Rocket sighting mystery still up in air

Houston Chronicle ^ | 5-28-08 | CINDY HORSWELL

[cvq3842]

I fear the worst about this.

[null and void]

I fear the worst about this.

Why? There's "Nothing to be seen here, move along, citizen!™"...

[Squantos]

Awwwwwright ! Fess up ........Who did it ?

Usual suspect lineup......:o)

[EasySt]

Probably some kid with an Estes model rocket less than 3 feet long and made of a paper tube with a balsa wood nose cone and fins and a couple of $3 six ounce paper wrapped solid rocket motors.

Let’s everybody wet our pants at once... ;-)

[count-your-change]

From WND.com some time ago, “In 1994 there was a French Mistral missile that was fully loaded ready to fire on its tripod. One man carries the missile and another man carries the tripod and it’s an extremely potent point defense missile,” explained Cmdr. Donaldson.”
“ The Maryland state police found it alongside a country road near Westminster, Md.”
Probably a prank or from a rocket club?

[netmilsmom]

>>Let’s everybody wet our pants at once... ;-)<<

LOLOLOL!

And the plane was heading to Cleveland, Splains lots.

[Rennes Templar]

I used to fly Estes rockets. Highest we ever got was 2500 ft. This was seen at 5000 ft. I used to love launching those things.

[Cobra64]

"Etgen launched a rocket that soared 32,000 feet, and she had a FAA waiver to go as high as 50,000 feet."

[JimRed]

Stinger with a bad seeker unit, just a near miss. Look for the rest of the shipment at the local mosque!

[JimRed]

Stinger with a bad seeker unit, just a near miss. Look for the rest of the shipment at the local mosque!

[El Gato]

Awwwwwright ! Fess up ........Who did it ?

8 miles NE of Bush... right about over.. well you know.

[Allegra]

I was flying back from DC when it happened.

Humblegunner lives the closest to the airport.

Not that I'm pointing fingers or anything. ;-)

[Allegra]

Humblegunner was trying to get rid of some lemons and....oooooops.

[El Gato]

Probably some kid with an Estes model rocket less than 3 feet long and made of a paper tube with a balsa wood nose cone and fins and a couple of $3 six ounce paper wrapped solid rocket motors

Still under power at 5,000 feet?

[Wiseghy]

Years ago, the rocket clubs I would hang out in used to tell stories about modifying sturdy “Alpha” rockets to handle several “D” style engines. They will function as “stages” if chained to together properly.

In the desert, they would watch the rockets parachute over high surrounding mountain ranges before losing site of them.

I’ll bet 5000 ft would be easy if you didn’t care about what happened to your rocket.

[garyb]

I give, gravel pits?

[Eurale]

The key seems to be whether the pilots ever saw a post-flight parachute(s) deployed on the missle.

[Yo-Yo]

Stinger with a bad seeker unit, just a near miss.

That Continental pilot has no idea how close he came to having a defective center fuel tank.

</sarc>

[El Gato]

"An explosive handlers permit is required whenever a rocket engine requires more than 62.5 grams of propellant," explained ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot.

62.5 grams == 2.2 ounces. Not much.

But that what happens when you let a federal bureaucracy add another letter to its initials.