Published: April 19, 2008 05:53 pm            

The sky is falling

An unidentified flying object cruising through Howard County? Probably not.

A mistake by a few Air National Guard pilots in F-16s? Likely.

For the conspiracy theorists among us, the Indiana National Guard’s explanation for the loud boom and bright lights hovering over north-central Indiana Wednesday night will never be acceptable.

In truth, sonic booms caused by ambitious pilots during a training session certainly seem a reasonable explanation for the noise.

Many current and former military officials have confirmed that the light show was likely nothing more than flares being dropped from several thousand feet above ground, a technique used by jets to evade heat-seeking missiles while in combat.

The F-16s in question are part of the 122nd Fighter Wing, an Indiana Air National Guard unit based at Fort Wayne International Airport.

The jets have routinely trained in airspace known as Hilltop Military Operations Area, spanning from West Lafayette to Logansport, including parts of Howard and Tipton counties.

While we understand the military’s need to constantly train and simulate combat situations, it’s the way in which the Air National Guard has handled its mistake that we find most disappointing.

More than 15 hours passed before Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry, with Indiana National Guard’s headquarters in Indianapolis, would confirm that F-16s were to blame for the disturbance.

As for an apology of any sort, we’re still waiting.

In the meantime, emergency responders and law enforcement officials were quickly activated Wednesday night to search for possible plane wreckage (it costs taxpayer money to pay for wages and fuel to conduct such sweeps.)

At the same time, hundreds of residents in north-central Indiana were left worrying and wondering as to what happened. The failure by the Air National Guard to immediately take responsibility for the ordeal led to unnecessary panic and only fed a variety of theories.

A meteor shower, a plane crash, and yes, even an alien invasion were among the stories circulating through the area Thursday morning.

For the pilot, or pilots, who wrongly broke the speed of sound during training, we can only hope this event will serve as a lesson in restraint during the next training exercise.

Make no mistake, we’re proud to support the U.S. military, the most well-trained military in the world. However, the thought of fighter jets in combat training above our city is a bit concerning.

For now, the Air National Guard has admitted that its pilots made mistakes, and promises to investigate the ordeal.

We can only hope those officials will be more forthcoming with investigation results than they were with an initial explanation, much less an apology.

        

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