BOMBER OVER THE CITY WAS DIVERTED BY WEATHER

The B-1B bomber that flew over the southern edge of Cape Girardeau Thursday, attracting attention because of its noise, was on a diverted course because of weather conditions, a Federal Aviation Agency spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, Jean Branit in Kansas City, said Friday that the bomber was enroute to its home at McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kan., and that it was "being flown legitimately" at an altitude of 12,000 feet.

Branit said she talked late Thursday with an officer at McConnell AFB who confirmed that the bomber had flown over Cape Girardeau.

"It definitely was a sub-sonic sound from the aircraft," Branit said of the noise. "If it was flying below a cloud deck, clouds tend to act as a sound shield, and the noise would have sounded much louder on a cloudy day," she said.

Thursday was mostly a cloudy day here.

The plane flew over shortly after 1 p.m.