We can feel a sonic boom as a sudden shock or vibration. It can also be heard. It is often said that an explosion or gunshot is produced by such a blow.
When an aircraft flies at a speed below the speed of sound, sound waves oscillate and propagate behind and in front of the aircraft. That’s why you hear noise and roar when an airplane passes over you.
If the aircraft is accelerating to the speed of sound (1200 km/h) or more, the sound waves cannot travel fast enough to get out of the aircraft’s path. As a result, they gather and coalesce, forming a shock wave.
This wave moves in a V shape behind the plane. You can see the same thing when a watercraft is moving in the water.
For an airplane, the shock wave creates a loud and booming sonic boom. This actually happens all the time, but people only hear this roar once – when an airplane “track” passes over them. Sometimes even double explosions are heard due to two tracks: behind the nose of the aircraft and behind the tail.
Source: Ferra
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