Par
Emilie Tournie
Published on
Nov 15, 2024 at 7:28 p.m.
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“The house vibrated, we were very scared! We all went out with the neighbors to understand,” writes this resident of Lorris (Loiret) on Info Radar 45.
Powerful explosions were heard this Thursday, November 14, 2024 around 8:45 p.m. in the municipalities located around Orléans (Montargis, Gien, Sully-sur-Loire, Dampierre-en-Burly, Amilly, etc.).
They also sounded near Auxerre (Yonne) and Troyes (Aube), causing great concern among the inhabitants of these departments. Many write that they were afraid and called on the authorities on social networks.
But what was that sound? What happened? We have the answer.
Two fighter jets in the airspace
In reality, it would be two Rafales having broke the sound barrier as they returned to their base in Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne). A hypothesis directly put forward by some Internet users and in particular confirmed by the Loiret firefighters.
“Our emergency call reception center has received numerous calls in this regard but without any report of intervention. It is very likely that these are fighter planes due to identical testimonies in the bordering departments of Eastern Loiret,” they said.
The Prefect of the Centre-Val de Loire Region and the Loiret Department also assured him in a tweet.
A sound wave
According to host Jamy Gourmaud, when a fighter plane “breaks the sound barrier”, it means that it reaches and exceeds the speed of sound in air. The aircraft flies at least at 340m/s, or 1224 km/h, it is then said to reach Mach 1 – speed of a body relative to the speed of sound.
At this pace, sound pressure waves generated by the aircraft move with it and accumulate in front of his nose, thus forming a shock wave (sound barrier).
Slower than the device, this propagates to the rear and thus causes a short and powerful noise similar to a “boom”, also called a “supersonic boom”, widely heard from the ground.
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