RAF typhoons cause sonic booms across Yorkshire

Thousands of people across Yorkshire got a bit of a shock last night when huge bangs were heard right across the region. Within minutes social media went into a frenzy with reports of houses shaking, windows cracking and general panic at what many thought was an explosion.

It was the sound of two RAF Typhoons creating sonic booms after being scrambled to intercept a French aircraft which was experiencing problems as it came in to land.

Click below to watch Adam Fowler's report

Opening CCTV courtesy of Paul Griffiths / Pulse1

Aviation expert Dr Stephen Wright from Leeds University says it is very rare to hear sonic booms because it is a criminal offence to fly at speeds greater than Mach 1 over land in the UK. Anyone who does this normally has to answer immediately to the Civil Aviation Authority with very good reasons as to why they broke the rules.

The sound of two RAF Typhoons breaking the sound barrier over Yorkshire was captured on CCTV. The jets were scrambled to escort an Air France passenger plane into Newcastle airport after the aircraft lost touch with air traffic control due to communication problems.

Video courtesy of Paul Griffiths, Pulse 1.

Air France has confirmed that RAF jets were scrambled to escort one of their planes into Newcastle airport after a radio communication problem caused the flight to lose contact with ground control.

The jets broke the sound barrier as they flew to join the aircraft, causing a sonic boom which was heard across West, South and North Yorkshire.

Newcastle Airport has confirmed that RAF aircraft escorted a flight operated with an Air France flight code, into the airport earlier this evening:

The AirLive website which is run by a group of aviation enthusiasts has obtained a photograph of the plane they say was escorted in to Newcastle Airport on Monday evening by Typhoon jets from RAF Coningsby after losing contact with air traffic control:

A twitter account that monitors air traffic says it believes the RAF typhoon jets were scrambled to escort an Air France plane in to Newcastle Airport which had lost radio contact.

The RAF has confirmed that typhoon aircraft were launched from RAF Coningsby this evening after reports of an unresponsive civilian aircraft.

The Ministry of Defence says it is aware of reports of loud bangs heard across much of the North of England which police are blaming on sonic booms but the MoD says it is not in a position yet to confirm whether any of its planes are involved.