AN amateur aviator has apologised to a shocked family after a 3.6-metre missile launched from a field narrowly missed them as it landed in their garden.
The rocket, designed by Richard Brown, was launched by 10 amateur rocket enthusiasts in Somerset, southwest England. It was supposed to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet and come gliding gently back to earth by parachute.
Instead, it exploded seconds after launch and split into two pieces - the nose landing in a herd of surprised cattle while the tail section buried itself in a garden more than a kilometre away.
The launch was watched by Mr Brown, who claimed the British record for the largest amateur rocket after the launch of the 50-kilo Corpulent Stump in 2007.
He said he was threatened with physical violence by the angry householder.
Martin Corkish, whose garden the rocket landed in, was working on an extension to his home when he heard the rocket’s seven-foot tail section bury itself in his lawn.
Mr Corkish, whose wife, two-year-old child and nine-month-old baby were in the house, said they could have been killed if they had been playing in the garden.
He said: ‘’I heard a whistling sound and seven foot of rocket landed in my garden, missing myself and our house, where my wife and young children were inside.
"Four feet of the missile is still embedded in my garden. I was extremely angry and went and found the people who launched it.
‘’Words were exchanged and they told me they had every right to fire it. But it could have landed anywhere and if it had hit anybody it would have killed them outright."
The group had cleared the test flight with the UK's Civil Aviation Authority and Bristol International Airport before firing the rocket from a portable scaffolding launchpad Sunday morning.
Mr Brown said: "Rocketry is a very safe hobby, and obviously we take every safety procedure, but we do have £10 million ($15.8 million) of public liability insurance."
He said the group would not be using the area to launch its rockets in future.
