The friendly skies

Okay, this is weird:

An Auckland-bound jetliner came close to being hit by blazing pieces of what is thought to have been a Russian satellite hurtling into New Zealand airspace.

NASA says it was probably a meteor, but whatever it was, the objects passed five nautical miles in front of and behind the plane. The pilot reported that the objects made a roar loud enough to hear over the noise of the jet, and they could see the fiery trails the objects made in the sky.'

According to the article in today’s New Zealand Herald, it was estimated that at the speed it was travelling, the jet was 40-seconds away from collision with the objects.

And you thought all you had to worry about were terrorists, drunk passengers and deep vein thrombosis! In all seriousness, though, the odds of being hit by anything falling from the sky are really long. However, even though it’s highly improbable that the flight that you’re on would be struck by space junk, it might pay to read the fine print of your traveller’s insurance—just in case.