FAA investigating unexplained object that came near Continental jet

KHOU TV, Houston, TX ^ | May 26, 2008 | Jeremy Desel

[i_dont_chat]

HOUSTON -- Federal officials are working to find out just what happened in the sky over Houston this morning. Continental Flight 1544 was 11 miles east of Bush Intercontinental Airport after takeoff this morning, when the pilot called the tower to report an object near the plane.

The plane was at about 5,000 feet at the time of the report and the flight continued on to Cleveland. Sources told 11 News that the flight was met by Continental officials and FAA investigators to interview the passengers and crew.

[mysterio]

Will there be full disclosure or a coverup?

Probably neither. But that won't stop tens of thousands of people from saying beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had to be space monsters.

[bigheadfred]

I can’t believe this even made the news. Especially in Texas.

Y’all act like you’ve never seen an illegal alien before.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

If it was a SAM and missed, it would have landed somewhere. Watching local news stations within a 50 mile redius for unexplained booms, impacts, etc. might help verify that.

Not sure what the terrain or population density in that area is so just guessing here.

[eastforker]

Thats right, the black choppers and the UFO had no markings, the USA never said it didn’t happen nor did they refute that it could have happened. They could not refute the physical evidence. If you read the interview between USAF officials and the victims, it is enough to turn your stomach.

[BurbankKarl]

If it were a SAM, wouldnt there be a plane spread across a field right now?

[pankot]

LOL. For years I figured all these “sightings” were really secret weapons the US is developing. Hence all the BS “investigations” just to throw everybody off. If ever there was unidentified aircraft why hasn’t an AF jet shot one down?

[eastforker]

If ever there was unidentified aircraft why hasn’t an AF jet shot one down?.......................................................Research the cash, huffman, ufo incident, that very well may have happened.

[Finny]

Thanks for the ping — a re-ping for myself!

[AnAmericanMother]

I wish JLS had been ingested into a jet engine before whatzisname wrote that awful book! It makes The Little Prince look like Shakespeare.

I guess it's a good thing for pilots to read something besides the NOTAMs, though.

[Chode]

wasn't me... 8^)

[diogenes ghost]

Google “Cufos case # 3-8-24”

[Bender2]

Re: it is enough to turn your stomach

I know... I know!

[TigersEye]

The source link for this thread now claims it was a model rocket. Maybe. It must be an update as it is time stamped 7:41PM CDT.

Coverup is on schedule. /s

[Chode]

wasn't me...

[eastforker]

I just walked outside and noticed that the fireflys are quite active tonight, maybe thats what it was. /S.............Several years after the Cash incident, we had another incident involving numerous helicopters and such in this area, many called in and it made the evening news, official response, Bush IC showed nothing unusual on thier radar, move along, nothing to see, didn’t happen.

[TigersEye]

You know your country’s rich when it can afford to escort fireflies with Chinooks. /s

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks LVD.

[Las Vegas Dave]

< snip >

The FAA now says it thinks that object was some kind of model rocket. Both the FAA and the Houston Area Joint Terrorism Task Force continue to investigate the incident that KHOU.com first reported early this afternoon.

Neither said conclusively what the pilot saw was indeed a model rocket, but an FAA spokesperson told 11 News that it was likely a high-powered model rocket. It is a federal crime to launch a rocket of any sort without notifying the FAA.

The plane was at about 5,000 feet at the time of the sighting and the flight continued on to Cleveland.

Sources told 11 News that the flight was met by Continental officials and FAA investigators to interview the passengers and crew.

Part of that investigation included a FBI call to John Etgen, who is an officer with one of the local model rocket clubs in the area.

When the FBI told him what had been reported, the rocket enthusiast was shocked.

“This is completely outside of all of our safety codes and all of our practices. We actually behave a lot like visual flight rules pilots. This is if we can’t see clear airspace and already have permission to be in that air space we are not allowed to launch and we don’t,” said Etgen.

Etgen said it’s certainly possible for a model rocket to get that high up, but he also said the description given by the pilot doesn’t match up.

At that height, a model would have been coasting for quite some time and maybe emitting a small trail of white smoke and not the thick smoke like the pilot’s report.

He explained that while model rocketry is supposed to be fun, it is also highly regulated. Regulated by the same federal agency that has oversight of the airlines – the FAA.

The FAA confirmed that there were no requests to launch or notifications filed for the Houston area for Monday.
There are also no official launch sites within 50 miles of Bush airport.

[mowowie]

I saw a beach ball sized fireball roar across the front of my car one night a few years ago. if my GF wasn’t there i don’t know if anybody would have believed it. Me and a buddy scoured a nearby park the next day looking for it but we never found it. it may have landed in a river.