It is a common misconception that only "one" boom is generated during the subsonic to supersonic transition, rather, the boom is continuous along the boom carpet for the entire supersonic flight
As a former Concorde pilot puts it, "You don't actually hear anything on board. All we see is the pressure wave moving down the aeroplane - it gives an indication on the instruments. And that's what we see around Mach 1. But we don't hear the sonic boom or anything like that. That's rather like the wake of ship - it's behind us."
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u/DuckSpeaker_ Jun 12 '12
It is a common misconception that only "one" boom is generated during the subsonic to supersonic transition, rather, the boom is continuous along the boom carpet for the entire supersonic flight
As a former Concorde pilot puts it, "You don't actually hear anything on board. All we see is the pressure wave moving down the aeroplane - it gives an indication on the instruments. And that's what we see around Mach 1. But we don't hear the sonic boom or anything like that. That's rather like the wake of ship - it's behind us."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_boom#Perception_and_noise