Posted on 06/15/2009 2:20:02 PM PDT by pkajj
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information what appeared to be a model rocket that nearly missed a Continental Express jet late last month.
The rocket sizzled past the plane after it took off from Bush Intercontinental Airport about 8 p.m. on May 29, officials said. Investigators determined it lifted off somewhere in Chambers County, but they have been unable to find out who launched it.
Ken DeFoor, chief deputy of the Liberty County sheriff's office, said the incident has generated several leads his office has turned over to the FBI. He declined to elaborate. The jet carried four crew members and 29 passengers.
As the jet climbed to 13,000 feet shortly after takeoff, the pilot and first officer reported seeing the rocket soaring toward them. It appeared to pass about 100 feet below the jetliner. The crew members described the rocket as being about five feet to seven feet long with triangular tail fins. They said it was white.
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477 or on-line at www.crime-stoppers.org. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for any information that leads to the identification, arrest and/or charging of any suspect involved in criminal activity related to the incident. All tipsters remain anonymous.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
We have a few of those, too.
I think Leroy down the road is trying to make 'em work in his meth lab.
Cheaper than illegals and unable to testify.
We have heard rumors of monkeys in the trees around here for years.
Ask Xenalyte, she knows.
Or crop circles.
If it nearly missed the jet, does that mean it HIT the jet?
Of course it was just some kid making a missle in his garage, you know like Billy Bob in the movie of which the name escapes me. I am sure if it was launched as they say and it being a model, I am sure someone will step forward. People with kind of hobby do not go unnoticed.
Just like the two airplanes that had a “near miss.” Like George Carlin used to say, that’s more like a “near hit.”
Bookmark
You'd think... IOW, yes—but barely!
Launch from a pad and hose it down.
The world’s largest model rocket (a Saturn V duplicate with 8 N class engines and a giant P class engine) reached 4,000 feet.
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/04/largest-flying.php
At 13,000 feet, this was no model rocket.
So just hypothetically, say this rocket was launched by an evildoer...the official investigative approach is to home someone calls Crime Stoppers??
But apparently, it's not a big stretch for a hobbyist rocket to get to that altitude.
Very interesting.
But now it did.
And it's a HOBBY rocket.
Except the FBI is interested.
But it's not terrorism.
Y'see.
Like this older Soviet SAM.
I’ve hunted the “sport” rocket groups.
I couldn’t find any that reached more than 4,000 feet.
The TWA 800 shootdown occurred at about 10,000 feet and the Soviet shoulder fired missiles have the range to accomplish the shoot down.
BTW when the autopsies were being comducted one of the forensic aides observed that the x-rays of the victims showed a great deal of shrapnel! the tech was fired by the FBI chief who was there to interfere with the NTSB crash investigators! I wonder why those xrays were classified!
You need a bigger imagination. The National Association of Rocketry and the Tripoli Rocketry Association are both hobby organizations for high powered model rocketry. These guys are serious, and the ones I've met really love what they do.
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