Quote:

Unless you're living on an airfield, what other kind of airplane is there?

Jersey City 'UFO' spot has close encounter of the 2nd time

by Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
Thursday February 19, 2009, 10:43 PM

The object that fell through the roof of the Al Smith Moving on Pacific Avenue in Jersey City Wednesday has been identified by police as a part from a mulching machine at the Reliable Wood Products mulching plant.

A little over a year ago a piece of metal crashed through the windshield of a car parked near where a chunk of metal crashed through a Jersey City warehouse on Wednesday morning, reports said.

Two visitors, Anthony and Marie Vizzacchero from New Brunswick, said they parked their 2001 Honda Accord in the parking lot of Cathy Daniels, at 21 Caven Point Ave., one morning in November 2007.

When they returned to the car half an hour later, they found a hole in the windshield as though a "bullet" had gone through it. On the back seat they found a small metal rod.

Police who investigated the incident at the time said they found a small hole in the windshield and found a "small piece of metal on the car seat." The police report filed the incident as criminal mischief.

MORE: Not the first time a machine part crashed through a roof

"If my husband had been sitting in the car he would have been killed," Marie Vizzacchero said yesterday.

On Wednesday, an 8-pound chunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City warehouse was identified as a tooth coming from a wood grinding machine from a Reliable Wood Products at 1 Caven Point Ave.

================================

Jersey City UFO mystery solved: It's another flying 'tooth'

by Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
Wednesday February 18, 2009, 8:12 PM

The object that fell through the roof of the Al Smith Moving on Pacific Avenue in Jersey City has been identified by police as a part from a mulching machine.

For a few hours earlier today an eight-pound chunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City warehouse was an unidentified flying object.

Theories abounded -- perhaps it was piece of a plane, maybe debris from the recent collision in space between a U.S. satellite and defunct Russian satellite.

But Jersey City police solved the case shortly after noon.

The metal chunk -- which took 30 minutes to cool after it crashed through the roof of Al Smith Moving at 33 Pacific Ave. at 9:26 a.m. -- turned out to be a missing tooth of a gigantic mulching machine located roughly three football fields away at Reliable Wood Products at 1 Caven Point Avenue, police spokesman Lt. Edgar Martinez said.

And it's not the first time in Hudson a tooth flew off a machine and crashed through a roof.

The brick-shaped block, which measured 6 x 4 x 2 inches, and had two hexagonal holes at the top, cut through the roof, splintered a beam and fell about 10 feet away from Al Smith, one of two brothers who own the moving and office furniture company.

Forklifting a sofa on a rack at the time, Smith said he heard a loud crash and saw the object crash onto shelving.

"It sounded like a big explosion. And I didn't know what it was but I see the hole that was in the roof. When I went up on the rack where it landed it was a block of steel," Smith said. "It was an odd thing to happen and I didn't know what to do so I called the police."

Smith added he planned to buy a lottery ticket since it must be his lucky day.

Police respond to a call at Al Smith Moving at 33 Pacific Ave. in Jersey City where an unidentified object fell through the roof.

Today's flying mulching machine tooth is not the first time a mechanical part has caused a scare in Hudson County.

In July 2007, a 10-pound tooth from an industrial wood grinder at the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne broke off and flew a half-mile over the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Route 440 before tearing through a house roof on Avenue E, narrowly missing a man inside.

Then in October, 2008, a 30-pound blade that flew off a land-clearing vehicle a quarter-mile away smashed into a rental car at a U.S. Postal Service bulk mail facility on County Road in Jersey City.

The tooth that caused today's UFO scare came from a trailer-sized grinder, which is used to chop wood down to chip-size piece, said Reliable Wood Products Vice President Eugene Ciarkowski.

Ciarkowski, who said has it never happened at their facility before, said the operator did not notice because of the din created by the powerful diesel engine and grinding wood.

"This is a freak event and it is not something you can anticipate," Ciarkowski said.

The machine, he said, has been shut down pending further inspection to make sure it is safe for operations.

"The good news is that no one was injured," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy. "It did blast through the roof very close to one of the (owners) but it was his lucky day and nothing happened to him."

This made story made the rounds - click link to see Video:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6664713

=============================

Metal crashes into roof of NJ business

The Associated Press

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The Federal Aviation Administration says a piece of hot metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City business did not come from an airplane.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac says investigators examined the metal and determined it is made of cast iron, which is not used in airplanes. She says it's up to local authorities to determine where the object came from.

Al Smith was fork-lifting a sofa onto a wooden storage platform around 10 a.m. at his moving company when he heard a sound he thought was a bomb.

A piece of warm metal the size of a brick came crashing through the roof just steps from where he was standing. It splintered a wooden beam and crashed into a shelf.

He was not hurt but said he was shaken up by the incident. He plans buy a lottery ticket, saying it's his lucky day.
=================================================

Makes one wonder exactly how many times these pieces of metal come flying off and luckily land harmlessly someplace and therefore unnoticed. I have to believe this happens many more times than the incidents that actually make the news.

Very close calls, but lucky so far

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Yesterday's flying machine tooth was not the first mechanical part to cause a scare in Hudson County.

In July 2007, a 10-pound tooth from an industrial wood grinder at the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne broke off and flew a half-mile before tearing through a house roof on Avenue E, narrowly missing a man inside.

Then last October, a 30-pound blade that flew off a land-clearing vehicle a quarter-mile away smashed into a car at the U.S. Postal Service bulk mail facility on County Road in Jersey City.

CHARLES HACK

==================================
'UFO' LOSES THE U FAST

Thursday, February 19, 2009
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

For a few hours yesterday an 8-pound chunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City warehouse was an unidentified flying object.

Theories abounded - perhaps it was piece of a plane, or maybe debris from the recent collision in space between a U.S. satellite and a defunct Russian satellite.

But Jersey City police solved the case shortly after noon.

The metal chunk - which took 30 minutes to cool after it crashed through the roof of Al Smith Moving at 33 Pacific Ave. at 9:26 a.m. - turned out to be a missing tooth of a gigantic mulching machine located roughly three football fields away at Reliable Wood Products at 1 Caven Point Ave., police spokesman Lt. Edgar Martinez said.

The brick-shaped block, which measured 6 inches by 4 inches by 2 inches and had two hexagonal holes on the top, cut through the roof, splintered a beam and fell about 10 feet from Al Smith, one of two brothers who own the moving and office furniture company.

Forklifting a sofa on a rack at the time, Smith said he heard a loud crash and saw the object crash onto shelving.

"It sounded like a big explosion. And I didn't know what it was, but I see the hole that was in the roof. When I went up on the rack where it landed it was a block of steel," Smith said. "It was an odd thing to happen and I didn't know what to do so I called the police."

Smith added he planned to buy a lottery ticket since it must have been his lucky day.

The tooth came from a trailer-sized grinder that is used to chop wood down to chip-size pieces, said Reliable Wood Products Vice President Eugene Ciarkowski.

Ciarkowski, who said nothing similar has ever happened at his facility before, said the operator did not notice because of the din created by the powerful diesel engine and grinding wood.

"This is a freak event and it is not something you can anticipate," Ciarkowski said.

The machine, he said, has been shut down pending further inspection to make sure it is safe for operations.

"The good news is that no one was injured," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy. "It did blast through the roof very close to one of the (owners), but it was his lucky day and nothing happened to him."

No, it didn't fall from sky

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The mysterious chunk of metal that smashed into a rental car Monday morning at a U.S. Postal Service bulk mail facility on County Road in Jersey City has been identified as a blade that flew off a land-clearing vehicle a quarter-mile away.

Police said an Ohio man had parked the car at 7:30 a.m. and found the damage caused by the roughly 30-pound piece of steel when he returned at 9:45 a.m.
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The object was taken for analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to Josh Shandler of the Postal Inspection Service in Newark.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said investigators determined that it is not an airplane part and it was "unlikely" that it fell out of a plane, as originally thought.

Shandler said Vollers Excavating and Construction, of North Branch, contacted postal officials to inquire about the part when they learned of the damage it had caused, officials said.

The company had been clearing land further up County Road toward the New Jersey Turnpike when the accident occurred, Shandler said. Company representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Shandler said the man whose rental car was smashed was a visiting contractor, not a postal worker.

This was not the first time a flying projectile has wreaked havoc in Hudson County.

In July 2007, a 10-pound "tooth" from an industrial wood-grinder at the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne broke off and flew a half-mile over the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Route 440 before plowing through a house roof on Avenue E, narrowly missing a man inside.

Looks like something from a truck or something that a truck might of been carrying like a crane part

Quote:

UFA

It could have been worse.

Ice from airplane potty crashes through Calgary roof



CBC News
February 7, 2008

Chunks of ice that smashed through a Calgary woman's roof came from the lavatory of an airplane flying overhead, transportation investigators said Thursday.

Marian Liknes was sitting and talking on the phone in the bedroom of her southeast home Thursday morning when she heard what she thought was an explosion behind her, said her husband, Wade.

?I thought it was a gunshot at first and I ducked, I ducked down and I was scared, I was really scared,? said Marian.

?Then I got a bit hysterical, crying and shaking.

?Two feet over and it could have killed me. The police said it would?ve killed me.?

?Two hours earlier, my husband would?ve been lying on the bed.?

The couple lives under the approach path for Runway 34 of the Calgary International Airport, Canada, and are accustomed to seeing jets above them, said Marian?s husband Wade

Investigators later determined the frozen ice chucks consisted of toilet water, antifreeze, disinfectant and human waste ? all came from an airplane bathroom.

Through the shingles, plywood, drywall and insulation, the falling ice broke a hole about 30 centimetres wide in the roof, and left Liknes and her husband terrified on a winter morning.

Initial investigation indicated that this was a result of malfunction waste tank on an airplane. The lavatory waste leaked out of the waste tank, and fell off the plane as solid frozen waste.

The plane with the malfunction lavatory has yet to be identified. The operator of this plane will be requested to fix the leaky waste tank to prevent similar accidents from happening again.

I wonder if they have security cameras in the parking lot that may have caught this on tape?

Anyone else remember the thread/ news article about the house that was hit by wood chipper blade.

Webmaster some how deleted it -- it was from the jersey Journal.

It too was first thought to be from an airplane.

Click here for old JClist link entitled "Chemical Pollution rains on Residents of Jersey City"-- article link is missing.


Quote:

It wouldn't surprise me if it didn't come from an airplane,,,

YIKES.

CK

UFO

Steel object that smashed car at Postal Service lot a mystery



by Paul Koepp/The Jersey Journal
Tuesday October 21, 2008, 2:12 PM

Metal object that police believe smashed a car in the United State Postal Service facility parking lot on County Road in Jersey City.

Can you identify this mysterious chunk of metal?

Authorities are still scratching their heads at the origin of the roughly 30-pound piece of steel that smashed a rental car yesterday morning in the parking lot of a U.S. Postal Service bulk mail facility on County Road in Jersey City.

Police said an Ohio man had parked the car at 7:30 a.m. yesterday and saw the damage when he returned at 9:45 a.m.

The object has been taken for analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration, Josh Shandler of the Postal Inspection Service in Newark said today.

But FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac says that it is not an airplane part and it is "unlikely" that it fell out of a plane.

Any planes in the area at the time were at least 2,500 feet in the air, and an object falling from that height would have done much more damage, she said.

Shandler said preliminary research into a serial number on the metal hunk indicated that it could have come from a military vehicle.

Quote:

Thank god it was rented!

Car damaged by metal from sky

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A 20-pound piece of metal fell from the sky yesterday morning and crushed the passenger side of a rental car parked at a U.S. Postal Service mailing facility in Jersey City, authorities said.

No one was injured and law enforcement officials believe the chunk of metal fell from a passing plane, according to reports.

Alfred Michaels, of Mentor, Ohio, had parked his rented Pontiac at the facility at 80 County Road at 7:30 a.m., reports said.

When he returned to his car at 9:45 a.m., he found the piece of metal next to the car, and the car's passenger-side pillar and window smashed, according to Jersey City police.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and U.S. Postal Service police are also investigating.