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Flying with a MeteoriteBy Miles Mann, WF1F It was a cool November evening in Massachusetts, when I flew with a meteorite and saw a meteorite from above. In the fall of 1979 I was in the last stages of completing my year-long
goal of getting my private pilots license. I was planning on taking the
extensive flying test in December. As part of the flying requirements
you need to complete a minimum of 3 hours of night flights, including
navigation and I was taking my flying lessons at Minuteman airfield in Stow Massachusetts. It’s a friendly family run airport, set in a scenic wooded area of eastern Massachusetts. The Runway is 2,700 feet long, which is more than enough for my favorite rental plane the Cessna C-150 N704QS. My first hour of night training took place on November 19, 1979. My instructor
Erickey Meurman CFI-I and I lift off at approximately 7:30 PM local time
into the dark overcast sky. The plan was to fly from Minuteman in Stow
to the Fitchburg airport approximately 30 miles away. We were going to
practice nighttime navigation, Stalls and full stop landings at both Fitchburg
and Stow. The first 90% of the flight was I was on the way back to Minuteman airfield at approximately 5 miles from the airport at an altitude of 3,000 feet. The exact location of my plane is not known precisely because this was 20 before GPS was invented. The small high-wing rental plane had very limited navigation equipment, just a few simple needle style radio beacon devices (VOR and ADF). In the darkness I kept a watchful eye out for other plans and the small blue and white rotate beacon at the Minuteman airfield, that should be some where in front of me. I was sitting on the usually left side of the plane, when I noticed a
bright ball of fire appear under my left wing, sometimes called the 9
o’clock position. The bright ball of fire reflected off the white
underside of my gasoline filled wing enhancing its brilliance and startling
me. At first I thought my left wing was on fire, then I looked closer
at the Meanwhile, the ball of fire had now passed us and had moved to our 11 o’clock position and was still descending. Both of us had our eyes fixed on this fast moving burning object as it descended and appears to be crossing our flight path. When the meteorite reached approximately 1,000 feet above the ground, it broke apart into a dozen smaller glowing objects, similar to what you would see at a 4th of July fireworks show. A few moments later all of the glowing objects disappeared from view. The meteorites had stopped glowing a few hundred feet above the trees, before they hit the ground. The whole light show only lasted 3-5 seconds. Erikey and I regrouped, looked around to make sure there were no more
surprises and continued on to Minuteman. The wooded area we were flying over was devoid of any real good reference points. The leaves had all fallen off the trees and the ground was just a leave covered dark area. My best guess for the landing site would be the town of Boxborough, just east of highway 495, on a line between Minuteman airport and Fitchburg. After we landed I asked Erikey if it was normal and he said he too had never see such a site before. Quite exciting for my first hour of night flying. In January 1980 I
passed my private pilots license in a typical New I have seen thousands of shooting stars in the sky above my head. This was the first and last time I have ever flown above a shooting star.
Miles Mann, WF1F
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