[Report] According to the reports from Sky News and The Guardian in the UK, three Typhoon fighter jets of the British Royal Air Force urgently took off from the Coningsby base in Lincoln at local time on the 15th morning to intercept a passenger plane that had lost contact with the air traffic control department. Later, some areas in the east and southeast of England reported hearing “sonic boom”.
A spokesman of the British Royal Air Force said, “We can confirm that the British Royal Air Force’s quick-response alert Typhoon fighter jets took off from the Coningsby Royal Air Force base today to investigate a civil aircraft that had lost contact with the air traffic control department. The communication was then restored, and the passenger plane was safely escorted to Stansted Airport (London)”.
It was reported that the passenger plane involved had taken off from Nice in France, and it was not clear why it had lost contact with the air traffic control department.
Sky News quoted data from flight information platform Flightradar24, saying that a Typhoon fighter jet flew at a speed of nearly 700 knots (805 miles per hour, about 1295 kilometers per hour) around 11:40 am on that day. Residents in Kent and Essex in England reported hearing loud noises.
The Guardian said that the speed of sound at ground level is about 761 miles per hour (about 1225 kilometers per hour), and “sonic boom” would occur when an airplane flies at a supersonic speed.