A French military plane broke the sound barrier and startled Parisians after it was scrambled to aid two commercial aircraft which had lost radio contact.
Players at the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament paused play in astonishment. People in Paris have been on edge following last week’s knife attack, deemed a terrorist act by authorities.
This time French police hastened to urge residents fearful of an explosion not to call emergency services. “A Rafale, carrying out an intervention to assist an aircraft that had lost contact, was authorised to break the sound barrier to reach the aircraft in difficulty,” an Air Force spokesman told AFP news agency.
A sonic boom is the noise linked to shock waves created when an object travels through air faster than the speed of sound. It can sound similar to explosions or thunder.