LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – Around noon, we received multiple reports from St. Mary’s and Calvert County residents of a loud boom. The Sustainability Office at NAS Patuxent River did an investigation to find out where the noise came from.
“An aircraft out of NAS Patuxent River was identified as going supersonic above 30,000 feet at the time of the loud boom heard today. NAS Pax River Air Operations confirmed that the flight was authorized,” NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Officer, Patrick Gordon, told TheBayNet.com. “NAS PAX flight test squadrons conduct several types of supersonic operations in military restricted airspace over the Chesapeake Bay. The aircraft must stay close to shore so that tracking stations along the Bay Shore can record the operation through high-powered cameras. Although most sonic booms generated in this area are never felt or heard on land, due to weather conditions or the details of the flight, occasionally a sonic boom will be felt or heard on land.”
More information about supersonic flight testing at Pax can be found here https://ndw.cnic.navy.mil/Portals/75/NAS_Patuxent_River/Documents/SB_Factsheet_Final.pdf?ver=pJ5GPf_QOh5o33aAzV8JYg%3d%3d
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