Around 11 a.m. this Friday morning, a huge explosion was heard and felt in the Tarn and northern Haute-Garonne, from Albi to the north of Toulouse via Grisolles in Tarn-et-Garonne. “The noise seemed less brutal than the passage of the sound barrier of an airplane, more diffuse”, says Daniel, teleworking at his home in Fronton. Even her cat winced.
Wall of sound
On social networks, many are wondering about the noise of this “supersonic boom”. Something to bring back bad memories, because one of the times a detonation was heard from Toulouse to Montauban via Castres was on September 21, 2001, the day of the explosion at the AZF factory.
But it is more in the air than on earth that we must look for the origin of this great boom. Because it was indeed the passage of the sound barrier by an airplane. Over Daniel’s very head, since it was in the Fronton area that an Air Force Mirage 2000 went into supersonic speed this Friday morning.
“It’s a training flight for the needs of the sky police. We have regulations to mitigate the consequences of crossing the sound barrier, so we fly at more than 10,000 meters, but depending on the atmospheric conditions, this can create more audible explosions”, indicates to 20 minutes an Air Force spokesman. He specifies that four daily crossings of the sound barrier are authorized each day, even if they do not necessarily take place. And they are prohibited between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.