Sonic Boom From HAFB Combat Training Shakes Wasatch Front
Oct 27, 2020, 12:15 PM | Updated: 2:55 pm
FILE: The 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings Air Force’s first combat capable F-35A wing. (388th Fighter Wing/Twitter)
(388th Fighter Wing/Twitter)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Many residents in the Salt Lake City area reported feeling shaking and hearing a loud boom Tuesday just before noon.
However, it wasn’t an earthquake — it was “likely the result of a sonic boom that happened during aerial combat training.”
The boom heard across the Wasatch Front at approximately 11:30 a.m. was likely the result of a sonic boom that happened during aerial combat training on the range. Pilots are authorized to fly at supersonic speeds in certain sections of the range’s airspace and do so frequently. pic.twitter.com/7RhsQoO7MH
— 388th Fighter Wing (@388fw) October 27, 2020
Officials with the 388th Fighter Wing, which is stationed at Hill Air Force Base, tweeted that “pilots are authorized to fly at supersonic speeds in certain sections of the range’s airspace and do so frequently.”
However, the noise usually is not heard along the Wasatch Front.
Training on the range is a vital aspect of remaining mission ready. The 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings Air Force’s first combat capable F-35A wing and have deployed squadrons into combat three times in the past 16 months.
— 388th Fighter Wing (@388fw) October 27, 2020
Neither University of Utah Seismograph Stations nor the U.S. Geological Survey reported any seismic activity Tuesday afternoon, after several KSL viewers across the Wasatch Front reported feeling some shaking and hearing a boom.
The UUSS did offer a possible explanation.
“We have received several reports of shaking this morning around ~11:20 am,” according to a tweet from the U of U Seismograph Stations. “We can confirm it was not an earthquake.”
According to the tweet, the seismograph station did pick up some shaking, and it was consistent with “an atmospheric source, such as a sonic boom.”
“We are not well equipped to locate non ground-based events and determine their source,” UUSS tweeted.
“We have received several reports of shaking this morning around ~11:20am.
We can confirm it was not an earthquake.
While we did pick up some shaking signals, the signal we recorded is consistent with an atmospheric source, such as a sonic boom.
— UUSS (@UUSSquake) October 27, 2020
