BAYONNE, N.J. (AP) -- A hunk of metal that
crashed through the roof of a home had NASA and Federal Aviation Administration
officials scratching their heads.
It didn't look "very
space-y,'' said Henry Kline, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, Calif. "It's obviously made for something ... But we wouldn't
know what to do with it.''
It didn't appear to be an
airplane part either, the FAA said.
Finally, FAA spokesman Jim
Peters said Wednesday, a colleague in his office solved the mystery: It was part of a commercial
woodchipper. The same part from another woodchipper's grinder had caused
similar confusion last year, he said.
How it got on a Bayonne
roof was anyone guess, but Peters had a theory. The grinder piece moves very
fast and, apparently, it can launch into the air if something goes wrong.
The man who lives in the
house was watching television Tuesday when he heard a crash and saw a cloud of
dust. In the next room, he found the hunk of gray metal, 3 1/2 inches by 5
inches, with two hexagonal holes in it.
The part was being returned
to Bayonne Police on Wednesday, Peters said.
"It belongs to
somebody,'' Police Director Mark Smith said.
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