'Missile' which narrowly missed plane days before Air France disaster 'probably large model rocket'

Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | June 9, 2009

[bill1952]

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.

LOL! Sorry, but that would be a hell of a model rocket.

[bk1000]

There was no missle. Nothing to see here. It was just a toy. Actually, there was not even a toy.

[Vaquero]

sounds like the Master Blasters have been busy?

[a fool in paradise]

The story has legs but few details.

[Southack]

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.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

we...would not want to speculate on what it may or may not have been...

...but we will anyway. It was probably a model rocket.

[LukeL]

Some people do build rockets that can reach that altitude but they are very very expensive and require speical kinds of engines

[FlashBack]

I hear ya there!! We sure didn’t have THAT big of an Estes Rocket when I was a kid...spoiled kids these days!!!!

[Travis McGee]

First I’ve heard of it.

[Clara Lou]

...that would be a hell of a model rocket.
I'm not very knowledgeable about model rockets. (The largest I've seen are about a foot long.) A model rocket at nearly 3 miles high, though, seems very suspicious to me.

[bigbob]

High Pucker Factor for the pilot, for sure!

[101voodoo]

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.

[bill1952]

They have to use a very expensive propellant that anyone can obtain a license for, however all of it is tracked and you also need a permit to fire the thing along with a good site (not too hard)

[101voodoo]

"that they new knew..."

[Islander7]

Investigators in Texas say a flying object that narrowly missed a Continental Express plane last month may have been a large model rocket.

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.

TRIPOLI

[Big_Monkey]

"LOL! Sorry, but that would be a hell of a model rocket. "

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.

[IYAS9YAS]

We have rocketeers in New Mexico who are cleared for far higher than that. The Albuquerque Rocket Society is often cleared for 9,000' AGL. They also have a call-in waiver for up to 11,000' AGL. In Rio Rancho, where the club launches, they are already well over 5,000 above sea level. So 11,000 AGL is 16,000+ above MSL in our area.

ARS

[frithguild]

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.

[prismsinc]

Is this the missle that fisherman in Madeira, Florida caught?