A sonic boom rattled US's Washington and Virginia on Monday after two F-16 fighter jets chased an “unresponsive aircraft” through the sky.
The loud boom frightened residents of the city who reported hearing a thundering noise that shook walls and windows across the area. As people took to social media to inquire about the strange noise, many residents also shared CCTV videos from their homes that captured the loud noise.
One such video, shared by Twitter user @goodguyguybrush, shows the Virginia resident's dog reacting to the sonic boom.
“Sonic Boom as heard by my dog Rocket in Fairfax Station. Shook the house,” he wrote in the tweet.
In the clip, Rocket, can be seen leisurely napping on a sofa when the sudden boom startles the dog who then dashes inside the house.
Sonic booms take place when an aircraft flies at a speed higher than the speed of sound. According to NASA, when the aircraft zooms in the sky, it pushes aside air molecules with colossal force resulting in a thunderous boom.
Apart from being startlingly loud, sonic booms can also cause damage to homes and even shatter windows.
On Monday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that the two fighter jets "responded to an unresponsive Cessna 560 Citation V aircraft over Washington, DC, and northern Virginia”
The jets chased the aircraft till it crashed in the bordering Virginia mountain area after attempting to make contact with its pilot. As per US media, the plane was not shot down by the jets and its crash wreckage had not been located yet.
