Steve_Shannon

If it was a prank it's the kind of idiocy that could really screw it up for all of us.

Bayourat

I find it very interesting that no one other then the Boston Globe is reporting this as a "model rocket". All the TV stations and the eyewitnesses are saying it was fireworks. One eyewitness is saying that it was duck hunters.

billspad

Here's a map that shows how close that place is to Logan Airport:

http://tinyurl.com/34ok3d

I've driven by there many times.

The reporter wasn't listed in the Globe's email directory but they all have the same format so I took a guess and emailed her. I hasn't bounced yet so maybe we'll find out why she thought it was a model rocket.

R2K

As if a pilot, knowing little about rockets to begin with, was in the position to decide it was a rocket at all - while flying a jet at several hundred mph. As a scuba diver, we always cringe when we hear "he ran out of oxygen" in news reports about scuba accidents. I see no reason to think this was even a model rocket, but they run to the presses on the word of one man.

Aphyle

Interestingly enough, the AP brief listed on the TV channel's web-page only mentions fireworks and does not list model rockets in the text. For some reason, though, I can only get the first few seconds of the video to download, so I don't know what "eye-witnesses" saw.

ddmobley

Try downloading the video to your desktop and viewing it:

http://www.rocketryplanet..../logan-airport-scare.asf (6.56Mb)

redgp4

Not once was the word rocket mentioned, only fireworks.

Aphyle

Thanks, Darryl. We must have been having a network problem. Got it now. No mention of model rockets in the video. Yeah, strange how only the Boston Globe mentioned model rockets. Some connection?

The TV story seemed more concerned with the hunters, although if the planes were only 40 or 50 feet from the hunters as the birdwatcher said, there would be worse problems for both the hunters and the plane!

heada

What were the hunters doing on the tarmac? (most runways are more than 100 feet across)

I find it very hard to believe that people (hunters or otherwise) were less than 500 feet away from any airplane while the engines are running (except ground crew with proper protection) Eye witness accounts are known for not being very good sources of factual information.

-Aaron

Aphyle

My point exactly. Most people aren't good judges of distance beyond a certain point.

tedcochran55409

Especially in Boston-bound aircraft, apparently:

From ASRS:

Time / Day
Date : 199608
Local Time Of Day : 1201 To 1800
Day : Thu

Place

Locale Reference.ATC Facility : SWL
State Reference : MD
Altitude.MSL.Bound Upper : 41000
Altitude.MSL.Bound Lower : 41000

[Boeing 757 commercial flight over Snow Hill, MD>

Narrative

LOCATION: SNOW HILL VOR. FILED BACUS AR8 OHPEA ECG ORF J121 HTO ETC. RECLRED RV SALISBURY J79 JFK NORWICH, ETC. POS N3809.0W07526.0 AT FL410. ON RADAR VECTORS IN VICINITY SNOW HILL VOR AT FL410 WHEN A MISSILE/ROCKET CLBED VERTLY THROUGH OUR ALT WITHIN 3 MI OR OUR POS. ASKED ATC ABOUT IT AND THEY WERE NOT AWARE. PAX SHADES WERE DOWN DUE TO MOVIE. NOTIFIED VP AND ASAP FAA BY LANDLINE FROM BOS.

Synopsis

WHILE AT CRUISE ALT OF FL410, FLC OBSERVED EITHER A MISSILE OR ROCKET CLBING THROUGH THEIR ALT WITHIN 3 MI AND IN THE VICINITY OF SNOW HILL, MD, VOR.

Apparently, he saw a Wallops Launch, ~20 miles away.

--tc

Aphyle

Those darned scientists - always messing with the airspace.

I once saw the Space Shuttle from a small plane in the early morning hours. We were flying south over central Georgia and could see the bright points of light from the SRMs - well to the south! At first we thought it was someone flying towards us.

Hans

I am mad: Why is it that a fun sport, that requires some type of intelligence is the first to blame. I live and launch by the landing pattern of Newark and McGuire AFB, and if I did not use a ton of talcum powder I cannot see the deployment, yet in the past fifteen years you have not see any reports of mishandling around here. Go after the easy prey.

R2K

Your talc comment reminded me of something - do not put aluminum chaff in your rocket nose cone. Lol.