Basically, yes. Here's one famous example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Great_Daylight_Fireball

http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod_e/image/0...

It's very unlikely but definitely possible. If the meteor is fast enough and targets outer earth atmosphere, it an enter outer atmosphere, slow down, light up due to friction, then escape earth atmosphere vertically. The only problem with this scenario is that meteor has to be much faster than Mach 2, unlike what pilots reported. But it's easily possible they saw a Mach 12 meteor and thought it's Mach 2.

If the meteor has a shape that could generate lift in some way, I can definitely imagine this happening.