That loud boom that Bowling Green residents may have heard this morning was the 180th Fighter Wing conducting a functional check flight today between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.
A functional check flight is conducted following heavy maintenance on the aircraft, putting the aircraft through strenuous testing and maneuvers to ensure all systems of the aircraft function properly and ensuring mission readiness, before putting the aircraft back into operational rotation.
While the actual flight was conducted in or around the Ottawa, Findlay and Lima areas, residents across Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan may have heard a sonic boom once supersonic speeds were reached.
These flights normally occur above an altitude of 30,000 feet, but area residents may still hear the sonic boom.
