Lots of Boom...Rolling Thunder Sounds off Charleston Beaches this Week..

[KoKo]

Down there visiting relatives and on the beach and between the "contrails" on the beautiful blue skies and the Boom and Thunder which we figured are "jet training exercises" it was hard not to be reminded that we live in "war time."

We couldn't see what made the "booms and rolling thunder" it was off in the sky on the horizon, but know that Paris Island is close by and also wondered if it was training exersizes off aircraft carriers far offshore.

We go down there several times a year and this is the first time we've
experienced this. Any Charleston area folks have more info on what this is? People on the beach kept looking but no one seemed alarmed. Maybe Ridges "color codes" have become jaded and folks don't think anything is unusual anymore. :shrug:

[LastDemocratInSC]

1. Sonic booms will carry a long, long way over the ocean

Military jets are free to exceed speed limits if they are a certain distance off the coast. It's essential to a pilot's training that he be able to fly at supersonic speeds from time to time because an aircraft handles differently at supersonic speeds than it does at subsonic speeds.

I've spent some interesting afternoons at Edisto Island listening to sonic booms - when they're flying supersonically eastward, away from the beach, you won't hear them, but when they fly westward in their dog-fighting with each other you can hear multiple booms as they maneuver around. It's a very cool experience.

There are aircraft at Beaufort, SC, Cherry Point, NC, and Pope Air Force Base NC that can fly supersonically along the coast.

[Hef]

2. training exercises

MCAS Beaufort has been doing alot more training exercises for both aircrews and ground crews in preparation for rotation into Iraq. I've been watching them alot from Bluffton and Hilton Head.

It's a very regular thing for military aircraft to fly over this area. It's quite common for USMC Chinooks or USCG Dauphins to buzz the beaches at 60 ft off the water.