about military...but regardless of military laws...it happens here at Robins Air Force Base...maybe not as much now as it used to...but it used to happen quite frequently...

 

[get_nick]

did you read that nick...the law is for civilians...we are talking about military...but regardless of military laws...it happens here at Robins Air Force Base...maybe not as much now as it used to...but it used to happen quite frequently...

what aircraft did you have there that were repeatedly breaking the sound barrier. two highly experienced prior service people just told you and reik that it never happens. sorry brother, it just doesn't.

 

[smarty009]

what aircraft did you have there that were repeatedly breaking the sound barrier. two highly experienced prior service people just told you and reik that it never happens. sorry brother, it just doesn't.

see...now youre saying "Never" happens...i may have messed up when i said "always" happens...but when you say "never" happens...you are WAY wrong...it may not have "always" happened...but it happened quite frequently...youre gonna have to make pull out the jounalism on you i guess...

it is an F-15 doing this at our base...here is an article from 2003...now tell me it NEVER happens where i live

Rev-Up A1.qxd

The sound of freedom rings loud
and clear in Middle Georgia
By Lanorris Askew
Lanorris.askew@robins.af.mil
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane…
No, it’s both; it’s an F-15 Eagle.
And when it comes to flying those F-15s at what
seems to be faster than a speeding bullet, Lt. Col.
Kevin Coleman and Maj. Fritz Heck have the right
stuff - and prove it on a full-time basis.
As they shoot across the sky, the two pilots break
through the mythical wall of sound creating sonic
booms. And Middle Georgia residents can rest
assured that what they are hearing, though unsettling
at times, is the sweet sound of freedom.
The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center’s 339th
Flight Test Squadron’s two full-time test pilots, along-
side those who prepare their chariots, ensure it never
fades.
As unconventional as a job can get, the work of the
F-15 test pilot is never mundane and traveling at the
speed of sound is just another part of the job descrip-
tion.
“We test the jets after they have gone through
depot maintenance,†said Coleman, Air Force
Material Command Chief Test Pilot for the F-15
Eagle Fighter Aircraft. “We are at the very end of this
important process and it’s our job to make sure that
the aircraft passes a functional check flight and is
ready to go back to the war fighter.â€
As a part of the depot maintenance process when
an F-15 lands at Robins it must be taken apart,
checked from nose to tail and put back together by the
members of the F-15 Production Branch.
Coleman said following the rebuild process, each
aircraft must be tested through its entire “operating
envelope.â€
For the pilots this means pushing the limits.
T
HE
B
IG
B
ANG
Step by step they climb the ladder leading to the
tiny cockpit of the F-15 to begin the functional test.
Flipping switches and pushing buttons they make sure
all systems are go and prepare for takeoff.
“I go as slow as the jet can go and as fast as it can go,†said
Coleman. “I check the extremes of the envelope to make sure
the jet performs correctly.â€
This delicate process requires test pilots to completely
evaluate the aircraft.
Testing involves three steps; one ground test and at least
two flight tests.
It is usually during the second or third flight test that sonic
booms occur.
Coleman describes a sonic boom as air being compressed
and pushed ahead of the aircraft.
“When Warner Robins area residents hear a sonic boom,
the airplane is operating at approximately 40,000 feet altitude
and is 8 to 10 miles away,†he said. “The sonic boom is noth-
ing more than air pressure equalizing. When the jet travels
faster than the speed of sound (600 mph at sea level) it starts
pushing air out in front, which creates a shock wave. When
that air equalizes the pressure that I am pushing out in front,
it makes a pop.â€
John Birdsong of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
Public Affairs Office handles complaints that come to the
base about sonic booms. He said he inherited the job 20 years
ago and enjoys being able to explain to the callers the reasons
for the sonic booms.
“Most people aren’t aware that when they hear that loud
sound that jars them, it’s really a good sign,†he said.
“When you hear the sonic booms it means we have had a
good sortie and that jet is going home,†said Coleman.
D
ANGER AND EXCITEMENT
Because the test pilots are the first to try out the planes
after they have been repaired, their job can be very danger-
ous.
“It’s both exciting and scary,†said Coleman. “ It’s exciting
because you get to max perform the airplane. It’s scary
because you can’t always assume that the jets are perfect, and
eventful things happen.â€
Although his job is very important, before taking to the
skies for a functional check, the pilot must yield to the work
of the personnel in aircraft final assembly.
Bret Puckett, functional test supervisor, said when the air-
craft enters functional test the aircraft has been put back
together. The cockpit is in and the aircraft is prepared for
flight, but it has come a long way before it reaches that point.
“We put the final stamp of approval on the aircraft,â€
said Heck, assistant director of operations for the
339th.
W
HY OVER MY NEIGHBORHOOD
?
When it’s time to test the work done by Robins Depot
Maintenance Personnel the test pilots use two routes
one known as the Macon Echo- a preplanned route that
has been used since 1977.
Coleman said this route is designed to keep the pilot
and the aircraft safe.
“We do a 50 mile east-west bowtie over the top of the
base, that way if anything goes wrong we are very
close to the base and can immediately turn around and
land,†he said.
This route also takes Coleman over his children’s
school. “If they hear a sonic boom when they are in
class they know that’s daddy,†he said.
When they tell what they do for a living people think
it’s a really cool job.
“There is nothing else I’d rather be doing,†said Heck.
“Making sure these planes will
work well when they get back to
their war fighting units is a great
job.â€
Another route, according to
Birdsong, is the Foxtrot, which
takes the pilots off the coast of
Savannah over the Atlantic Ocean.
When the calls come in about the
noise or possible damage Birdsong
is on the job.
“I get to explain that they don’t
just hop into an F-15, go up, do a
speed run and create a sonic boom,â€
he said. “They realize their job has
an impact on Middle Georgia. They
live here, too, and their homes expe-
rience the same concussions that
every body else’s does and their
families experience it, too.â€
Heck said he flies over his own
home every day.
“We hear a lot that our booms scare
people’s dogs,†he said. “I tell them
I have a dog, too, and they scare
him.â€
People on the ground reeling from
the shock may wonder how can the
pilots stand the sound of the sonic
boom.
“When we are in the cockpit we
don’t feel or hear what you feel here
on the ground,†said Coleman. “You
can’t tell at all unless you are
watching the avionics (instru-
ments).â€
Recent sonic booms may have
seemed more noisy than usual. The
pilots explained that the high pres-
sure, dense air of clear winter days
like recent days cause sound to be
transmitted further and without
attenuation.
I
N CASE OF EMERGENCY
Whenever one pilot is up in the air
another must remain in contact with him on the ground in
case of an emergency, and emergencies do occur.
According to Coleman he has experienced brake and other
gear failures where he had to ‘take a cable.†This means using
a pre-placed cable on the runway similar to those used on
Navy ships, to stop the aircraft.
“This job is a lot of fun, but it keeps us on our toes,†he
said. “Even though this job is very dangerous I feel safer fly-
ing than I do driving home.â€
Coleman said the 339th Flight Test Squadron tests about
110 F-15s per year, rotating between the two full-time test
pilots and one part-time pilot, Lt. Col. Jim Luzzi, who shares
his time commercially.
Coleman said the job is everything he hoped and dreamed
it would be.
“It makes me feel really good,†he said. “After you’ve
been here for a while you have touched every F-15 in the
inventory and it’s a pretty good feeling.â€
Coleman has been doing functional check flights at Robins
since 1992. He became full time in 1995. He has more than
5,000 flying hours, the most in the F-15, of anyone in the Air
Force or the world. Heck has been a member of the 339th for
two and one half years.
Lt. Col. Kevin Coleman, F-15 Eagle test pilot, has more than 5,000 flying hours – the most in
the F-15, of anyone in the Air Force or the world.
Jed Dickens, an aircraft mechanic for F-15s, works on the electrical
system of an F-15.
John Birdsong of the Warner Robins Air Logistics
Center Office of Public Affairs handles complaints
that come into the base about sonic booms.

 

[BigJ]

FUck..... My uncle was Jim Fucking Gannett. He flew the concord. He flew the f117a. The b2 Bomber. the SR-71. He rolled the 707 over lake washington.

He told me on many occasions that if you heard a sonic boom, it'd be shown by the broken glass all over the place and not by the blasting sound. RIP uncle jim.

(i am a champ and trashed). college 1, jordon 0

 

[smarty009]

FUck..... My uncle was Jim Fucking Gannett. He flew the concord. He flew the f117a. The b2 Bomber. the SR-71. He rolled the 707 over lake washington.

He told me on many occasions that if you heard a sonic boom, it'd be shown by the broken glass all over the place and not by the blasting sound. RIP uncle jim.

(i am a champ and trashed). college 1, jordon 0

so youre sayin that article i posted is lying? i can find more articles