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. The incident took place on Monday, 8 miles north of the George Bush International Airport.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, all stories point to a model rocket, but the investigation continues. Investigators still need to establish how close to the plane the object flew and if the Continental flight was in danger.

The Boeing 737 had 148 passengers onboard and left the George Bush International Airport with destination Cleveland, when the unexpected encounter took place. Nobody got injured; however, launching rockets without letting the FAA know first is a dangerous sport.

Despite all that, Robert Morehead, president of the Amateur Spaceflight Association in Houston told the Houston Chronicle that the FAA only needs to be notified if the rockets enter the controlled airspace. Investigators will use radar history to establish exactly where the rocket flew.

A rocket model usually reaches 1000 to 1500 feet, however, some of them can even reach the altitude of a plane, which is why the Federal Aviation Administration is constantly monitoring all amateur activities that might interfere with the normal course of a plane.

According to Morehead, if such a rocket would hit the engine of a plane, the danger wouldn’t be big, as rockets disintegrate upon hiting an object, and even if that wouldn’t happen, the engines of the planes are designed to ingest even birds and not come apart.

This is not the first incident of this kind, the FAA said, and it's not a surprise either considering the holyday weekend. No dramatic endings have been reported so far regarding a plane-rocket model encounter.