[Jemian]

Still, the plume of smoke was above 5000 feet. I'm not familiar with rocketry enough, but do any of those small rockets that we can build go upward close to a mile?

[LukeL]

I think most amateur rockets that you can buy at a hobby store can't come close to achieving that altitude, but homemade rockets can get to 50,000 feet+.

Still no rocket enthusiast would launch a rocket that close to an airport. This is more then likely an act of terrorism.