A fighter jet with the Massachusetts Air National Guard inadvertently dropped flares Tuesday during a training exercise over southwestern New Hampshire.Click to watch News 9's coverage.One of the jets, flying with the 104th Fighter Wing out of Westfield, Massachusetts, accidentally released countermeasure flares about 10 a.m. while conducting target intercept training over the Monadnock Region, officials said.The 104th Fighter Wing said in a statement that the flares were released because of pilot error."It pretty much looked like two kind of, like, fireworks things," said Josh Cass, of Hancock.Massachusetts Air National Guard officials said the flares exploded before hitting the ground and were of no danger to the public.While it is not unusual for 104th Fighter Wing jets to conduct training over New Hampshire, the unit typically notifies the public ahead of a scheduled training exercise. The National Guard said that in this case, no announcement was made in order to test the combat readiness of the unit.State Senate candidate Jeanne Dietsch was campaigning at the polls when she heard the jets."Everyone came out of the voting area and were all standing here looking up at the sky, so it was a dramatic event," she said.She said she wasn't concerned because she's seen worse."I have seen two fighter jets come down when I was sitting beside Harrisfield Pond, and they came down and almost skimmed the pond and then went back up, and that was far more terrifying than the flares, I can tell you," she said.Officials said the jets were engaged in target intercept training.Get the WMUR app12967056

A fighter jet with the Massachusetts Air National Guard inadvertently dropped flares Tuesday during a training exercise over southwestern New Hampshire.

Click to watch News 9's coverage.


One of the jets, flying with the 104th Fighter Wing out of Westfield, Massachusetts, accidentally released countermeasure flares about 10 a.m. while conducting target intercept training over the Monadnock Region, officials said.

The 104th Fighter Wing said in a statement that the flares were released because of pilot error.

"It pretty much looked like two kind of, like, fireworks things," said Josh Cass, of Hancock.

Massachusetts Air National Guard officials said the flares exploded before hitting the ground and were of no danger to the public.

While it is not unusual for 104th Fighter Wing jets to conduct training over New Hampshire, the unit typically notifies the public ahead of a scheduled training exercise. The National Guard said that in this case, no announcement was made in order to test the combat readiness of the unit.

State Senate candidate Jeanne Dietsch was campaigning at the polls when she heard the jets.

"Everyone came out of the voting area and were all standing here looking up at the sky, so it was a dramatic event," she said.

She said she wasn't concerned because she's seen worse.

"I have seen two fighter jets come down when I was sitting beside Harrisfield Pond, and they came down and almost skimmed the pond and then went back up, and that was far more terrifying than the flares, I can tell you," she said.

Officials said the jets were engaged in target intercept training.