Question regarding Sonic Boom

[Amuro]

Hi, the question I have might be stupid, but, here it goes...

 

I know that the pilot cannot hear the sonic boom when the aircraft is travelling at supersonic speed. But can the pilot hear it upon slowing down to subsonic speed? A lot of people say yes because they believe the sound wave would catch up with the plane, but someone claimed that he had asked a real navy pilot this question and the answer he got is no. However, he didn't explain why. So, I'm wondering if anyone here knows the right answer.

[mvsgas]

I not sure but, if I understand correctly you will not create a sonic boom when transitioning from supersonic to subsonic. I could be very wrong on this but, the sonic boom is created when accelerating pass mach .99, The air pressure gets release violently and creates sonic boom.

http://www.physlink.com/Education/askexperts/ae53.cfm

http://www.google.com/search?q=what+produces+the+sonic+boom&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Maybe some one with better understanding of the subject will tell us

 

P.S.

In modern fighters, passing the sound barrier is very uneventful and you can even tell unless you look at the speed indicator.

Edited March 7, 2009 by mvsgas

[Mobius1]

No, because once you slow down past Mach 1, there is no more boom to hear. The boom isn't an instantaneous event - it is constantly occurring whenever the aircraft is flying faster than the speed of sound. So, above Mach 1, there is always a sonic boom and if you are close enough to the aircraft to hear it, you will hear it shortly after the aircraft passes, but if you are always in front of the boom (like the pilot), you will never hear it.

 

Here's another good example: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/barrier/boom/images/cone.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/barrier/boom/answer3.html&usg=__7Xh1Wh_iYQniuLr9FL4XT3bNPNo=&h=219&w=350&sz=23&hl=en&start=16&sig2=wVD_L_0NnCnPDOdfEl1A3Q&um=1&tbnid=RARv7VBeOw1BuM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=120&ei=axGySYDjFY7CM5WC9eYE&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsonic%2Bboom%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS276%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

[Amuro]

Thanks guy for the explanation.