Community Post

Blue Angels boom breaks Leschi woman’s window

We’ve had some long debates over the last few days about the Blue Angels and their yearly flight over the neighborhood. But so far the anti-Angels side has only had noise and waste as the biggest negative points to the annual show.

Now it appears we can add actual property damage to the list.

CDNews reader Karin McHegg was away from her Leschi home watching the air show today and was one of several people who reported hearing two more sonic booms towards the start of the event. And as was the case yesterday, Karin says that the booms appeared to come from the gray F/A 18s that are in the “warm-up act” of the main show.

The power of those shock waves was brought home to Karin when she got back home and found that the plate glass of her dining room window had been shattered, apparently by the force of the sonic boom.

A commenter in yesterday’s thread about the first sonic boom left a link to a Mythbusters episode which documented physical damage to a test structure after several low-altitude supersonic passes by a Blue Angels jet.

Karin says the damage to her home hasn’t really changed her opinion of the Blue Angels show as she wasn’t a fan to begin with. She told us “Shaking the house enough to break a window is ridiculous. Sure, relatively minor damage, no one got hurt, but we’ll have to get up on a ladder to pull out the window and repair it. Really? This is allowed? I must say that if the Blue Angels never came back I would be glad.”

She estimates the total cost of repairs at less than $100, plus the time to go get the glass and then repair it. And she’s been told that she can request Seafair representatives to come out and assess it for possible reimbursement.

Here’s the photos Karin sent us of the damage from the outside, and of shards of glass left on her dining room table:

0 thoughts on “Blue Angels boom breaks Leschi woman’s window

  1. I know that you indicated that the cost is about 100.00 dollars, but i served in the army for 20 years and whenever govt property damaged civilian property, the civilian can put in a claim and if proved the military is responsible for this. I think a good place to start would be the local Provost Marshal Office (like a military police) or the local Judge Advocate (which serves as the legal counsel for the military).

    Here is the number to the claims office,they can probably help you from there:
    Claims 253-982-5030

    Here is an overview of the legal folks and what they can assist you with:

    http://www.62aw.af.mil/units/judgeadvocate/index.asp

    Good Luck. I know it may not be just about the money, more about the principal. Gia

  2. Damn! Now I know the headline should have been:
    “Blue Angels break window, ruin nachos”

  3. Odd that the overpressure of a sonic boom would break part of a small rectangular window, presumably well supported by its frame, but leave the adjacent much larger window intact.

  4. Ms. McHegg spelt her name Karen in the previous comments. (Former Mad-Miller resident, that’s why I noticed).

  5. bigger windows have more room to flex, also note the sealant is light grey on the larger window, that window has been replaced more recently thus is a newer piece of glass and thus has less stress on it then a single pane installed 20, 30, 40 years ago. It’s single pane glass and there is a reason it’s not longer up to code.

  6. Andrew’s comments above make sense about it is odd that the pressure waves only hit a small part of the window. I hope the experts are called to assess what happened since it seems like some people are immediately concluding or telling the media that it was the Blue Angels. The cdnews scanner is a good source to know there are a lot of odd things going on.

  7. What a fantastic illustration of all that is wrong with blog ‘journalism’.

    Amidst all of the (completely beyond) circumstantial facts in this post, @johnmocha makes a compelling point in his comment; are we really to believe that this tiny broken window was the only damage caused by an alleged sonic boom today? And, for that matter, are we really to believe that another sonic ‘transgression’ would even happen today after yesterday’s accidental and illegal boom?

    Where is the factual evidence that supports your headline “Blue Angels Boom Breaks Leschi Woman’s Window”?

    All you’ve got is the claims of an angry resident, who was clearly primed by your reporting of yesterday’s sonic boom, which, incidentally, did not break any windows, although it did spark a lengthy discussion about why no windows were broken. I’m guessing your subject didn’t read that far.

    In any event, regardless of what you believe about the Blue Angels’ annual appearance, this is completely irresponsible reporting because there are simply no facts to substantiate your story; there are only the opinions of a single angry resident.

    Your headline should read: “Leschi Woman Has Window Broken, Blames Blue Angels”. At least you wouldn’t be so far off base.

  8. Agree with Mike. BTW, i noticed my sunflower is leaning a lot more and i think it was the ‘sonic booms’ over the last 2 days.

  9. No matter your position on the debate over the “booms” (the shockwaves which have been occurring during the F18 shows) voicing your support or concern about the airshow to those with decision making power is important. Ideas on who to contact:

    FAA national #: 1-866-TELL-FAA (1-866-835-5322)
    SeaFair Comment line: 206 728 0123 x 853
    Seattle City Council: http://www.cityofseattle.net/council/councilcontact.htm
    The mayor: http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/contact.htm

  10. Than you for your Comments Mike! I noticed some broken glass in Madrona/ Leschi/ MtBaker /Seward Park yesterday so should I assume a sonic boom? No way, I am more likely to assume a drunk human.

  11. As I was reading this I thought… “where is the proof?” You’re just speculating and it could have just as easily been an out of control flying squirrel at this point.

  12. How do I simplfy this? The Blue Angels fly BLUE jets and the fighter demos fly GRAY jets. So don’t blame the BLUES for GRAY jets.

  13. The last comment, by Fly Navy, can be addressed. On Friday, between 2 and 3 pm, I heard two sonic booms (violent, abrupt shaking of my house accompanied by a sharp loud sound like an explosion). Flying at that time were the demonstration jets, F-18 “Hornets”. On Saturday, between 1 and 2pm, I experienced two more sonic booms. That was the Blue Angels.

    When this first happened, around 2:30p Friday, in the house with windows and doors shut, the experience met the description of a sonic boom — the house shook abruptly and a sharp loud noise sounding like an explosion…… I actually checked outside that there had not been a crash. Subsequently, three more within the two days.

    This is totally unacceptable. I am an Army vet. I support the current military, in general. But, there is no excuse for this misuse of the military to assault the peace of my house. Entertainment is not a good excuse.

    Also, I moved into the neighborhood in 1971, the year before the Blue Angels started their Seafair/Lake Washington shows. Most of my neighbors moved in, not having experienced living through these days of violent interruption.

  14. This is the air show schedule for the weekend. The Blue Angels performance did not start until 1:30pm on Saturday. Comments in the other thread indicate that the sonic booms were felt/heard at 1:07 and 1:12 prior to the start of the Blue Angels appearance.
    http://www.seafair.com/weekend/airshow/

    Friday, August 6
    8:30 a.m. – Gates Open
    11:00 a.m. – Boeing Air Show
    1:00 p.m. – U.S. Navy F-18 Demonstration
    1:30 p.m. – Fat Albert C-130 Demonstration
    1:40 p.m. – U.S. Navy Blue Angels Demonstration
    2:30 p.m. – Boeing Air Show
    3:35 p.m. – Airplane vs. Hydroplane Race Practice Session presented by Jack Daniel’s

    Saturday, August 7
    8:30 a.m. – Gates Open
    12:35 p.m. – Airplane vs. Hydroplane Race presented by Jack Daniel’s
    1:00 p.m. – U.S. Navy F-18 Demonstration
    1:20 p.m. – Fat Albert C-130 Demonstration
    1:30 p.m. – U.S. Navy Blue Angels Demonstration
    3:50 p.m. – Boeing Air Show

    Sunday, August 8
    7:30 a.m. – Gates Open
    10:10 a.m. – Boeing Air Show
    11:20 a.m. – Boeing Air Show
    12:40 p.m. – Airplane vs. Hydroplane Race presented by Jack Daniel’s
    1:00 p.m. – U.S. Navy F-18 Demonstration
    1:20 p.m. – Fat Albert C-130 Demonstration
    1:30 p.m. – U.S. Navy Blue Angels Demonstration
    3:15 p.m. – Boeing Air Show

  15. I agree. I’ve lived here my whole life (4 different houses in the neighborhood), and have lived in some OLD houses with extremely old glass. Only this year have i ever experiences the violent shaking of the house that we had today. The boom is totally different from the roar of the planes over the house we usually run out in the yard to enjoy. This is a sudden, shaking of the whole house not associated with the sound of a plane coming or going. It’s the oddest thing to explain. In my case I thought someone had driven in to our garage door.

  16. I didn’t look at the exact times but there was one humungous explosive house shaker on Friday, two on Saturday, and two today. I have lived in the neighborhood (from Mt Baker to Mad Valley) and have had to live through these Blue Angel practices and shows for 18 years. This is the FIRST year that I have experienced sonic booms (I have no doubt as to what they were, having grown up near an air force base in the 60’s and 70’s).
    It was my understanding that sonic booms in populated areas were not allowed by the military. If that is the case, why did it happen every day? Why didn’t they stop it after Friday?

  17. that the mayor did something about the mobile sonic boommobiles that cruise our neighborhoods throughout the year. They must more of a nuisance – and some of them sometimes use their armament on the local citizenry.

  18. i have a house in hillman city and the sliding glass door was broken on saturday from the show

  19. It’s funny how there are baseball fragments on the edge of the glass.

    Clearly this is the house of a terrorist supporting lib.

    Move to Canada, I hear they don’t like freedom either.

  20. Saying that you served in the army does not mean you’re a patriot. It could possibly just mean that you are not as good at draft dodging as some of your buddies.

    How does this constituting assault on the public? Did they shoot the windows out?

    I agree with my previous statement. Move to Canada, I hear they don’t care for freedom much there. You might fit in a little better.