‘Where was the warning?!’ Furious residents of DC, Maryland and Virginia are left frightened after sonic boom from Pentagon jet rattles windows and doors on Sunday afternoon
- An authorized military drill caused a loud ‘explosion’ sound in the Washington DC area that shook houses and caused widespread panic
- At around the same time, a plane crashed into the mountainous areas of Virginia
- Social media users reported hearing a huge ‘bang’ in the city, with some saying it shook their homes
An authorized military drill caused a loud ‘explosion’ sound in the Washington D.C. area that shook houses and caused widespread panic.
Authorities say the source of the loud boom at around 3.30pm Sunday was simply an F-16 fighter plane breaking the sound barrier during military drills over the Chesapeake Bay.
The drills were apparently routine, and were not the result of any military emergency.
At around the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration says, a Cessna aircraft crashed into a mountainous region of Virginia.
The aircraft took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee and was on its way to Long Island New York. It is unclear if the two instances were related.
But the loud sound heard for miles frightened some social media users who said it shook their homes.
And multiple agencies received an onslaught of calls about the noise, which was heard as far as away as Annapolis, Maryland.
Now, some residents of DC, Maryland and Virginia are upset there was no warning about the military drill.
Dozens of people reported hearing a huge ‘bang’ or ‘explosion’ in DC – that shook the ground and was compared to an earthquake
Annapolis Office of Emergency Management said the loud sound was caused by an authorized Department of Defense flight
‘If that was really a sonic boom that was just felt across Maryland and Virginia the government has some serious explaining to do and a pilot needs dishonorably discharged immediately,’ Matt Cox wrote.
‘It was loud enough to shake my f****** coffee table. Thank God there isn’t an infant in the house.’
Some online said they were afraid to go outside in the aftermath, while others said whatever the source of the noise was it can’t be good.
‘There was an explosion in Washington DC a couple of minutes ago. It seems to have been heard in a large area of the city,’ Hussein Ibish tweeted. ‘I have no idea what happened, but it’s not good.’
Erica Petacchi added that she had just gotten out of her car when she heard the noise and ‘felt something.
‘It’s like nothing I’ve experienced before,’ she tweeted. ‘I thought it was a large gas explosion nearby.’
Social media users reported hearing a huge ‘bang’ in the city, with some saying it shook their homes
Eventually, though, the City of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management announced that the noise was simply the result of a sonic boom.
‘The loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight,’ it said. ‘This flight caused a sonic boom.’
The Department of Homeland Security said there is no threat at this time.
Source: Read Full Article