Sonic boom

[stoo_pid]

Watching the The Right Stuff again last night & the missus asked a question I couldn't answer.  When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier does the pilot hear the sonic boom?  If so, how loud would it be?

[OBonio]

I think people who are going through the sound barrier don't hear the resulting 'boom'. Only onlookers do.

[Loosehead]

No, people in the aircraft will not hear it. I've been at Mach 2 on Concorde and there's really only the speedo on the wall to tell you how fast you're going, very smooth, I heard nothing.

[chakka35]

Good job too.  Since the sonic boom occurs all the time the aircraft is flying supersonically (not just when it goes supersonic for the first time) the aircrew would be deafened for most of the flight.