Portuguese Air Force
Portuguese Air Force F16-M fighter plane
It was an operational mission with F-16M fighters, in which the sound barrier was overcome. Santana Lopes knew nothing.
It was the biggest mystery in Figueira da Fozin recent years: one that was heard on Monday in several parts of the municipality, which even caused the ground to shake in some places.
It was mysterious because no one knew where the sound had come from. Neither did Mayor Pedro Santana Lopes, who had also felt this “explosion”.
Several hypotheses were excluded in the following hours. One of them was airplanes. Civil Protection said that it had not been a fighter plane that passed the sound barrier – because it had contacted the Portuguese Air Force about the matter. And there were no reports of a plane flying over that area.
But the next day, Tuesday, was precisely the Portuguese Air Force that clarified the mystery: it was indeed a military operation.
More specifically, an operational fighter mission F-16M “in which there was a need to overcome the sound barrier”, precisely close to Figueira da Foz.
It was an “occurrence one-off arising from operations essential to national security and defense”.
“This type of activity is essential to guarantee the readiness and effectiveness of national resources in safeguarding airspace, with control of the situation/activity being ensured at all times”, reads the Air Force statement.
Furthermore, the sound was so strong because “in certain atmospheric conditions, namely thermal inversions or variations in air density, a greater propagation of shock waves can be seen, making the phenomenon more audible and comprehensive than expected on the surface”.
There is no record of victims or material damage. The Air Force guarantees that “there was no dangerous situation for the population.”
Pedro Santana Lopes didn’t know of this exercise. He said, at a Chamber meeting, that he still did not know the origin of the noise. Only during the meeting, towards the end, did the communiqué arrive, which was read at the time by the mayor of Figueira da Foz.
