[meteorite-list] Space junk re-entry just misses Chilean jet liner

[Chris Peterson]

So far, I've heard nothing to make me think that anything from space, 
natural or otherwise, came within a few kilometers of this plane. Is 
there anything to support this other than the report of the pilot? I've 
found that pilots, in general, provide some of the worst quality meteor 
reports. I'm doubtful that many pilots are capable of judging the 
distance to a meteor. Odds are, this thing actually burned up many 
kilometers above the plane.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Forbes" <vk3ukf at hotmail.com>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:25 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Space junk re-entry just misses Chilean jet 
liner

> Burning space junk falls near passenger plane
> NZPA | Wednesday, 28 March 2007
>
> The Civil Aviation Authority will investigate how falling space junk 
> came
> within kilometres of a passenger flight into Auckland today.
>
>
> The pilot of the Chilean plane saw the burning debris both in front 
> and
> behind the aircraft while flying across the Pacific before landing 
> safely at
> Auckland International Airport, One News reported tonight.
>
> Russian authorities had warned an obsolete satellite was expected to 
> fall in
> the area, but it happened 12 hours early.
>
> A CAA spokesman said details had not yet been passed on to the 
> authority,
> but a safety investigation would be launched once a report on the 
> incident
> was received.
>
>
> ----------------------
> Kevin.