[00ctober]

Just had a weird few minutes. Heard a deep sound a couple of times outside like a plane going over but more powerful, dog heard it too. Went outside and there were a further 5-6 rumbles about 2 mins apart to my North, in the time between rumbles the sound could be heard faintly. Sounded similar to a fighter plane going over but not as loud. Didn't sound that dissimilar to thunder but I'm sure it wasn't, no lightning seen. Any ideas?

[John Mason]

F-15s? They can make your head reverberate when they overdo it. Have seen sheep stampede due to them, even when at medium levels. Living right under the Mach Loop we are used to it here. A few sonic-booms a year off them too. Gung-ho b*ggers!

Cheers - John

[Lightning Hunter]

Yes, I'd say distant fast jet. I've heard a Typhoon doing a display around 10 miles away (could even see it's aterburners from that distance!) and it sounded like a constant rumble of thunder.

[Ed.]

Warton Airfield, Lancs, has had the odd visitor of a slightly more jet-like variety of aircraft capable of mach +1..likewise it's been a fairly decent day for a rogue F-15 or Tornado to do a visit further out west - or, you can't rule out Hawks courtesy Valley, often linked to do a low-level night-time jolly... John'll certainly know

[Bazmundo]

Been waiting for this, kind of like the hum. There's been localised reports of strange, deep, rumbling sounds all over the world but the jury is out as to whether it's a hoax* or not. They've been in the media too, but as yet no perpetrator, theory or ad campaign has stepped forward.

If you search youtube for 'strange sounds' you'll end up on a little video-venture listening to a variety of clips, some similar and some not so. I'm not going to link to any of them, mainly as I'm not a believer; but if any sound like what you heard then I might change my mind.

* as in video-dubbing, or even the use of some sort of contraption to generate 'witness' accounts.

[Bazmundo]

FWIW this just flew past our little town on descent into Manchester and made similar noises to the youtube vids.

[StephenS]

I remember hearing similar sounds one night about ten years ago. I assumed an aircraft, perhaps coupled with anomalous propagation of sound waves, must have been the cause. It was quite disconcerting, however, and not usual for this area.

As for the You Tube vids, I doubt many (or any) of them are genuine. A discussion (with some adult language) can be found here: http://www.liveleak....5749&comments=1

[scrapemedic]

Been hearing strange airplane noises round here since october. I am used to the usual airplanes going in and out of heathrow and Northolt, but the first time I heard something amiss in Ocotber, I wasn't sure what it was first of all, sort of swirling and whoosing in amongst the clouds. Then on a night shift I heard the clearest sonic boom going over about two in the morning. Again a few weeks ago at about 9 in the evening, I think everyone ducked in the peadeatric department as another jet went over, and again the other night a slightly quieter noise.

Its unusual, if not unprecedented to have fighters over this area of london, what with the commercial flight paths around here, helos a plenty including chinooks, but jets not so much. Its a rare treat if you ask me.

[StephenS]

Liz, perhaps some of that could be accounted for by Typhoons 'rehearsing' for the Olympics.

A couple will be based at Northolt providing air cover for the games, and at least one night-time flight up the Thames estuary and over London caused quite a lot of consternation and quite a few UFO reports! I think this may have been discussed in a previous UKww thread.

I always look for a rational explanation, but there are plenty of sonic boom-type reports and other odd noises heard around the world for which one hasn't yet been found.

[Dave W]

And still the dratted hum goes on every night (and- oddly -only on most but not quite all), disturbing my sleep..

[John Mason]

You'll have to record the noises Liz. These days I can tell apart an F-15, Typhoon or Tornado without looking up! That's years of living under the Loop for you!

Cheers - John

[ChaserUK]

Surely a small EQ might produce similar sounds?

[00ctober]

Thanks all for the replies, a fighter plane sounds the best explanation but could that make a sound/sounds that went on for over 10mins? Unless there were 6 or 7 of them or one going round in circles.

[Uskys]

00ctober, on 21 February 2012 - 14:12, said:

Thanks all for the replies, a fighter plane sounds the best explanation but could that make a sound/sounds that went on for over 10mins? Unless there were 6 or 7 of them or one going round in circles.

Yes, dependant upon atmospheric conditions. On a still clear day here last week a Tornado flew over, I measured how long I could hear the rumble for, it was 8 minutes at around the same sort of tone/loudness... and that was from it flying overhead... if it had been a few miles to south and heading east to west it could eb longer.

And on still days I can here the rumble of the F15's above the loop - and that is a good 60 or 70 miles away.

[John Mason]

It certainly could. The F-15s often do high-level sorties over Mach at night where 2, 3 or more of them fly round and round for ages. This is more of a winter thing as they don't tend to do it after about 8pm.

Cheers - John

[grahamread]

There's an article about this phenomenon of unexplained sounds in this weeks new scientist. I 'll post a link when back at the computer. Essentially it reckoned it could be due to very slight earth movement / quakes.

[Uskys]

I havn't read the article you mention but there are other forces at work. The gov/military do use noise control so I've read. This is a control method to keep citizens subdued. - not a conspiracy theory as I understand .

[grahamread]

Here's a link to the start of the article I mentioned. Unfortunately you have to be a NS subscriber to read all of it.

Mystery booms: The source of a worldwide sonic enigma

[00ctober]

Just heard the exact same sound again from the same direction and also a few hours ago. Just heard it once each time though. Didn't spot anything in the sky.

[Ben Taylor]

John Mason, on 21 February 2012 - 14:40, said:

It certainly could. The F-15s often do high-level sorties over Mach at night where 2, 3 or more of them fly round and round for ages. This is more of a winter thing as they don't tend to do it after about 8pm.

Cheers - John

I remember one evening several years ago where I heard persistent jet noises so I went out to investigate. An F15 appeared to be flying some kind of holding pattern at a medium altitude and this was held for about 5 mins or so before the aircraft broke this and flew off. It took a little while for me to spot the jet because of the altitude; so this kind of thing can be puzzling initially.

What really annoys me is the droning noise of some aircraft that come over here at night sometimes.