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FBI officials have been called in to assist the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its investigation concerning a mid-air incident that recently took place between an outbound Boeing 737 jetliner and an enthusiast’s homemade rocket.
Continental Airlines flight has a close call with an enthusiast rocket. Image: Jurvetson/Flickr.
The near miss was revealed on Monday when a Continental Airlines pilot reported to shocked air-traffic controllers in Houston that a projectile with a flaming tail had hurtled past the plane’s cockpit shortly after takeoff from George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
“We don’t know for sure what the object was. But we think it might be somebody doing model rocketing,” commented FAA spokesman Roland Herwig in a Houston Chronicle report. “The pilot saw the rocket and some people saw the rocket’s trail.”
While it has not yet been confirmed that the object was indeed a rocket, the FAA has said that model rockets have been known to pass into the airspace of passenger flights in the past. The administration has also noted that the Memorial Day holiday would certainly have qualified as prime time for such a launch.
“Building rockets is a legitimate hobby, but hobbyists have to let the FAA know what they’re doing,” added Mr. Herwig with regard to the possibility that the near miss was down to a model rocket.
The importance of that requirement is enforced by Robert Morehead, president of the Amateur Spaceflight Association in Houston, who said model rocketeers are supposed to notify the FAA whenever a launch is expected to pass through controlled airspace.
Rocket enthusiasts are not convinced that their hobby is to blame for the incident however, preferring to instead point the finger of accusation at high-powered fireworks known as ‘black powder rockets,’ which are supposedly capable of reaching beyond 5,000 feet. Such oversized fireworks are illegal without a proper permit, but not impossible for someone to purchase should they truly wish to secure one.
The hobbyists are basing their claims on the fact that model rockets do not typically produce an obvious smoke trail beyond takeoff, while black powder rockets would be much more inclined to do so.
Domestic Continental Airlines Flight 1544 was climbing through 5,000 feet as it departed Houston for Cleveland with 148 passengers onboard when it was buzzed by the object. The plane did not alter its course heading as the pilot reported the incident, and continued on safely to its final destination.
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