A thunderous boom resonated across Maryland to Virginia on Sunday afternoon, puzzling residents with its sonic intensity. The cause, as WBAL-TV later discovered, was linked to an approved Department of Defense flight, and the subsequent crash of a civilian aircraft.
The sonic disturbance stirred River Grannis, a Gambrills visitor, from his sleep, "We heard a giant boom, and it woke us up." Local resident Ava Evans echoed the confusion, questioning the cause of the sound in the absence of stormy weather.
Speculations about the origin of the disruptive noise ranged from an explosion to seismic activity or even thunder. The event shook houses to such an extent that Annapolis residents captured the phenomenon on their cameras.
We have confirmed that the loud boom heard in Bowie was a sonic boom from a plane out of Joint Base Andrews. — Bowie Maryland (@CityofBowie) June 4, 2023
"Our Ring notifications were going crazy with so many different options. Was it the Navy? Or was it a sonic boom? Or was it an earthquake?" Gambrills resident Sandy Abuarja pondered.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) subsequently provided an explanation. F-16 fighter jets had intercepted an unresponsive Cessna aircraft over Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. Given the approval to reach supersonic speeds, the jets likely created the sonic boom that startled residents and animals across the region.
Ahreum Kindess, a Gambrills resident, described the scene, "It was really quiet, and then we woke up, and it was like a really sudden... It didn't shake the ground, but it was a little too loud."
NORAD disclosed that the unresponsive civilian aircraft was intercepted at 3:20 p.m. The Cessna later crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. "It makes sense. It sounded louder than that to me," Grannis observed, sympathizing with the plane crash incident.
Adam Gerhardt, NTSB senior air safety investigator, shared that the National Transportation Safety Board officials are investigating the crash. "It will be a basically sifting through what is available and looking at each component that might have some sort of piece of information that we can either further tear down in a laboratory and go from there on each piece that might reveal different systems that we'll look at in any investigation. But we will be looking at particularly in this case," he explained.
NORAD further noted that the deployed aircraft utilized flares during the operation, which may have been visible to the public.
