Sonic boom?

Question

if a jet breaking the barrier fly -by

would you hear the sonic boom immediately?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

Depends on the distance the jet is from you when it passes. A sonic boom is nothing more than the pressure of the air that the jet displaces being pushed into the air next to it faster than that air can get out of the way. The resulting wave travels at the speed of sound (770mph or 1129 fps).  So for every 1129 feet of altitude of the jet, there will be a 1 second delay in the boom.  At most air shows, jets operating at those speeds are several thousand feet in the air and you would be a few hundred yards away making the total distance be even longer than their altitude, so you could expect a few seconds delay between the jet passing and the boom.

p.s. - There are actually 2 sonic booms. One from the air being pushed out of the way by the nose and wings of the jet and a second smaller one of the air being sucked back into the space behind the jet as it passes.

Answer 3

No. The sonic 'boom' travels behind the aircraft in a conical shape.

see picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sonic...