Yep. That's what I thought of it.
Posted on 12/02/2005 1:28:17 PM PST by Babu
FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport.
Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed.
The plane was over water when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit.
FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that's what it actually was.
SNA...John Wayne...is REALLY close to home...I know RIGHT where that place is at. :)
Ahhhh...they must be from the FBI Brain Trust. Sheesh.
Sheesh! I must have dyslexia...or you do....YIKES! I'm sorry if it was me...!!!!
>> ...the motors aren't sold in hobby shops.
Aren't those the ones that require you to have some kind of Federal cert just to buy them?
Yep. That's what I thought of it.
OK...
but maybe the reporter is dyslexic...Flight 612 goes LAX-ORD...Flight 621 goes MSP-DFW-SNA.
Oh heck. Let's get everyone confused while we're at it, and look up 162! 126!!
Just kidding!
You've got FRmail, btw...
"FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that's what it actually was."
Like the OU student who was careful to blow himself up with explosives far from where anyone could be hurt? (sarcasm)
Just thought I would continue pushing the suspense on this incident.
6000' from LAX is accomplished very quickly. Many flights are 1500 -3000 by the coastline there. 6000 in a couple miles is doable.
John, that 747 was much heavier than a 737-800 or MD-80 heading to ORD. That KLM 747 was full, and going to Amsterdam, a 5000 mile flight. Although the 747 would produce a lot more thrust than the smaller aircraft, you have to remember it's probably four times as heavy :-)
I'll say it once and I'll say it again, nothing ruins a picnic at the beach like parts of engine falling next to you.
I saw the contrail. It was no bottle rocket.
Curious -- where were you when you saw it -- on the ground? on the water in a boat? in the plane? ... ?
*Geometry is not my strong point, but that would be a hell of a steep climb angle, wouldn't it?*
They do climb steeply, but besides that, they lift off waaayyy before the end of the runway, which depending on the runway used, can be over a mile from the beach. So you may well have a plane that has been climbing for over a mile and a half (~7000') before the coast, and another 1/2 mile out is still climbing. For an example, the geometry says at a 30° climb angle, at that distance the plane would be about 5,000'(~10,000 ground track). I gather the steep climb is most effficent in fuel consumption, the big bugaboo of the airlines.....
One time I rode on a dive boat out to Catalina. We had some intense Santa Ana's blowing. By the time it was time to return to San Pedro, the seas had really picked up quite a bit. We had to tack in order to avoid having scuba tanks come loose from their hold downs (and, um, other problems ;). Even so, it was pretty hairy. That time if not 20 footers it was darn close to it.
Of course that was a 100 foot boat. It gets a lot more hairy in something like a 30 foot sloop or a fishing boat of that size or smaller ... then you are literally surfing. Better hope whoever is at the tiller has a feel for that sort of thing! :-)
I couldn't agree more. Having been out there numerous times, I have developed a great respect for the waters out there. I remember when some guy did the surfboard thing from LB to Catalina. Crazy!
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