What the fuck was that? (Part II)

[Ambient Sheep]

Loud earth-shaking thump heard here on Herts/London border at 04:18... earth moved under the whole dwelling, followed by a rattly thumpy clatter that sounded like it shifted the roof a bit.

Been outside, no obvious collapse or flames visible, traffic on M25 in distance moving ok, but have just heard a couple of sirens.  Clearly not on scale of Buncefield, no car alarms et. al., but bloody loud.

Fake EDIT: not local just to this town... rattled windows seven miles south according to Facebook posts...


Off out to investigate further...

Fake EDIT 2: no scrap that... seems like it may well have been a sonic boom according to Twitter... but it didn't sound to me like the two I've heard before (which were more of a double-crack than a boom, but then I was 15 miles nearer Stansted then).


Real EDIT: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/north-london-explosion-people-woken-21001177

Real EDIT 2: to add a word.

[Ambient Sheep]

Was indeed a sonic boom, Met police have now confirmed.  Oh well, waste of a thread, sorry.

Loved their initial tweet saying basically "We don't know what it is, but there's no cause for concern." (so how do you know?!) but yeah they confirmed sonic boom shortly afterwards.

[Ambient Sheep]

A CCTV video from Cambridge...

https://twitter.com/AndrewHolding/status/1200994937518604288

...now that DOES sound like a sonic boom, but it's not quite what I heard.  I guess that, like where I normally am, it's much nearer the RAF Conigsby to Stansted etc. flightpath.

[Ambient Sheep]

These seem useful:

https://twitter.com/MIL_Radar/status/1200998273949085697
https://twitter.com/MIL_Radar/status/1201000444421713921
https://twitter.com/MIL_Radar/status/1201001087148396545
https://twitter.com/MIL_Radar/status/1201004395267285000

[Ambient Sheep]

This is more how it sounded here:

https://twitter.com/spurs991929/status/1201002578873651200

only MUCH louder.

#wideawakenowcantstoptyping

[Pride of Elvis]

I was already awake when I heard the bang, and I'm convinced I saw a blue flash through the window. Did anyone see it?

[Ambient Sheep]

I was already awake but didn't, although curtains closed.

One bloke on Twitter (from hundreds that I flicked through) said he saw a red flash through his curtains, but he was the only one.

[Pride of Elvis]

Found some others.

Massive explosion and flash of light 10 mins ago, heard all over Herts and seeing reports from London, Essex and Cambridge. Must have been huge...

https://twitter.com/cubious/status/1200998157024403458

This wasn't like a gust of window. It was A very clear and sudden bang. There was also a flash right before the first bang went off.

https://twitter.com/ghorst_meg/status/1201012328340295680

Heard huge explosion in North London but no one is talking about a blue flash #londonecplosion

https://twitter.com/Artlyst/status/1200998870588768256

general consensus is that it was a sonic boom from two typhoons being scrambled to escort an unidentified aircraft to stansted, but there's some people talking about seeing a flash of light n police helicopters hanging about over london. so.... aliens

https://twitter.com/evlbzltyr/status/1201005305217396738

[Ambient Sheep]

Oooooh!!  Is there a common area for this flash?

If there'd been one round here I think I'd've seen it despite the closed curtains as (a) have seen lightning strikes here before and (b) the front door has uncovered, if frosted, glass, and if nothing else such things come through that.


Another thing that's slightly odd is that there's usually a PPRuNe thread about these, but this time, nada.  However checking their new "Trending Topics" page reveals that the second-most recent thread is a blank one that you can't get to.  Hmmm...


Maybe this isn't a wasted thread after all...

[Pride of Elvis]

Also, my boyfriend has heard sonic booms before and doesn't think this sounded like one at all, and he's got a pretty good ear for these things.

[Pride of Elvis]

Oooooh!!  Is there a common area for this flash?

Dunno. Looks like the person in the second quote lives in Brighton (I live in north London), so it seems it covers a broad area.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

I was awoken by a distant bang/thump at 4ish too near the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border. No idea if there was a flash and went back to sleep straight away after mere seconds of speculation and consideration of looking at Twitter.

[Ambient Sheep]

Also, my boyfriend has heard sonic booms before and doesn't think this sounded like one at all, and he's got a pretty good ear for these things.

See above for that, i.e. that it didn't sound like the usual double-crack to me, just more of a thumpy collapsey rumble, but as I've said I'm 15 miles west or so of where I've heard them in the past.

So probably a case of diffused by distance, in the same way that a nearby lightning strike produces a crack whereas a distant one produces a rumble.

In your boyfriend's case, if he was living in the same place when he heard them before, it could be down to a different route being flown by the QRA Typhoons.


This blue flash business is really intriguing though, assuming that it isn't undiagnosed synaesthesia on the part of you and four other people on Twitter.  Did your boyfriend see it too?

[Jim Bob]

What's Guile doing chucking sonic booms at Sagat and Blanka on a Sunday morning at 4am for?  He's no respect, that lad!

[Paul Calf]

Chemtrails mate.

[Ambient Sheep]

PPRuNe amused/annoyed that Grauniad initially illustrated their article with a Russian fighter jet rather than an RAF Typhoon.  Even when they corrected it it took them two goes.

https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/627654-boom-london-boob-grauniad.html
(contains screenshots of Graun's attempts).

[Jasha]

One bloke on Twitter (from hundreds that I flicked through) said he saw a red flash through his curtains, but he was the only one.

The chances are a million to one

[BlodwynPig]

Tinfoil Ted cowering in the remnants of his woodland caravan

"Its time" he quiver-lips

[Ambient Sheep]

Closure:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50622110

including a possible explanation for the blue flashes:

The pilot praised the speed of the RAF response, but said he was shocked when he first saw the fighters.

Steven Giordano told the BBC: "It took us about 10 minutes to realize that the radio wasn't working and then about 10 minutes to resolve that problem.

"Amazing how fast the RAF reacted. I applaud them for that."

He said the crew was busy checking frequencies when the radio came back online and had not noticed the RAF fighters.

"I looked left and about had a heart attack when I saw one - so close - strobes on and with blueish 'glow strips' along the side of his fuselage.

"We flashed our landing lights to acknowledge and established radio contact on 'guard'... with the fighters.

"We were already talking to London control at that point.

"They remained with us for about five minutes."

^{_{(emphasis mine)}}

What that article doesn't mention is that it was a retired ex-El Al Boeing 767 on an empty positioning flight from Tel Aviv to the USA:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/flight-from-tel-aviv-causes-london-panic-when-scrambled-jets-set-off-sonic-boom/ (via https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/627654-boom-london-boob-grauniad.html#post10630351)

No wonder they got twitchy, the flight path ended up going right across central London: https://twitter.com/atoker/status/1201015389074968577

[Twit 2]

ok boomer

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Watch your tone, sonic jim.

[Johnny Yesno]

What's the significance of the strobes and the blueish 'glow strips'? In fact, what are they?

[Ambient Sheep]

What's the significance of the strobes and the blueish 'glow strips'? In fact, what are they?

Well the strobes are presumably to get the attention of the aircraft being intercepted (assuming that they're not just the usual ones that all aircraft have), and they might well explain the blue flashes seen by a small handful of people as the planes rapidly passed over.  Strobes can carry a long way in the dark.

I don't know the exact nature of the blueish glow strips, but they're presumably there for the same reason ^{_{<tinfoil>unless they're part of a top-secret electro-gravitic propulsion system</tinfoil>}} however I doubt they'd be seen from the ground.

[poodlefaker]

I met a couple (mid 50s) out walking the dog today. They both reckoned there was no way it was a sonic boom; she said it was a Russian bomb, he swore it was aliens. Either way the govt was covering it up. These were well-dressed people, living in north London, walking their dog, eligible to vote.

[Ambient Sheep]

Gotta watch those mid-50s types...

[Brundle-Fly]

Has anybody tweeted a hilarious pic of a tipped over garden furniture chair yet?

[DistressedArea]

What's the significance of the strobes and the blueish 'glow strips'? In fact, what are they?

The RAF uses them to make the plane look pretty.

[buzby]

What's the significance of the strobes and the blueish 'glow strips'? In fact, what are they?

Well the strobes are presumably to get the attention of the aircraft being intercepted (assuming that they're not just the usual ones that all aircraft have), and they might well explain the blue flashes seen by a small handful of people as the planes rapidly passed over.  Strobes can carry a long way in the dark.

The Typhoon has two dual-colour directional strobe beacons, one on the starboard side of the intake and one on the spine that can flash in a number of patterns depending on what mode is selected. You can see it working in this video of a night display - one on the modes flashes a bright blue beacon.

I don't know the exact nature of the blueish glow strips, but they're presumably there for the same reason ^{_{<tinfoil>unless they're part of a top-secret electro-gravitic propulsion system</tinfoil>}} however I doubt they'd be seen from the ground.

The 'glow strips' are ScotchLite reflective strips on the sides of the fuselage. They are used as position markers for night formation flying and air-to-air refuelling (usually illuminated by IR lights as the pilots will be wearing Night Vision Goggles). They are the 3 bars just above the horizontal strake behind the canard - you can see them glowing in this dusk shot of a 29(R) Sqn. T.3

[Johnny Yesno]

Thanks for the explanation buzby and Sheepy. I can't imagine either of those would be bright enough to cause a flash you would see through curtains unless the thing was parked outside your house.