Mysterious UFO invades lounge

Mystery today surrounded an unidentified flying object that smashed through the roof of a Hawke's Bay house, landing on the lounge floor yesterday.

The resident of Whakatu, eight kilometres northeast of Hastings, was home but in a different room.

It was first thought a small mechanical part had fallen from a small plane, but the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has discounted that theory.

CAA spokesman Bill Sommers told NZPA an aeronautical engineer studied the part and found it was not from a plane.

"So we don't know what it's from."

The metal object had rust on it, was about 11cm long, 4.5cm wide and weighed about a kilogram, Mr Sommer said.

It would be "impractical" to consider that it had fallen out of the plane somehow, he said.

He also discounted the object coming from outer space.

"It's not the kind of thing you'd want to put into space because it's too heavy," Mr Sommer said.

"So it's a bit mysterious."

Constable Ben Howat of Hastings police said they were investigating what the object was and where it came from.

I hit that damn thing with my bush hog yesterday when I was cutting down by the lake. I saw it go flying through the air, but had no idea it would wind up in Hawaii... :huh: