Unknown Object Captured the Attention of one Airline Pilot and FBI
HARRIS: An unknown object in occupied air space captured the attention of one airline pilot and the FBI. The story now from Jeremy Diesel of Houston affiliate, KHOU.</s>JEREMY DIESEL, KHOU REPORTER: John Etgen could have been doing plenty of things this holiday.</s>JOHN ETGEN, MODEL ROCKET HOBBYIST: I was outside doing some yard work at the time.</s>DIESEL: Being on the business end of a phone call from the FBI wasn't on the radar.</s>ETGEN: A little bit of a shock.</s>DIESEL: Agents found Etgen because of his hobby. So how do the FBI and John Etgen come together? Let's start at Bush Intercontinental. The pilot of Continental flight 1544 took off at 10:17, 148 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737 800 en route to Cleveland. Not long after, 11 miles east of the airport and climbing through 5,000 feet, the pilot reported back to the tower reported seeing a fast moving object with a thick smoke trail nearing his air space. While the plane continued on without incident to Cleveland, both the FAA and Houston area Joint Terrorism Task Force immediately launched investigations. The regional FAA spokesman based in Oklahoma City told me he believed that the object was some kind of high powered model rocket. That's what led us and the FBI to John Etgen.</s>ETGEN: 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 and so that is if we can't see clear air space and already have permission to be in that air space, we're not allowed to launch, and we don't.</s>DIESEL: Model rocketry is supposed to be fun, but it's also regulated from the explosives used to power the rockets to the FAA who regulates high flights. Pilots get a little shaky seeing something like this at 5,000 feet.</s>HARRIS: So the FAA plans to use radar history to determine how close the object came to the plane. Are you ready for this? Time now to take a look at some of the most clicked on videos at cnn.com. Officials at Heathrow Airport in London are working with a charity to help find alternate shelter for homeless people and many are pretending to be passengers so they can avoid being bothered by police or airport security. South Korean police had to hold back protesters in Seoul. Take a look at these pictures. They were opposed to a beef import deal with the United States. And head over heels for cheese. This annual tradition at Brockworth, England. I just want to watch these pictures. Tumble, rumbling, bumbling, stumbling, face blunt, lovely. Coopers Hill, the location. All that over a block of cheese. You block heads. And for more of your favorite video, just go to CNN -- I love that --cnn.com/mostpopular. And of course, don't forget to take us with you anywhere on your iPod with the CNN daily NEWSROOM podcast. See some of the stories that will have you talking like a cheese roll. The CNN NEWSROOM podcast, available to you 24/7 right on your iPod. The next step for the Clinton campaign, not giving up. Supporters holding out for a spot for her on the Democratic ticket.