In what is a newswriter's dream, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a mysterious occurrence witnessed by a Continental Airlines pilot and crew.

Why a newswriter's dream? Why, it's a chance to break out expressions like "flaming tail" and "flaming projectile" and "streaked by the cockpit" while writing of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force's adventures (wait a second, where are Mulder and Scully?). Ultimately author-liberating leads such as eFluxMedia's "A Continental Airlines flight had a close encounter with an unidentified object, which was described by the pilot as some sort of rocket, traveling fast and leaving a thick smoke trail behind" are run.

(The Cleveland Plains-Dealer may in fact gone too far, in accidentally breaking the story that "The FBI is investigating a flaming projectile." What, have they taken it in for questioning?)

Unfortunately for UFO buffs, the story is not quite as exciting as it seems and the Federal Aviation Administration's official line on the incident as of two hours ago was that "all stories point to a model rocket." Doubly unfortunate for Houston-area model rocket enthusiasts, who reportedly were questioned yesterday in light of the incident, apparently especially because they "startled a pilot."

For those of you with a little time to spare during your online travels, please give an infrequently heard rocket enthusiast by checking out Amateur Spaceflight Association president Robert Morehead's take on the issue in the eFlux piece.

So no Roswell-type incident here then. Of course, that's what they want you to think...