Air shows always cause some extra noise, but the Windy City got a little more than it bargained for as the USAF Thunderbirds practiced before last weekend's Chicago Air and Water Show. Fox 32 reports that two loud blasts, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, shook the Lake View East neighborhood, blowing out windows in residential buildings. Video of these blasts shows they occurred during high-speed passes of a Thunderbird F-16, and they sound a whole lot like sonic booms.
Naturally, the Air Force denies everything. "A review of the practice determined the Thunderbird jets did not go supersonic at any point during the demonstration," said the Air Force in a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times. The FAA also told Fox 32 that no unusual activity was reported in the area. That's exactly what I'd expect the government to say. I watched "The X-Files," and I know the truth is out there.
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Witnesses And Experts Disagree
Thanks to the modern age of social media, a number of people recorded video of the incident. Jets flying low over Chicago practicing for an air show is a rather unique event, as is an exemption to the standard maximum speed of 250 knots below 10,000 feet. Low-flying high-speed jets make a lot of noise, but the roar of jet engines isn't enough to shatter glass. As we've seen before, sonic booms are. The sound these videos captured certainly sounds like a sonic boom, similar to what the Concorde sounded like while crossing the Atlantic, or the Space Shuttle returning from orbit.
Matthew Clarke, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Grainger College of Engineering, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Those were clearly sonic booms." He explains that while the F-16 as a whole may have been just below the speed of sound, individual parts of the aircraft may have been above it, creating shock waves in the air that we perceive as sonic booms. This could explain the Air Force's official explanation that directly contradicts numerous videos and witness accounts that sonic booms occurred.
This would not be the first time the Thunderbirds have made an oopsie like this. A similar incident occurred in Tucson, Arizona, in 2012, also shattering windows. It's also a loud reminder that despite recent advances, it's still too soon to let supersonic flights rip across the country.
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