RAF Typhoons escort uncontacted jet to Stansted; sonic boom heard.

Three Royal Air Force Typhoon jets were scrambled from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian plane that had lost contact with air traffic control, escorting it to Stansted Airport as a sonic boom was heard across parts of southeast England. The incident, which occurred around late morning on Friday, involved a Bombardier Global Express traveling from Nice, France, and prompted a coordinated response under the Royal Air Force’s Quick Reaction Alert system. Residents in Essex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, and parts of London reported a loud explosion-like noise and, in some cases, windows and walls shaking.

Official accounts say three Typhoon fighters were deployed to respond to the uncontacted aircraft, intercepting it near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire before guiding it to Stansted. Communications with the civilian jet were reestablished, and the aircraft eventually landed safely at the Essex airport. The escorting fighters then returned to their base. The timeframe placed the interception and escort in the 11:30 to 11:40 a.m. window, a period during which the public reported widespread audible disturbances.

Residents described a range of firsthand effects from the sonic event. In...