Videos capture large 'sonic boom' across three DC metro states
Residents in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland (DMV) metro areas report hearing a massive boom in the area.
It hasn't yet been reported whether it was a sonic boom, the sound made when a plane breaks the sound barrier, or if it was an explosion.
Regardless, it registered seismic activity about 7 miles south of Washington, D.C.
The Philadelphia Phillies were playing the Washington Nationals at the time, but the sound wasn't related to any fireworks or celebration at the stadium.
Another person suggested a meteorite, but there aren't any signs of one yet. There also isn't any smoke being reported by observers.
"This is how big it was. I am on Capitol Hill and it was extremely loud. People say, windows rattled in Shaw, etc.," said Hussein Ibish, the senior resident scholar at Gulf States Institute.
"Felt like an explosion in the Annapolis area. Wife was 5 miles away and thought a big tree fell in the yard with how the house shook. I think we had it first and it passed Bowie and DC to you," said Ron from Maryland to legal analyst Brad Moss on Twitter.
But that's exactly what Andrew Leyden, a freelancer in Maryland, swore happened. He reported air aficionados watching air traffic, claiming that the sound was possibly DC Air National Guard and an F-16 from Atlantic City.
"Seems there was a Alert Scramble near DC area. and Atlantic City F-16 COSMIC," one individual said.
A Nest camera in a garage in Edgewater, MD, showed whatever it was rattled the attic panel. A Ring doorbell camera recorded the boom as well in Bowie, MD. Another video was posted from Odenton, MD.
A Fairfax, VA, couple was recording a song when they heard the sound, and their house could be heard shaking.
Neighbors all over northern Virginia also reported the sound on their local neighborhood sites.
The Department of Defense confirmed to the Annapolis Office of Emergency Management that "the loud boom that was heard across the DMV area was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom. That is all the information available at this time."
The FAA reported that the flights were so quickly scrambled because of an unresponsive Censna.
Screen capture of verified FAA email
Freelancer Andrew Leyden uploaded a flight track of the N611VG showing the plane flying to New York before making a U-turn and flying directly over Washington, D.C., which is restricted air space. At the end the aircraft descended quickly. It could have been a practice exercise or a security incident. The flight took off from Blountville, TN, and either crashed or landed in Staunton, VA.
The pilot continued to be unresponsive and there are unconfirmed reports of a crash in the Virginia mountains.
You can see those videos below or at the link here.
\u201cFlight of N611VG, a Cessna Citation which took off from Blountville, TN, flew up to NY, turned around w/o landing, overflew DC and crashed (?) in Staunton, VA at 3:26PM ET.\n\nFlew extremely close to the White House, Capitol, etc but at 34k ft. Seems related to the booms we heard.\u201d— Mike Young (@Mike Young) 1685909815
\u201cFlight track of an aircraft, N611VG, that flew up to the New York area before doing a U-turn and flying directly over Washington D.C. At the end it descended rapidly. It is possible the sonic booms were aircraft scrambling (either DCANG who were in an exercise) or AC F-16 or both\u201d— Andrew Leyden (@Andrew Leyden) 1685909664
\u201c@DKaplanFox5DC I had literally just went to record a video and the boom went off\u201d— David Kaplan (@David Kaplan) 1685906684
\u201c@DKaplanFox5DC My wife and I were recording a song on an iPhone and captured the boom \ud83d\udca5 in Fairfax VA\u201d— David Kaplan (@David Kaplan) 1685906684
\u201cHere is the boom as heard in Odenton #boom #annapolis\u201d— Darin (@Darin) 1685907778
\u201c@dougkammerer Shook our entire house in Edgewater MD. I thought the house was coming down. In this video you can see it even popped up my attic access panel\n\nhttps://t.co/A7lwXiu9ht\n\n#boom #explosion\u201d— Doug Kammerer (@Doug Kammerer) 1685906470
\u201c@dougkammerer from Bowie, MD\u201d— Doug Kammerer (@Doug Kammerer) 1685906470
\u201cSeems like the entire northern Virginia area heard a loud boom.\u201d— Bradley P. Moss (@Bradley P. Moss) 1685906771