This flight path isn’t a blast for some Jersey residents.
Mysterious ground-shaking booming sounds that repeatedly rattled New Jersey homes this week were likely caused by supersonic testing, according to the Navy.
The bizarre earthquake-like vibrations — felt most intensely in the state’s southern section Monday — came as the military branch experimented with an ultra high-speed aircraft near the Jersey shore, nj.com reported.
Officials at the Patuxent River’s Naval Air Station were “executing supersonic test points” above the Atlantic Ocean roughly three miles from the Garden State’s coastline, a Navy spokesman told the outlet.
During the test, Navy flew the aircraft — which moves faster than the speed of sound — in an airspace known as the “Test Track,” the rep said.
The sonic booms likely triggered the unsettling ground shaking, which baffled dozens of residents after there proved to be no seismic activity in the area.
At least 35 people reported feeling the rumbling, largely in Cape May, Cumberland, Ocean counties, on the earthquake-tracking website volcanodiscovery.com.
Others took to social media to report it, including one forecaster in Upper Township who demanded to know, “What IS GOING ON?”
“[There were] loud noises, shaking, flashes of light in the sky at night… What we are experiencing isn’t isolated,” the weatherman Forecaster Nick Pittman wrote on Facebook. “This is happening all over. The question is: Is there something natural going on that connects it all?”
On Friday, the Navy rep said residents near the test site generally don’t hear or feel sonic booms but weather conditions and “the details of the test flight” can sometimes change that.
The off-shore test area was chosen because it’s near military bases and not in a populated area.
“[It’s] close enough for the safety of aircraft and pilots and to conserve on jet fuel,” the Navy rep said.
