The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude, a Ministry of Defence statement said.
A loud and mysterious thundering sound in several parts of Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon, which triggered panic among the city dwellers, was due to a routine Indian Air Force test flight involving a supersonic profile, the Ministry of Defence said.
The loud noise created quite a flutter in the city and no agency clarified the reason while it was ruled as an earthquake.
Later at night after 9:30 pm, Ministry of Defence spokesperson in Bengaluru said it was a "routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile which took off from Bluru Airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside City limits."
"The aircraft was of Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE) whose Test Pilots & Flight Test Engineers routinely test out all aeroplanes," PRO Bengaluru said on its official Twitter account.
The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude, it said.
"The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person," it added.
The sound, which was heard across the city around 1.20 pm, created a series of speculations as there was clarity about the source, with some even jokingly suggesting on social media that it was an alien invasion.
Many feared it could be a mild tremor as doors and windows shook after the noise but it was rejected by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre which clarified that the seismometers did not capture any ground vibration as generally happens during a mild tremor.
The Bengaluru police said the booming sound was heard across eastern Bengaluru - from International airport, Kalyan Nagar, MG road, Marathahalli, Whitefield, Sarjapur, Electronic City right up to Hebbagodi.
"We are trying to ascertain the source of the noise. HAL & IAF authorities have both been contacted," he had said.
The source was only confirmed at night, around 8 hours after the incident.
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