[Momaw Nadon]

An El Al pilot reported seeing a missile fired from the ground

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that meteorites fall from the sky instead of flying upwards from the ground.

[Petar Mrkonjic]

As I mentioned,I believe that the US government can determine the cause,and most likely already has,as they did with the previous missile S-300,shot from Ukrayne.

[Clara Lou]

Please read this excerpt of a post from a n earlier thread on the same topic:
I have no doubt I'll get snide, mocking comments over this one. But now the pilot reports simply seem to indicate a "flash" and that practically screams "detonation of a fireball meteor bolide." No indication of seeing anything rise up from the ground. And even if that was seen, an "earthgrazer" fireball will rise UP from the horizon (meteor entering the atmosphere at a low "skimming" angle; I saw one of these last year, prior to the main Leonid storm in November. rose from the horizon to the zenith and detonated.) The average airline pilot, of course, has seen meteors, but will likely not have seen a truly bright fireball. They're common in one sense, in that there will be one over populated areas of the world SOMEWHERE every few weeks, but any individual person likely hasn't seen one. They mostly occur from midnight to 6 AM as well. And they are INCREDIBLY bright. I've never seen a REAL bright one, but during the Leonid "firball storm" of 1998, I saw one that literally lit up the entire countryside as if it were daylight when it detonated, and it left a glowing "smoke trail" that persisted for 8 minutes (timed with a stopwatch.) The trail visibly twisted in stratospheric winds. THAT fireball literally looked like a Patriot hitting a SCUD, and they get FAR brighter than the one I saw. And it's impossible to judge distances to them, and people UNIVERSALLY perceive them as far closer than they appear. Very few meteors lead to meteorite falls (actually hitting the ground) but for bright fireballs where the end of the trail ends up over the horizon, people will SWEAR up and down that it "hit" the ground just over the next hill, a mile or so away, when actually the fireball trail was over 60 miles away and nothing hit the ground.
1 posted on 7/6/02 8:23 AM Central by John H K [ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

[OXENinFLA]

See the meteor they are describing is the kind that can change it's molecular formation so that it can go THROUGH the earth therefor that is why the pilot saw it the way he did. You really don't think the officials at the top would LIE to the public do you?

[auggy]

" Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that meteorites fall from the sky instead of flying upwards from the ground. '

That is one of the "No Dongs" meterorite. They always fall from the ground, upward.

[Dan Day]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that meteorites fall from the sky instead of flying upwards from the ground.

Yes, they "fall from the sky", but they can easily appear to be rising up from the horizon depending on where they enter the atmosphere relative to the observer, and what angle they strike the earth at.

The last time I went out to watch a meteor shower, the point in the sky where they were originating from was below the horizon to my east, and all the meteors appeared to originate from at/below the horizon, and traveled "up" the sky on various tracks, some passing well overhead of me, despite the fact that all were actually coming *down* through the atmosphere.