There was no missle. Nothing to see here. It was just a toy. Actually, there was not even a toy.
Posted on 06/09/2009 12:36:07 PM PDT by Schnucki
Investigators in Texas say a flying object that narrowly missed a Continental Express plane last month may have been a large model rocket.
The jet's pilot and co-pilot spotted the object and a long white vapor trail shortly after they took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on May 29. The plane was bound for Greenville, South Carolina.
Pilots spotted the object at roughly 16,000 feet (4,900 meters). It was about 5 feet (1.5 meters) to 7 feet (2 meters) long.
It barely missed the passenger jet, passing just 100 feet below it.
Liberty County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor said no model rocket clubs reported having launches that day, and that a permit would be needed to launch a rocket that high.
Another Continental plane narrowly missed a probable model rocket after leaving the airport last year, also around Memorial Day. That plane was flying about 4,750 feet (1,450 meters).
The pilot immediately contacted officials, who brought in the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate.
'The FAA then contacted the Liberty County department dispatcher and reported their pilot reported an object flying straight at his aircraft and passed 100 feet under it,' Ken DeFoor, chief deputy for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, was quoted as saying in local media.
'The pilot, from what we understand, was former military,' a police spokesman said. 'He was able to get the coordinates down real quick.'
Last night the FBI met with the sheriff's department and the FAA to discuss the sighting.
'While we have no information to indicate there was a criminal act we certainly do not rule anything out and certainly would not want to speculate on what it may or may not have been,' an FBI spokeswoman said.
Police said local hobbyists do set off rockets in the area, but
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LOL! Sorry, but that would be a hell of a model rocket.
There was no missle. Nothing to see here. It was just a toy. Actually, there was not even a toy.
sounds like the Master Blasters have been busy?
The story has legs but few details.
For what it’s worth, a 5 foot rocket of any ground-based type at 16,000 feet wouldn’t bring down a large airliner.
Almost all of those 5 feet would be used for fuel, leaving very little payload. Maybe enough to knock out one engine, but that won’t bring down a jetliner.
...but we will anyway. It was probably a model rocket.
Some people do build rockets that can reach that altitude but they are very very expensive and require speical kinds of engines
I hear ya there!! We sure didn’t have THAT big of an Estes Rocket when I was a kid...spoiled kids these days!!!!
First I’ve heard of it.
High Pucker Factor for the pilot, for sure!
I find it hard to believe that they new where the rocket was seen and at what altitude and yet have failed to recover it by now.
Something stinks. I believe if this were a terrorist attempt to bring down an aircraft and the word got out, it would all but shut down the airline industry because so many people would refuse to fly.
BS! An FAA waiver is required to launch a hobby rocket to that altitude. Also, FAA would never (we hope) issue a permit so close to a flyway.
It would have to be build by an experienced rocketeer, but in no way would it even be close to some of the maximum altitudes that are easily reached by good model makers.
What's more interesting, is that these high-altitude rockets travel at super-sonic speeds - they have to to reach those altitudes. They could easily be mistaken for a SAM as effectively they are non-explosive, "dumb" SAMs.
In a related story, minutes after the sighting by the Continenal Express pilot, Dick Cheny was seen hastily leaving the area of the estimated launch coordinates.
Is this the missle that fisherman in Madeira, Florida caught?
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