Tucson Boom

[John G]

My kids heard it!

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/21419976/what-was-that-shook-tucson

Mysterious loud boom heard & felt all over Tucson

Posted: Feb 27, 2013 8:17 PM MST Updated: Feb 28, 2013 5:56 AM MST

By Dan Marries - bio | email

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Something caused some shaking, rattling, and rolling over many parts of Tucson Wednesday night. It happened about 7:45 p.m.

Tucson News Now was inundated with calls from people asking what it was. We made calls to several law enforcement agencies and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. D-M says it was not one of their aircraft that caused a sonic boom.

Capt. Adam Goldberg from Northwest Fire District says all the area fire departments received about 100 calls. The Tucson Fire Department says most of their calls came from the west side of Tucson.

Tom Peine with the Pima County Sheriff's Department tweeted, "We checked with variety of places to include mines, DMAFB, Pinal Army Nat. Guard, TIA, SW Gas, El Paso Gas, TEP/So far all negative."

Peine also tweeted, "calls reference "boom" seem to come from W of Campbell/from Pinal County line to northern Green Valley/still trying to determine source."

Within 20 minutes on my Facebook page, I had more than 200 comments from people all over the Tucson valley saying they felt it and heard it, just as I did myself. I also had a lot of people tweeting about it too, saying it was felt from Oro Valley all the way to Rita Ranch on the southeast side.

Genna Short posted, "East central side. Mostly my windows rattled."

Melba Alderete Munoz wrote, "Windows rattled, in the downtown area."

Cindy Calderon Weltjen posted, "3-4 large booms that shook our house. Silverbell between Sunset/Ina. Our dogs didn't like it either!"

Summer Desrosiers Parker posted on the Tucson News Now Facebook page, "There was something in the sky after the bang. It looked like a lot of debris slow falling and shiny. I am on the Far East side (golf links and Harrison) and I was looking towards the base when I saw it."

We'll continue making calls. In the meantime, please go to my Facebook page to tell me what you felt and which part of town you're in.

Copyright 2013 Tucson News Now. All Rights Reserved.

 

[irjO]

Should be good if someone who live near the area can confirme this!

 

[shijing]

I can -- there was a boom that shook the whole house, and my windows rattled as well. I couldn't identify the specific location of the sound, but it sounded like it came from somewhere overhead, like a very large firecracker. I went outside to see if I could see anything, but didn't (and it was already dark). My daughter heard and felt it too, and we compared notes shortly after that.

Someone I talked to today also told me about another boom that happened near the Air Force base about 7-8 months ago that was apparently loud enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms. The Air Force apparently took responsibility for that and said that it had been a sonic boom from a low-flying plane, and they compensated some of the people around the base who had property damage, mostly from exploding glass. The only thing that makes that explanation at all plausible is that the damage was localized around the base itself (based on what I was told), but it seems pretty fishy.

 

[anart]

I can -- there was a boom that shook the whole house, and my windows rattled as well. I couldn't identify the specific location of the sound, but it sounded like it came from somewhere overhead, like a very large firecracker. I went outside to see if I could see anything, but didn't (and it was already dark). My daughter heard and felt it too, and we compared notes shortly after that.

Someone I talked to today also told me about another boom that happened near the Air Force base about 7-8 months ago that was apparently loud enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms. The Air Force apparently took responsibility for that and said that it had been a sonic boom from a low-flying plane, and they compensated some of the people around the base who had property damage, mostly from exploding glass. The only thing that makes that explanation at all plausible is that the damage was localized around the base itself (based on what I was told), but it seems pretty fishy.

Did you notice a flash of light?

 

[irjO]

I can -- there was a boom that shook the whole house, and my windows rattled as well. I couldn't identify the specific location of the sound, but it sounded like it came from somewhere overhead, like a very large firecracker. I went outside to see if I could see anything, but didn't (and it was already dark). My daughter heard and felt it too, and we compared notes shortly after that.

Someone I talked to today also told me about another boom that happened near the Air Force base about 7-8 months ago that was apparently loud enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms. The Air Force apparently took responsibility for that and said that it had been a sonic boom from a low-flying plane, and they compensated some of the people around the base who had property damage, mostly from exploding glass. The only thing that makes that explanation at all plausible is that the damage was localized around the base itself (based on what I was told), but it seems pretty fishy.

Did you notice a flash of light?

Good question! It sounds interesting tought and i won't buy the military practice version either

 

[shijing]

Did you notice a flash of light?

No, I didn't -- my front blinds were closed, but the ones closest to me (facing in the opposite direction) were open and I didn't notice anything like that.

 

[John G]

From Dan Marries (who wrote the article in my first post) on his facebook page: "Luke Air Force Base admits it was one of their jets that caused a sonic boom that rattled Tucson last night. I wonder why they didn't just tell us that last night."

The local news mentioned the jet was 60 miles out west (Kitt Peak). It would need to be about that far away to effect such a large area but you wouldn't think it would be that intense. They said it was a single F-16 at a legal altitude. My wife heard a loud boom followed 10 seconds or so later by a more quiet boom. None of us saw anything out the south facing windows.

 

[1984]

Good ole Luke AFB. They take responsibility for anything weird - PHX lights comes to mind. :) Luke is less than 20 miles from where I live and they fly all day long in the area since they train fighter pilots there. I never hear loud booms enough to rattle windows.

And maybe it was just an F16 but they could've come up with that answer a bit sooner. :D

 

[sbeaudry]

Someone I talked to today also told me about another boom that happened near the Air Force base about 7-8 months ago that was apparently loud enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms. The Air Force apparently took responsibility for that and said that it had been a sonic boom from a low-flying plane, and they compensated some of the people around the base who had property damage, mostly from exploding glass. The only thing that makes that explanation at all plausible is that the damage was localized around the base itself (based on what I was told), but it seems pretty fishy.

I hadn't heard of that but the compensation also seems possibly suspicious. I live near DMAFB and those purchasing homes within a certain proximity are made to sign paperwork basically to the effect of limiting the base's liability. Not sure if that's anything but the breaking glass reminds me of the recent Chelyabinsk incident. FWIW