FBI: Pilot saw flaming object near Cleveland-bound jet

[douglas9]

Source: Dallas Examiner

HOUSTON -

A Continental Airlines pilot told air traffic controllers that an object with a flaming tail and a trail of smoke flew in front of the plane shortly after takeoff, FBI officials said.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation, but officials said they believe the object seen by the pilot just east of Houston's airport on Monday was a model rocket.

Officials are unsure how high the object flew or how close it came to the plane, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said.

The Boeing 737 carried 148 passengers, authorities said. The plane was never in danger and landed safely, said Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the FBI's Cleveland office.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/printa-1409932~FBI:_Pilot_saw_flaming_object_near_Cleveland-bound_jet.html

[MrModerate]

1. OK, now I'm worried.

I used lived in Houston until last year and frequently set off model rockets with my son. I gave away my rocketry stuff before I left because I couldn't ship it overseas. Do you think the person I gave it to was a . . . a . . . terrorist?

Oh shit. Now they're going to cancel my passport.

[KansDem]

17. That's right! You've created...

Terror-ESTES!!!

[douglas9]

2. Additional 411

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5802729.html

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. No to lawn darts, pointer lasers, etc.

FAA officials are now looking into the possibility of banning Wii paddles after a pilot was distracted by a young player near the airport who was gesticulating wildly.

[depakid]

15. Laser pointers are nothing to laugh at

Sydney plane targeted with laser pointer

A laser pointer has disrupted the flight path of another Sydney-bound plane overnight, police say.

At about 9.30pm (AEDT) on Tuesday police received reports of an infrared laser light being shone from the Bossley Park area at a plane believed to have been travelling from Cairns to Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport.

The plane landed without incident and no one was injured.

Last Friday, six passenger planes were targeted, forcing the aircraft to alter their flight paths and delay their landings into Sydney.

The planes had to changed their flight paths into Sydney after pilots were targeted in a co-ordinated attack by four green lasers.

At the time authorities said the attack, which continued for 15 minutes, appeared to have originated in the Bexley area of south-western Sydney.

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=472143

[Fumesucker]

16. Infrared lasers are not green ..

You cannot see an infrared laser without special vision devices.

[Algorem]

4. houston?aint that bush country?

[Javaman]

5. Why do model rockets hate america?

I seriously doubt this was a model rocket.

Having done rocketry in my time, apart from the momentary ignition at launch, there is virtually no flame.

If this pilot saw something at his altitude, it wasn't a model rocket. The last 25% of flight is momentum.

this was something else.

Unless it was some nimrod who built his own "model rocket".

[AngryAmish]

8. You just were not trying hard enough

I have created many flaming rockets when I was a youth. One needs to make many modifications that were not recommended by Estes (such as soaking the cardboard in kerosene) and filling the parachute hold with black powder from M-80s.

They usually didn't fly so good but they were on fire, which was important at the time.

[AndyTiedye]

10. I'm Sure It Would Not Have been Capable of Damaging an Airplane

[Fovea]

12. I remember the first F series motors.

hmmmm.

[Kali]

13. ...

:rofl: :yourock:


effing nanny state and all the soft, SAFE, plastic of modern times :mad: :puke:

[greiner3]

6. It was;

One hell of an SOS from bush country.

[Stalwart]

7. The Mere Perception of Fear

May well be greater than the reasoned, objective danger warrants. Doesn't that work for any political or personal objective no matter what side the manipulator is on?

Fear is a weapon of self destruction. So easy to use on the unreasonably afraid. So obvious to those that would use it for their agenda, religous, political, economic, personal, etc.

Terrorists of all types.

[slackmaster]

9. Dry-cleaning bag filled with marsh gas

:hide:

[razors edge]

11. Is bush playing with frogs again? n/t

[skoalyman]

14. those ufo's agian

or as homeland security now classifies them as ufoom's unidentified flying objects of mass destruction :scared: :yoiks:

[razors edge]

26. Don't know about the UFO aspect,

I was simply referring to his childhood use of firecrackers up the anus of small reptilians of an earthly nature.

[RaVeN_MeaD]

18. what was Andy Dick doing in Cleveland? nt

[Zuiderelle]

20. It's alway funny to interject a gay joke into something completely unrelated.

[RaVeN_MeaD]

21. it was more an Andy dick joke than a gay joke....

but thanx for being so sensitive.

[Zuiderelle]

22. Right, a flaming Andy Dick joke

[RaVeN_MeaD]

23. exactly

that wasn't so hard now was it

[Zuiderelle]

24. Welcome to DU by the way.

You'll find that a lot of us are sensitive to homophobia here.

[RaVeN_MeaD]

25. thanx

i'm not homophobic but i do have a big sense of humor

[Endangered Specie]

19. Oh, so it wasn't a .50 caliber rifle huh?

:sarcasm: