A chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home, landed in a third-floor closet, and cracked the home’s second-floor ceiling — all while the family that lives there was enjoying a warm summer night on their porch.
“It sounded like helicopter wings coming down and then smash,” Paterson, N.J., homeowner Paul Gomez told NJ.com. “We ran upstairs and we saw the ice, big chunks of ice. Solid ice.”
It’s believed the ice that fell through Gomez’s roof around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday may have been airplane bio-waste.
Police who came to survey the scene reportedly believe the debris fell from an overhead flight. The house is said to be under a flight path.
Gomez said he planned to call the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) to figure out what happened. He’s unsure who will pay for the damage, which he believes will be expensive.
Despite occasional reports of “blue ice,” it’s rare for anything to fall from a plane, according to the FAA. Federal regulators say lavatory waste is stored in aircraft holding tanks that can’t be dumped by pilots in-flight.
The FAA nevertheless suggests civilians call immediately if they suspect something from a plane fell to earth. It’s possible for disinfected sewage material to leak from an aircraft and freeze at high altitudes.
