INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE: Indonesian Aerobatics Aircraft Collide And Crash During Training - Two Houses Caught Fire; No Deaths Or Injuries!

March 18, 2015 - INDONESIA - Two aerobatics aircraft have crashed in Malaysia after they grazed each other during practice. One of the vehicles collided with two neighboring houses and set them on fire.

Two KT-1 B aircraft with the Indonesian Jupiter aerobatics team were preparing for the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2015 exhibition, when they collided, say local media reports from the scene.

The two planes were a part of the formation of six aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force. The first aircraft fell within the perimeter of the Langkawi International Airport, while the second hit near a neighbouring village. At least two houses caught fire following the incident but no deaths or injuries were reported.

The training maneuvers were immediately halted and Combat Search and Rescue helicopters of the Royal Malaysian Air Force were dispatched at the scene.

There were four pilots aboard the two aircraft, according to local media reports.

Pilots of both planes managed to eject from the vehicles and were located by Fire and Rescue Services Department staff and sent to the Langkawi Hospital, according to eyewitnesses’ reports.

“Two in mid-air collision from Jupiter Aerobatic Team. Both pilots ejected. Hopefully no injuries on ground,” an eyewitness, Markus Chong posted on Facebook.

“I was having lunch, when suddenly saw the two planes colliding at the tail end, emitting smoke, before they crashed…One of the pilots managed to bail out with a parachute, “another eyewitness, Husin Ahmad, told local Bernama TV.


WATCH: Mid-air collision engulfs sky in flames.

"Thankful that all 4 pilots are safe, their spirits remain high," Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein tweeted after visiting the pilots in the hospital.

The LIMA exhibition is a biannual event which takes place in the Langkawi archipelago of Malaysia. One of the largest maritime and aerospace exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific region, the event is mainly focused on the defense industry. - RT.

RATTLE & HUM: Mysterious Booms Continue Across The United States - Sonic Booms And Ground Shaking In Norfolk And Virginia Beach, Virginia; And Loud Boom Rocks Towns Around Flat Rock, Michigan?!

March 18, 2015 - UNITED STATES - A mysterious weather phenomenon is shaking up people from across the United States - unusual, unexplained loud booms, metallic and trumpet sounds. Here are two of the latest incidents.

Reports of sonic booms, ground shaking in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia

For a second day, people are wondering what's causing the ground to shake and where the loud booms are coming from.

On Monday, people called 13News Now and posting questions on our Facebook page saying they felt the ground shake in Norfolk and Virginia Beach at two distinctly different times - once at around 4:20 p.m. and again shortly after 6 p.m.

On Tuesday, questions started coming in from the Peninsula.

Edna H. wrote, "I am in the Denbigh Section of Newport News. We have already had 4 loud blasts in less than an hour. What is going on????"

Linda T asked "Where are the sonic booms coming from?"

Current earthquake map. © USGS

The website for the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that there have been no earthquakes recorded in our area in the past 24 hours. Phone calls placed to area emergency dispatchers found no actual reports of earthquakes, or damage from whatever the shaking was.

A 2.5 magnitude earthquake was reported outside Richmond about three weeks ago.

The Navy said Tuesday they didn't have aircraft in the area.

A news release last week from the Navy indicated that they would be conducting "intensive day and night flight operations" through the first week of April.

The release went on to say: "These flight operations, which include Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) conducted at Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) Fentress in Chesapeake, Virginia, are necessary for two Navy Carrier Air Wings and the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) to complete required aircraft carrier pre-deployment and sustainment training. Night flight operations are expected to continue past midnight during this period. "

In the past, military aircraft breaking the sound barrier have caused a sonic boom which some thought was an earthquake. However, there's no definitive indication that these operations were the source of the shaking. - 13 News Now.

Loud boom rocks towns around Flat Rock, Michigan

Police from Flat Rock have deemed
the town all clear; no sign of what
caused the mystery boom.

More than a dozen residents called Flat Rock police to report hearing a loud "boom," that some said shook their houses just before 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

After hours of searching the areas that people reported the noise, which was loud enough to cause some residents to say their houses shook, nothing was found.

By 11:30 p.m. the city was deemed "all clear," without the cause being discovered. Police in Gibraltar, Huron Township, Rockwood and Monroe County were also alerted to the noise, but nothing was discovered in those communities either.

Hundreds of people from Newport to Taylor flocked to social media, posting on Facebook, Twitter and other sites about hearing the noise, feeling the vibration and speculating as to the cause.

"Sounded like a bomb went off," Flat Rock resident Jen Emerick said. "I live on Palmetto."

Dozens of others echoed her comments on the noise level.

"I live in South Rockwood and it was so loud here felt like a truck hit my house and my house is brick," Ruth Apperson said in a Facebook post.

Fred Tanner said it was so loud that he felt it in his "insides."

"Shook the house, and our guts," he said.

As quick as the word of the "boom" spread, speculation started as to what caused it. No official explanation has been given by officials in any of the areas it was heard in.

One rumor that was quickly spread was that a meteorite had struck the area around Huroc Park, people in the area quickly squashed that, which only lead to more speculation as to what had actually happened.

Other people speculated that it was the cause of mining at the local rock quarry, or underground blasting in the salt mines. Another popular theory was that it was a "frost quake."

Frost quakes usually occur in cold weather as water freezes though, not after several days of warm weather.

Investigation into what happened continued into Thursday. - The News Herald.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano Erupts - Spreading Ash Across The Capital San Jose; Forcing Airport Closures!

Turrialba Volcano registered three explosions on Thursday, March 12, 2015, spreading ash over the capital San José and causing the
Juan Santamaría International Airport to close around 4:00 p.m.  © The Tico Times

March 14, 2015 - COSTA RICA - Juan Santamaría International Airport will remain closed until at least 8:00 a.m. Friday, March 13, according to airport administration. Airport spokeswoman Silvia Chávez said that the Friday re-opening was conditional on overnight activity at Turrialba Volcano.

UPDATED at 5 p.m. with information on affected flights.

Falling ash from Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano closed the country's Juan Santamaría International Airport on Thursday afternoon at approximately 4:00 p.m., according to airport management.

As of 5:00 p.m., there were 10 affected flights.

Seven flights are grounded: 1 Iberia flight, 2 Avianca flights, 1 Copa flights, 1 Air Canada flight, and 2 cargo flights.

Three flights are in the air and unable to land: 2 Copa flights and 1 FedEx cargo flight.

A list of the airport's upcoming flight departures and their status can be found on its website.

An airport spokeswoman said conditions had improved as of 5:00 p.m. but the airport remained indefinitely closed. Inspectors at the airport are assessing the safety of the runway.

The Public Security Ministry's Air Surveillance Service says ash poses a risk to planes because of obscured visibility and because it can interfere with the plane's jets or propellers.

Turrialba Volcano erupted three times Thursday morning and early afternoon, sending volcanic ash more than a kilometer into the air. Winds carried the ash 67 kilometers from the crater to the capital, where it dusted cars and homes. The ash restricted visibility and irritated eyes in San José.

Rocío Pérez tweeted The Tico Times a picture of the sky from Heredia, saying that it was "raining ash."

- The Tico Times.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Mysterious Flash Lightens Night Sky In South Russia?!

© RUPTLY video screenshot

March 18, 2015 - RUSSIA - An inexplicable white-and-blue flash was spotted lighting up the sky over the southern Russian city of Stavropol. A dashcam video has since triggered a heated debate over the origins of the mysterious sight.

Stavropol's horizon offered a jaw-dropping view to those who weren't asleep at around 00:39 local time (21.39 GMT on Monday). The soundless flash of light scared several people, as it made some streetlights in the city go out, while being accompanied by the flickering of lights inside apartments and houses.

Local residents have come up with various theories to interpret the incident - military exercises that are currently taking place not far from the scene, faults in the electricity net, Northern Lights, an asteroid and even UFOs.


WATCH: Dashcam captures strange lights over niight sky in Russia.

"I was very frightened by what I saw, I was already in bed. It looked as if something very bright lit up my ceiling," a woman shared her experience on social media, Russian daily Argumenty i Fakty reported.

According to the Hydrometeorological Center of the city, the phenomenon "can't be attributed to nature" - rather, it could be anthropogenic. The source of the light is thought to have been located somewhere on the ground.

However power engineers have rejected a version suggesting a fault in the power supply line leaving the public clueless about the nature of the mysterious flash. - RT.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Consequences Of Fracking - Reactivated Fault Lines In Oklahoma Could Cause Major Earthquakes!

March 18, 2015 - OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES - Fault lines dating back hundreds of millions of years in Oklahoma that have been recently reactivated could lead to a devastating quake in the state where many structures were not built to withstand major seismic activity, a report said.

The state, which has seen several hundred seismic events over the past five years, has "a high degree of potential earthquake hazards," according to the study accepted for publication this month whose authors include researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

"The majority of the recent earthquakes in central Oklahoma define reactivated ancient faults at shallow depths in the crust" of less than 3.7 miles (6 km), said the report for the American Geophysical Union.

The report did not look at whether the reactivation of the faults was linked to the energy extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Daniel McNamara, one of the paper's authors and a research geophysicist at USGS, said on Tuesday the 300 million-year-old subsurface faults that had not been active are suspected to be associated with the recent seismic activity.

"Any one of these fault zones that are producing magnitude 3 or 4 earthquakes could rupture into a larger earthquake. There are as many as 12 different fault zones that are capable of producing a large, 5 to 6 magnitude earthquake," he said.

In November 2011, Oklahoma suffered a 5.6 magnitude quake that damaged more than a dozen homes and several businesses.

Building codes in Oklahoma for seismic events are not as stringent as in quake-prone states such as California.

Wastewater disposal related to the fracking is suspected by many scientists to contribute to the earthquake activity. Millions of gallons of wastewater are typically trucked from a fracking site to wells where the water is injected thousands of feet underground into porous rock layers.

Energy companies deny there is a link between fracking and major seismic activity.  - Yahoo.