From: nomercy4u [ROD]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 14:20

haha biotchs

From: gargoyle1
Date: 4-Jul-2008 14:24

Went 20 miles up? No model rocket I've heard of goes that high, not even the big ones. Guess we'll have to wait until they hit a plane and bring it down to find out though.

From: azdollarbill [Jim Jones]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 15:15

"She wondered whether the object might have been some sort of fireworks."

Yeah, that's it! 20 miles high, good thing it didn't emit a sky burst, lol.
Rest assured folks, now that Uncle has taken over the investigation, nothing will ever be heard about it again.

From: mikeisgreen [Mike]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 15:39

First they had zip guns.

Now they have zip rockets.

When will they come up with zip nukes?
(My neighbour is obnoxious with his stereo.)

From: gargoyle1
Date: 4-Jul-2008 15:49




Like this mike?

From: mikeisgreen [Mike]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 16:05



Yes, Garg. Like that.

From: noracejusthuman [Alien From Earth]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 16:32

Jeuses h christ..


My alien fiends AGAIN..


After they changed the pnueumo ring
they had to test out the kinks with
a straight up run to
loosen any strange or silly
quarks..


Damn, fellas,
yer getting sloppy.

From: lordpakul [Lord Pakul]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 16:51

How many shoulder-fired SAMs have gone missing? How many might still be operational? Who has them? Where?

So many questions.

From: ciaochowbella [I didn't do it and I wasn't there when it happened]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 17:42

Just minutes after takeoff, as the plane was headed over Lake Houston, the pilot acknowledged spotting the object. The plane had then reached 4,750 feet elevation and was traveling at 277 mph, records show.
-----------------------
The plane was less than a mile up when it spotted the object. Is it possible for model rockets to attain that altitude?

I'm not sure what the pilot meant by "It's climbing 20 miles up." The plane was not that high up.

From: rev [meupnpopmyclutch]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 18:05

Lord P,
Granted there's an unknown number of stinger-type rockets loose in the world [thanks CIA!] but they only have an effective range of 3-4 miles. This pilot reported the object achieved an altitude some 3 time higher than a typical jet-liner.

Granted the pilot was excited [getting shot at IS exciting!]

Does anyone remember 'swamp gas'?

From: hippityhopp [bunny meat is good!]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 18:54

From: rev [meupnpopmyclutch]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 18:05

Lord P,
Granted there's an unknown number of stinger-type rockets loose in the world [thanks CIA!] but they only have an effective range of 3-4 miles. This pilot reported the object achieved an altitude some 3 time higher than a typical jet-liner.

Granted the pilot was excited [getting shot at IS exciting!]

Does anyone remember 'swamp gas'?
****

Don't worry we'll write this off too, and then when Al-Qaeda bazookas' a shitload of planes out of the sky we can all bitch about it...

From: rottengirl [bring on the spankings]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 19:14

From: ciaochowbella [I didn't do it and I wasn't there when it happened]
Date: 4-Jul-2008 17:42

Just minutes after takeoff, as the plane was headed over Lake Houston, the pilot acknowledged spotting the object. The plane had then reached 4,750 feet elevation and was traveling at 277 mph, records show.
-----------------------
The plane was less than a mile up when it spotted the object. Is it possible for model rockets to attain that altitude?

I'm not sure what the pilot meant by "It's climbing 20 miles up." The plane was not that high up.

----

Agreed. Even if the plane had been cruising altitude there's no way. It's been a while since I've flown and all but back in the day, the cruising altitude was like 30k-35k feet... or roughly 6.5 miles at 35,000'. 20 miles up is in the stratosphere. I sense exaggeration on the pilot's part.

From: gargoyle1
Date: 4-Jul-2008 19:31

Bella, some of the larger model rocket can reach 5 miles or a little more, but not 20 miles. That's a tad outta the amateur range.

From: other [unclassified]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 01:58

4750 + Mushrooms = 20 mi............sounds like too many police reports I've seen.

From: vomit [Vomit]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 05:07

So everyone's getting their balls in a twist because one guy says he thinks he might have seen something freaky ?

I refer you all to the previous story

From: ciaochowbella [I didn't do it and I wasn't there when it happened]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 06:14

Goyl, my love, read what I posted.....the 'rocket' was spotted when the plane was LESS than a mile off the ground.

Methinks the pilot exaggerates.

From: gargoyle1
Date: 5-Jul-2008 07:31

ciaochowbella [I didn't do it and I wasn't there when it happened]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 06:14

Goyl, my love, read what I posted.....the 'rocket' was spotted when the plane was LESS than a mile off the ground.

Methinks the pilot exaggerate

================

Or has very poor depth perception

From: totenhawk5 [Totenhawk]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 09:31

This was not a Stupid kids ESTES rocket kit from Wall-Mart.
There are hundreds of Model Rocket clubs across the United States , And thousands Worldwide.
Several years ago i rented a video about these clubs , They get together several times a year for Competitions and actually build some very high tech rockets .
These people are all licensed and registered with the feds and have permits to buy or build very powerfull rocket ingines for there hobby , Most of these rocket use SOLID FUEL rocket motors which can be easily ordered with a federal permit , But a handfull of these expert rocketeers have refined the use of liquid fuel which is much more difficult .
The last i heard several years ago they had broken the Model rocket altitude record of 20.000 feet .
Sounds like a rogue rocketeer is launching without a permit , BAD BAD BOY.

From: piscivore [Michael C. Scott]
Date: 5-Jul-2008 21:48

I'm calling bullshit on this one. Even a Stinger doesn't have a paper range of more than three miles, and 20,000 feet is about four miles, straight up. Camel-jockeys with Stingers could knock off airliners out of their approach patterns all the livelong day from shitty apartments near airports, and we're supposed to believe one was potting at one at 20K?. I won't buy that bridge.

They haven't done this.

This whole "incident" was bullshit of the purest ray supreme.

From: jwsmythe [JW Smythe]
Date: 6-Jul-2008 10:57

I'm pretty sure he was indicating that he was currently at 4,750ft, traveling at 277mph. The object was "20 miles up", being forward of his direction of travel, or even 20 miles ahead, and above him (i.e., 12 o'clock high).

The "shot past the cockpit window" appears to not be a quote, but an addition by the journalist.

This is reasonable for a large model or home built rocket. It was likely a hobbiest not realizing that they were shooting into a flight path. At very least, with it 20 miles ahead they probably didn't even know there was an aircraft coming when they launched.

From: bert [Bert]
Date: 6-Jul-2008 23:48

I have personally seen fireworks rockets (not "high powered" model rockets) go to well over 6,000 feet. High power models can easily fly to several times that height on solid fuel. Obviously, if someone is launching to even the height the airliner was at in an airport's vicinity, they are asking for it. As far as the "20 miles up" business, the pilot couldn't possibly have seen a MANPAD at such a distance with his un aided eyes, nor judged such a distance in clear sky accurately.