Image: VOLKER Weihbold
A sonic boom will therefore be heard several times, the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday. The training runs until May 12th. Two supersonic flights are planned per day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The flights cover almost the entire federal territory with the exception of metropolitan areas and the federal states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The flight areas are determined in cooperation with civil air traffic control. In order to keep the noise level as low as possible, we fly at high altitudes.
The army announces when it will fly over which area on social media. On Tuesday morning, the pilots trained in the Amstetten area and above the Dead Mountains. There are ongoing updates on the Facebook page.
Tight, time-sensitive coordination as an essential purpose
According to the Bundesheer, flying at supersonic speed is an indispensable part of the training and education of pilots and is essential for a functioning Austrian air surveillance system. The pilots practice this under real physical stress that cannot be represented in the simulator. The close and extremely time-critical coordination between military pilots, radar controllers and military and civil air traffic control is also an essential purpose of the training.
The supersonic speed starts at around 1,200 kilometers per hour. If a Eurofighter approaches this speed, shock waves occur on the aircraft. These shock waves can be perceived on the ground as a sonic boom. The volume and intensity of the sonic boom depends, among other things, on the flight altitude, the terrain structure and the weather conditions.
“This training is essential for our air force. The terrible war in Ukraine has shown us how important reliable protection from the air is for a sovereign state. This has to be practiced constantly and also in the supersonic range,” he said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP).
Source: Nachrichten
