Rocketry Planet

HOUSTON, Texas USA — Jet pilots aren’t used to sharing their airspace, so you can bet a rocket will get some attention.

Continental Flight 1544 was flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east of Bush Intercontinental Airport after takeoff Monday morning when the pilot called the tower to report an object headed toward the plane. The pilot described seeing a fast moving object with a thick smoke trail nearing his airspace.

John Etgen speaks with KHOU news on report of FAA rocket incident in Houston.

The FAA now says it thinks that object was some kind of model rocket. Both the FAA and the Houston Area Joint Terrorism Task Force continue to investigate the incident that KHOU.com first reported early this afternoon.

Neither said conclusively what the pilot saw was indeed a model rocket, but an FAA spokesperson told 11 News that it was likely a high-powered model rocket. It is a federal crime to launch a rocket of any sort without notifying the FAA.

The plane was at about 5,000 feet at the time of the sighting and the flight continued on to Cleveland.

Sources told 11 News that the flight was met by Continental officials and FAA investigators to interview the passengers and crew.

Part of that investigation included a FBI call to John Etgen, who is an officer with one of the local model rocket clubs in the area.

When the FBI told him what had been reported, the rocket enthusiast was shocked.

"This is completely outside of all of our safety codes and all of our practices. We actually behave a lot like visual flight rules pilots. This is if we can't see clear airspace and already have permission to be in that air space we are not allowed to launch and we don't,” said Etgen.

Etgen said it's certainly possible for a model rocket to get that high up, but he also said the description given by the pilot doesn't match up.

At that height, a model would have been coasting for quite some time and maybe emitting a small trail of white smoke and not the thick smoke like the pilot’s report.

He explained that while model rocketry is supposed to be fun, it is also highly regulated. Regulated by the same federal agency that has oversight of the airlines – the FAA.

The FAA confirmed that there were no requests to launch or notifications filed for the Houston area for Monday.
There are also no official launch sites within 50 miles of Bush airport.

The Boeing 737 with 148 passengers and six crewmembers aboard, took off from Terminal C at Bush IAH at 10:17 a.m. Monday and arrived at Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland at 2:13 p.m. – nine minutes later than scheduled.

Copyright © 2008, KHOU 11 News.

Reader comments:

#1 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

"It is a federal crime to launch a rocket of any sort without notifying the FAA." This is the clearly false statement reported in that article.

Just Jerry

Just Jerry on 05-27-2008 03:46 PM

#2 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Indeed, but so much better than the Houston Chronicle article. I'm sure John E. also was clear in pointing out that the pilot,s report was inconsistent with a small model rocket, but not necessarily a much higher impulse motor that could still be burning at that altitude or at least have a dense trail.

denverdoc on 05-27-2008 04:12 PM

#3 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Anyone know of a commercial propellant that would be burning at that point in the flight (I'm figuring about 2-3 seconds based on the rocket being alluded to) that has black smoke? A big BlackMax (K513FJ)?

H_rocket on 05-27-2008 06:28 PM

#4 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Here's the extrapolation headline from that report.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#...7/jet.dodges.object.khou

Just Jerry

Just Jerry on 05-27-2008 07:15 PM

#5 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Now it's Jet dodges odd object (rocket).

Re motors: Waiting for a fuller account/description and radar data, if any.

denverdoc on 05-27-2008 07:27 PM

#6 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Quote:

Now it's Jet dodges odd object (rocket).

I like this email alert I got today:

Model Rocket Comes Close to Commercial Jet
WFMZ-TV Online - Allentown,PA,USA
A Texas man is in hot water because of his model rocket hobby. John Etgen of Houston got a visit from the FBI after officials say he fired his model rocket...

If your browser spits out a bunch of errors, it's because apparently the article was pulled for bad information.

ddmobley on 05-27-2008 09:05 PM

#7 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Quote:

I like this email alert I got today:

Model Rocket Comes Close to Commercial Jet
WFMZ-TV Online - Allentown,PA,USA
A Texas man is in hot water because of his model rocket hobby. John Etgen of Houston got a visit from the FBI after officials say he fired his model rocket...

If your browser spits out a bunch of errors, it's because apparently the article was pulled for bad information.

Cached here.

jsdemar on 05-28-2008 12:45 AM

#8 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

That article was also cross-posted here:
http://www.topix.com/forum/us/TL2QO5BC2LCO3S010

If anyone else finds similar slanderous news posting, make sure you notify the webmaster or news reporter.

jsdemar on 05-28-2008 12:58 AM

#9 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Quote:

Cached here.

Wow, they REALLY got it wrong, didn't they? Thanks, John, for posting that. I looked for a cached link yesterday but didn't find anything.

ddmobley on 05-28-2008 02:43 PM

#10 Re: Continental jet has near miss with ’rocket’

Quote:

Wow, they REALLY got it wrong, didn't they? Thanks, John, for posting that. I looked for a cached link yesterday but didn't find anything.

The media parrots always "get it wrong". Whether this is deliberate, a product of ignorance or both, the result is the same: an uninformed public. Personally, I think I'll just wait for the official government coverup.

tmacklin on 05-28-2008 04:38 PM

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