Loud noise near Springfield was sonic boom, not meteor

HARTVILLE, Mo. -- The object that produced a loud boom over Webster County, just east of Springfield, came not from outer space but from St. Louis.

Some NASA experts thought that the boom, heard and felt on the morning of June 19, was the sound of a meteor exploding in the atmosphere. It turned out to be a sonic boom, from a new F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet on a test flight from the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas plant in St. Louis.

"He was flying high -- over 40,000 feet -- and was testing the plane to get to Mach 1," said Boeing spokesman Jim Keller. "We checked, and he had gone supersonic at 9:14 a.m."

All new F/A-18 jets undergo similar supersonic tests before delivery, Keller said.

"They're being tested regularly, under the control of FAA flight controllers in Kansas City," he said.

The explanation satisfied scientists' curiosity -- and prompted one Hartsville resident to fire off an angry letter to Gov. Bob Holden.

"When these aircraft do this it causes my windows to crack," Mary Katzenberger wrote. "My dear old dog was throwing up all day from it. Our neighbor's cattle stampeded ..."

"If, Dear Governor, you can find some way of stopping this dangerous use of our fighting aircraft, I with many other residents of the city and county of Hartville will be very grateful to you."

Katzenberger told the Springfield News-Leader she heard a similar boom in February.

"We have a lot of Amish families out here, and a lot of women drive those horse-drawn buggies," she said. "You don't want to spook their horses."

Holden's office received the letter but had no immediate response.

But Keller, the Boeing spokesman, said tests are necessary.

"It's kind of the price of freedom," he said. "We have to test them. Sonic booms come with the territory."