It's Raining ... Chunks of Molten Lead!

Austinites near East Seventh Street and Springdale were in for quite a shock this past Saturday afternoon when pieces of metal started falling from the skies. While we initially assumed this to be some sort of divine protest against our technological excesses (but seriously, everyone deserves a gold-plated media player), it turns out it was actually out-bound American Airlines flight MD-80 losing its lunch after experiencing engine failure. From Austin Globe:

Working in his car lot Saturday afternoon, Carmona saw what looked like rocks falling from the sky.

"I just ducked because that stuff could have hit me. One piece went this way and the other one piece went this way, and I was caught in the middle of it," Carmona said. "But there was a lot of them just bouncing up around there, hitting some here and some over there."

It turns out they're parts of a jet engine. An American Airlines MD-80 leaving ABIA for Dallas, had engine failure three minutes after takeoff at 4,000 feet, shooting chunks out the exhaust.

The aircraft engine pieces that fell from the sky apparently made of some sort aluminum alloy, but it's rather heavy with jagged, sharp edges. This could have caused serious injury if it had hit someone.

Luckily, no one on the ground was hurt, and damage was minor.

The people at the corner literally dodged bullets. The pilots turned around and landed safely. The whole incident lasting only nine minutes.