Why don't I ever hear sonic booms anymore?

Answer 1

You must be playing your car stereo WAY too loud.

Answer 2

Because most cities have decibel levels that are acceptable and the sonic booms are not. When I lived in Santa Anna, California in the 60's this was a daily occurrence rattling our windows as they left El Toro Marine Base. I believe they were F-14 Tomcats. I live in Wichita, Kansas now and McConnell Air Force base is about 3 miles east of us and I have never heard one in the last 35 years.

Answer 3

In the 60' and 70' they ran some experiments around military bases with aircraft flying past mach 1 to see how people reacted, they protested the noise so now in most countries it is illegal to fly near the speed of sound so there are no more sonic booms.
(I miss them too, you can hear one at a shuttle landing if you can afford to go to observe one of those)

Answer 4

Most people don't often hear sonic booms unless you live near an air base or an engine development center. I would have mentioned Concorde, however this plane is out of service, and the sonic booms this plane created were over the Atlantic, not over mainland America or any other country come to mention it.

Answer 5

I am not sure why you don't hear sonic booms anymore, but I have to say that I don't hear any anymore either...since 9/11. Possibly, planes are flying differently after that day.

Answer 6

There are a couple of designated over-land areas for the military to go sonic (one in southern California, another in Nevada), but otherwise they are limited to over-water.
I had an F-18 'boom' me in Alaska last summer, but it was accidental while they were dogfighting. He probably had some 'splaining to do when he got back to Eielson AFB.

Answer 7

most aircraft that go super sonic are in a military. if they are caught going super sonic (wich results in a sonic boom) over a city/town/cardboardcity they are immidiently arrested and face war crimes...

and since only a handful of commercial airliners could go super sonic (most of them I.E the concorde were trans-atlantic and activated their super sonic when they were over the ocean) you dont hear them any more, it is also illegal in non military to go super sonic over citys (disturbing the peace)

Answer 8

The military would be the only ones creating sonic booms anymore and they don't create over populated areas. They try to have the only happen over the water or over unpopulated areas.

Answer 9

Simply because it is illegal to go supersonic over land, at least over the United States. Unless there is some kind of extreme emergency even the military is not allowed to go supersonic over land. This is one of the main reasons the Concord never really worked well. It was limited to supersonic flight over the Atlantic and was not allowed to cross the United States while going that fast.

Answer 10

aircraft are not permitted to go supersonic over land by FAA rules. the only exceptions are military flying in restricted are space or with air traffic control permission which again is most likely military. A privately owned supersonic aircraft would be limited to subsonic speeds.

Answer 11

Mainly because the military doesn't go supersonic over land much anymore. They wait until they are over water. Occasionally they'll do it over unpopulated areas out in the deserts. Too many complaints about the noise.