This is really big. The FAA told the sheriff that it was a “missile”. To get to 12,000 feet, it must have been a big missile.
12,000 feet for an amateur rocket is not at all out of bounds. Of course, we’re not talking an Estes rocket. I was at the Great Lakes Centennial Jamboree this last weekend for the Scouts at the EAA airfield at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There was a amateur rocketry group there that had rockets that can get up to 12,000 feet or more. These things are 6 to 8 feet tall and 6” in diameter. They have to get clearance from the FAA to hold an event.