Flaming satellite debris miss jet over N. Zealand!

[Fly2e]

Pilots of a Chilean commercial aircraft approaching the Auckland airport in New Zealand spotted flaming pieces of a satellite falling past their jet, the LAN Chile airline reported Wednesday.

The airline said in a brief communique that the pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometers away" on Monday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site that pieces of a Russian satellite had narrowly missed the jet. It quoted New Zealand aviation authorities saying that they had been warned by Russian officials two weeks ago that the satellite would be entering the atmosphere, but that the Russians had apparently miscalculated the entry time.

[expat]

"The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site that pieces of a Russian satellite had narrowly missed the jet."

"The pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometers away"

Thank goodness the media never sex up a story to sell copy

Matt

[Isak922]

"The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site that pieces of a Russian satellite had narrowly missed the jet."

"The pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometers away"

Thank goodness the media never sex up a story to sell copy

Matt

When it comes to that sort of thing, Seeing it IS too close  ;D

[elite marksman]

Well, say the jet was cruising at 600kts ground speed. Thats about 925kph, or .25 km/s. So even if the object was 10 kilometers away, you're only looking at 40 seconds of separation, assuming the object is falling straight down, which it won't be doing.

[beaky]

And it wouldn't all necessarily be together... if I saw flaming debris, I'd be waiting for the one I can't see... :-/

Reminds me of a story I once read about two guys in a Bonanza at night over Arizona... the PIC heard someone say "turn right- do it now!!!" in his headset... he asked his buddy "What did you say?"; his buddy said "I didn't say anything- I though that was you!"
The pilot immediately banked right, and a flaming hunk of something fell to their left, right where the Beech would have been. They couldn't get the gov't to admit later to there having been a stray missile or satellite in the area... no idea if it's true, but it's a good story.