Meteorite: IT WAS CLOSE, I THINK!

[Secret Squirrel]

"...Alt capture.". ."Check", came the response.

As we looked up this streak of light went across our line of sight, leaving sparks as it burnt out. It can only have lasted about two or three seconds. The trouble is that up there (at FL270 as we were)it is difficult to tell relative altitude with any degree of accuracy let alone distance as it was a relatively clear afternoon/dusk. One thing is for sure; it went straight through our projected flight path (tail wind right up the chuff, so no drift on at the time).

I have caught glimpses of these things before, indeed coming back from Dublin early in the morning a blue streak came down right in front of us. However, as a Jumbo had just passed us going the same way and descending I thought it may have been a blue ice stalactite.

Anyone else concerned about the implications of this? Anyone else had similar experiences?

[compressor stall]

It is very very unlikely that the meteor (not a meteorite as it did not hit the ground) was anywhere near your aircraft's altitude.

Most meteors burn up in the high high atmosphere - a lot higher than you are. As you state, it was difficult to see its altitude. At night the human eye cannot distinguish between a faint light up close and a bright light a long way away if they have the same apparent diameter.

The fact that the meteor you saw had sparks coming off it suggests that it was reasonably large (maybe the size of a marble) and therefore a long way away. Remember light travels in straight lines (for the purpose of this example) but your aircraft does not - it travels in a curve, at a constant distance from the Earth's surface. Had your aircraft travelled in a straight line (ie constantly climbing to a few hundred thousand feet) then the metoer may have been in your flight path. You would have to be pretty high.

I am not sure where you saw it, but if it was in or the US check the following website to see if others saw it.

<a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log.html" target="_blank">http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log.html</a>

[divingduck]

Similar thing happened in the mid east about 2 years ago.. .A320 (I think) DEP Muscat for Dubai, reported what he thought was a near miss. With a bright yellow "flame"...VERY near his flight path.. .Several controllers smoking on the balcony saw the meteorite reenter the atmosphere and very nearly hit the ground, would have been on the direct track. . .So it can happen.. .HAd an instance several years ago in Perth, solid rocket boosters off the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian ocean within 20 or 30 miles of a SAA B747. He reported that they looked pretty impressive.

cheers

[henry crun]

divingduck, the Perth incident you describe must have been something else.

The shuttle SRB's reach a peak altitude of only approximately 200,000ft and then descend by parachute for recovery and reuse. They splash down in the Atlantic about 120 miles from Cape Kennedy.

[whats_it_doing_now?]

The debris the pilot saw was probably the fuel tank from the shuttle. When it is used up and discarded, it breaks up falling to earth and what is left is expected to land in the indian ocean, away from shipping lanes.

[Young Paul]

I was flying across the North Sea a few years ago when a meteor trail appeared behind the FO's shoulder, and disintegrated about 1.5 seconds later in our 1 o'clock position. It looked level, a mile away, and about 1000 feet above us. However, I suspect that it was about 50 miles away and 50,000 feet above us, and very, very fast. At least, I hope so.

Anybody seen the Dilbert cartoon with Liz and the meteorite?

[DB6]

I was stooging around last week (15th) building night hours over Yorkshire in a Firefly at FL095 and saw a metorite which looked as if it burnt out a couple of thousand feet above. It was nearly level with me when it went out, however it was impossible to tell accurately. Very beautiful though.

[White Knight]

They look close, especially after your eyes are attuned to the dark, with the bright flare. However they mostly all burn out within seconds of hitting the upper atmosphere with speeds of several miles per second...

Looks impressive though.

[Tommyhawk]

I read in a broadsheet yesterday that a strange crater has appeared on snowdon with all sorts of evidence pointing to an object coming from squillions of miles above.

[Zoner]

Several years ago while on a flight from Miami to Sao Paulo we saw a meteor fall all the way to the ocean. It was a night flight and we were about 150 miles north of the Venezuelan coast when it became bright as daylight in a blue light. We spotted the meteor at our 1030 and watched it fall to the water. Rare to be sure, it was spectacular.

[arcniz]

About 11 years ago on a very clear, windy night I was around 2000' AGL on a southbound visual some 4 mi north of FAT. A brilliant orange-green meteorite crossed my field of view dead ahead, somewhat above the nose, moving at right angles to me on an east-west track. The flat descending path skipped like a stone on water, became greener, and vanished. The whole passage took a second or two maybe, nearly from one horizon to the other, as best I could judge it. Given the valley terrain, that span could have been 100 miles.

Said to myself, wonder how close that was.. 20, 30 miles, maybe. Very exciting.

On landing I wandered into the FSS - about the only thing open at that hour. The man at the desk asked: "did you seen anything strange coming in? An aircraft south of the field reported seeing a bright meteor. Crossed right in front of him, the pilot said. Other folks saw it. People have been calling us like crazy."

A little more conversation clarified that the second aircraft had been low, NORTHBOUND, and several miles south of FAT. His reported angle of view was similar to mine but pointed the opposite direction.

No wonder the Fresnians got out of bed at midnight to call the airport!

The inescapable conclusion was that this thing had passed right over the city, in the 6 or 8 mile gap between our two aircraft, at an altitude of perhaps 5000' AGL, going reeeely fast.

[IceViper]

Dodging Meteors is the least of your worries, its those damn stray weather balloons you have to watch out for. Nearly collided with one out of Zurich about a year ago.

[Secret Squirrel]

Points noted CS, however about 100 miles away there was a cloud front which was just above our level can't tell exactly but no more than FL290 I shouldn't think as when you get closer you can guestimate with some degree of acuracy. The meteor was certainly visible below this level and this side of the front which suggests that it was a lot lower than you speculate.

If indeed it was marble sized, with its speed and temperature, I have no doubt that it would have cut a nice clean hole in my hull anyway.

Thanks for the replies, Guys 'n' gals.

[JIM JAM]

SS I reckon the purser's been putting something in your coffee mate!! <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

[Life of TrollyDollyLover]

Once fired a mortar on Salisbury plain that went totally off course and blew a nice hole in a field that was used for crops. Fortunately it was a very soggy field and the 51mm round blew up under the dirt. We picked up the visible bits and ran off. Later when the OC questioned as to why there was a strange crater in a field in the total opposite direction to the target. We said that it must have come from the metorite strom the night before. I dont think he bought it, the farmer was sceptical, but the local rag did.. .Remember BBB. .Bulls**t Baffels Brains

[Dr. Bunsen Honeydew]

I've seen what looked like meteors between 5 and 10000' in light twins on at least 3 occasions over the last few years. Two of these were on seperate nights whilst flogging cargo across Scotland at night, which at first I thought were greenish fireworks falling past me within a mile or so. Thinking about it I couldn't believe that any fireworks (even Glasgow ones) could be falling past at over a mile high, and the most likely suspect would be a meteor at a greater distance. They both seemed to fall relatively slowly, vertically, and trailed green fragments as they fell past my level, and were visible against the dark ground for quite a distance below the horizon. . .The other occasion was when operating two crew near dusk, passing the Solway Firth, when we both saw something fall past which was definitely within a mile, as it fell in front of cumulus at our level. We both suspected it was a flare from the Kircudbright ranges which we were close to, but Scottish advised us that there was no activity at the time. Still, it made us jump!

[PickyPerkins]

I recall seeing a Russian rocket re-entering the atmosphere over San Diego around Aug. 1969. Broke up into several pieces, several of them bright green. I would suspect any green streaks of being being of man-made origin - its the signature color of copper.

[JW411]

Some years ago heading eastbound at night in the Gander area, we witnessed what turned out to be a large piece of space debris re-entering. It looked very very close but the TWA guy 20 miles to the west of me swore blind and very vociferously on the radio that it had only just missed him.

I suspect (as someone has already said) that these events are actually a lot further away than we think they are.

Incidentally, has anyone else out there almost taken avoiding action on Venus? I even know an air gunner who shot at it during WW II. He missed!

[alosaurus]

I was hit by a meteor in flight in 1989 scary I can tell you.FL370 over over Pentrough (Cornwall) the brightest orange light filled the cockpit.It was only the size of a marble,went straight through my nose ring bouncing off the port trotter.

[Rabbit]

They (meteorites) do come close sometimes. Back in the early 70's during my military time I was flying 35nms behind my lead aircraft when suddenly night turned into day for several seconds. Something plunged from the heavens and hit the ground. I checked with the lead aircraft if he saw it and said no but the sky lit up bright behind them. Conclusion therefore was that we were within 35 miles of it. My navigator noted the approx position and passed the info on to the appropriate authorities. Months later we received a report the a small meteorite was located in the area in question that had recently arrived from places unknown.

Have a nice day

[Max Angle]

Meteors (and meteorites, obects that are big enough not burn up and end up hitting the ground) are very common, I often see 4-5 every time I do a night flight of more than an hour of so. The well known showers such as the Leonids and the Perseids (happening now) can produce huge showers and a good one is one of the true wonders of the sky. Check out:

http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/calendar.html

for an online guide to the regular showers.

Amazingly over 3000 tons of material enters the atmosphere every day, most of it burns up but a fair bit hits the surface and a quite a lot gets collected by people, have a look at e-bay, there is a lot for sale. Most shops that sell rocks, fossils and minerals also sell meteorites, they are sold by the gram but you can get a little lump for £20-£30. If anyone in the UK is near Kew there is a great little shop near the station thats sells some lovely stuff.

[320DRIVER]

Sometimes looking for these beautiful things is the best thing to do on a night flight to keep alert!

My best view of one has been somewhere over the Saudi Arabian desert on our way to DXB where a very bright meteor (bright white with a greenish tinge) "appeared" to come quite close to us and seemed to be below our level when it extinguished, but that could be due to the earth's curvature...

[stargazer02]

Sounds like an X file to me lads
perhaps the green men were tearing by in their inter galatic ship and forgot to cloak themselves going through earth's airspace...
:D :cool: :) :D :cool:

[steamchicken]

How did the gunner know he missed - he wouldn't have seen any difference!

[JW411]

You are absolutely correct but at least my old mate had hopefully eliminated nacht jager Bf110s and the rest of the Luftwaffe from the equation!

Seriously; just last month I had a young F/O flying with me who became absolutely convinced that Venus was an "opposite direction with the nose light on" and since the bearing was not changing, then maybe we had better move.

I was quite happy about that for he had never seen this phenomenon before. Needless to say, a ten degree heading change didn't work!

We had a good laugh afterwards and the occasion reminded me of when I was his age and at his stage of aviation experience.

History repeated itself - he bought his captain a beer and then I bought him several!

[saker]

Interesting subject.

Saw the same while heading south FL270 north of england a year or so ago.

This meteor crossed our path very close directly ahead and burnt up just below our level. The final fizzling out "display" had, i remember, blue/green and orange colours. very impressive.

hope to see this display again someday.

[GlueBall]

Anybody have the scoop on this 2Km sized asteroid that's projected to hit mother earth.....?

:eek:

[Spodman]

Many moons ago I recieved a call from a PN68 near Griffith in New South Wales along the lines of "Ah, Melbourne I can see a, SH!T...." Transpired he was going to report a green flare in the distance, when it suddenly got very big and zoomed directly under and relatively close to his aircraft.

That left him on descent, at night, over a dark unpopulated area, and completely dazzled to the point he had no visual reference to the ground and couldn't read his instruments.

He levelled off and flew on autopilot for a while until he got his night vision back and landed safely.

Other flights I was speaking to saw the meteor as far away as Canberra, 160nm away.

As for the biggie coming our way - Here comes Planet Vogon! (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news132.html)

Love the nose-ring/trotter line:D

[Greenfinch]

There was a meteor shower on Monday night (12th). I was plodding up the Bay of Biscay at FL360 and saw about a dozen.
I've been told they were dust particles not much bigger than a grain of sand, but they looked pretty spectacular nonetheless.

[GlueBall]

Spod:
Thanks for Asteroid 2002NT7 link. Never a dull moment in our lifetime.:cool: