Luke says Monday’s sonic boom over West Valley not from base jets

By Steve Stockmar
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Twitter: @stevestockmar

Whatever caused the sonic boom-type noise Monday evening in the north and west parts of the Valley remains a mystery, officially speaking.

Reports surfaced around 7:45 p.m. Monday, March 6, of a loud boom overhead in the skies throughout the West Valley. One resident on the north end of Glendale near the intersection of 59th Avenue and Union Hills Drive reported to the Independent he went out in his front yard and looked up after hearing it, as did his neighbors on both sides of his driveway.

“The whole house shook,” he said.

Dozens of social media posts took it from there. During the next couple hours residents from Glendale, Peoria, Sun City and even North Scottsdale offered their experiences, all of which held consistently that a sonic boom-type blast – or, in many reports, two blasts – were heard overhead in the night sky.

Addresses from those reporting were consistently from the same region of the Valley.

Luke Air Force Base jets flying overhead have been part of the life and landscape for West Valley residents daily for decades. Some residents were guessing a supersonic jet may have causesd the boom.

“We haven’t heard any reports of this nature. I can confirm that we did not sonic boom in the West Valley yesterday,” Sean Clements, USAF chief of media relations, emailed to the Daily Independent Tuesday morning.

According to the U.S. Air Force website, “Sonic boom is an impulsive noise similar to thunder. It is caused by an object moving faster than sound – about 750 miles per hour at sea level.”

Air Force procedures require supersonic operations over land must be conducted above 30,000 feet or, when below 30,000 feet, in specially designated areas approved by Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., and the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The speed of sound at 30,000 feet is about 670 miles per hour, but an aircraft must travel at least 750 miles per hour (Mach 1.12, where Mach 1 equals the speed of sound) for a boom to be heard on the ground,” the Air Force states. “Ground width of the boom exposure area is approximately one mile for each 1,000 feet of altitude; that is, an aircraft flying supersonic at 30,000 feet will create a lateral boom spread of about 30 miles.”

One resident who reached out to the Daily Independent said Monday night’s boom wasn’t an isolated incident.

“We heard and felt it last night as well, we are at 78th Lane and Jomax,” emailed the reader who lives in North Peoria and wished to remain anonymous. “This actually happened last week around the same time. I checked my Facebook feed last night to see when I posted it and it said six days ago.”

If a supersonic Air Force jet didn’t cause the sonic boom, the loud noise did share characteristics with the sound of a meteorite entering our atmosphere.

Rhonda Stroud is a research professor with Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and is director of the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies on the Tempe campus.

“A meteor can cause a sonic boom like a thunderclap or like a hypersonic airplane, so you get those noises. You usually also have an actual fireball trail,” she said Tuesday. “The sound can come after the streak of light, because it’s entering the atmosphere at a hundred kilometers (per second) and it takes a while. Significantly higher altitude than most airplanes.”

The American Meteorological Association’s website tracks reports of fireballs, and none were reported in Arizona on Monday. The American Meteor Society, founded in 1911, is also not showing any reports or events over Arizona on March 6 on its online database.

“It really seems unlikely that it was due to a meteorite,” Stroud said.

Also, she noted, weather radars are used for tracking meteors entering our atmosphere.

“The fact that there’s no chatter at all among the meteor hunters and dealers about this makes me think it’s something else,” she said.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net
@stevestockmar

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.