possible metallic meteorite looks manufactured

By ALAN J. McCOMBS, The News Journal

Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2007

It didn't come from an airplane.

The mystery of the origin of a 16-inch unidentified falling object that sliced "like butter" through the roof of a parked vehicle deepened Tuesday, after an official with the Federal Aviation Administration announced that, whatever it is, it's not a piece of an aircraft.

At about 4 p.m. Monday, the brownish, hook-shaped piece of metal crashed through the roof of an unoccupied 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander parked at the Happy Harry's drugstore at 536 Main St. in Stanton. It came with a boom that one witness told Mill Creek Fire Company Chief James Howell sounded like an explosion.

The SUV's owner, Susan Wilson, said she was in the drugstore. When she returned to her car, she found ash and debris on the driver's seat and a gaping hole in the roof.

On the rear floor, she found the hot object still smoldering.

"The metal was still too hot to handle," Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh said.

The object was turned over to FAA personnel from the Philadelphia office. The agency was doing procedural work Tuesday, but spokesman Jim Peters said he was confident the object did not come from a plane.

An official with New Castle Airport operations said they had no reports of an airplane landing with one less piece than it started out with. Similarly, Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Phyllis VanIstendal reported she hadn't heard of a plane losing anything during flight Monday.

Dover Air Force Base spokesman Senior Airman James Bolinger said it didn't come from a military plane.

Wilson, of Wilmington, and her fiance Michael Roberto have struggled with the aftermath of the object falling from the sky. Their SUV has been towed to a repair shop and they are waiting on the bill. Wilson's insurance company has asked her to pay the deductible for the damage.

"I don't even know if my car will be able to be fixed," she said.

They have debated the meaning of the strange object's collision with their lives -- it happened just days before their wedding, scheduled for Saturday.

"I hate to think it's bad luck, but a metal object did fall from the sky and hit it," Wilson said.

For Roberto, the luck is nothing but good.

"This is good luck because she didn't get hurt," he said.

Contact Alan J. McCombs at 324-2866 or [email protected].