Florida Highway Patrol launched into high alert last week after a barrage of 911 calls from motorists who swore they had just spotted a truck hauling a payload of missiles down the highway. The situation escalated quickly when a trooper equipped with a description of a blue pickup truck traveling on Interstate 4 spotted the vehicle. The officer quickly moved in to intercept the truck. The driver, Michael Nipper (pictured above) from nearby Tampa, said he wasn’t shocked by being stopped. The rockets looked dangerous, but they weren’t military weapons. “I figured right away they were pulling me over, but I knew the rockets weren’t dangerous or illegal, so I showed them to the officer and explained that they were hobby rockets,” said the 69-year-old. The model rockets are miniature versions of the real thing that people build and launch for fun. They’re made from lightweight materials like plastic or balsa wood, and the engines are pre-packaged and come with the kit. They typically fly between 300 and 2,500 feet and land with a small parachute. Nipper, a longtime rocket enthusiast, explained to cops that he’s part of local groups that regularly gather to have fun, put on exhibitions, or teach kids about basic aeronautics. Still, the traffic stop set off alarm bells when the cop spotted a label reading “15 lbs. of explosives” with a “load weight of 45 lbs.” engraved on the side of one of the rockets. He ultimately called his superior and the bomb squad. Authorities — including the Plant City Police Department, fire department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office — established a safety perimeter around the scene as experts moved in to defuse the situation. After a closer inspection, officials confirmed that the “missiles” were indeed harmless plastic models, and the threat fizzled out as quickly as it had ignited. With the all-clear given, troopers sent Nipper on his way without a ticket, but did offer him a better plan for transporting his high-flying hobby without sparking mass panic on the highway: buy a tarp and cover them up. In the end, what looked like a full-blown missile crisis turned out to be a dud.
