1999-11-16 - Dearborn Heights, MI - Fireball

I was talking to my son when I saw (to his back) what I thought was an airplane on fire, crashing ( we live aprox. 3mi. North, East of Detroit Metro. Wayne Co. Air port.) My family and I had just finished dinner clean-up when I walked into our "Great Room" to hear something my son was telling me. While listening to him I saw a bright flameing object enter my field of view through the tri-angle shaped clearstory windows flanking our fireplace. I immediately (triping over my son) lept to the window in about 5 strides. Where I saw it passing west to east through the view of the tri-angluar window. I then ran to the east side of the room to a doorwall that had partially opend curtins where I saw it disapear. My son was confused, at first at why I was running around the room while and claming a plane is crashing, untill he saw what I was talking about. Then I went to get gas and two guys pulled up next to me and asked if I saw the comet? I went on to my brothers house in near by romulus (south of the airport) for my niecses' birth day. When I arrived needless to say the topic of conversation was the "fire ball" in the sky. Both my brothers inlaws and his oldeest daughter and her husband saw it in seperat incedents. I thought they would say they saw it to the North, going from west to the east, but they too saw it to the south(they were further south of where myson and I witnessed it.This indicated to me that whatever it was, was a lot higher in the sky, and a lot larger than I had antisipated. I found out the next day that two people in my "American History" class I was atending at Eastern Michigan Univ. also saw it. One of these people is a girl that said she was heading down I-94 east bound Just west of I-275 when she saw it pass over, off to her right. I also talked to a friend of mine who lives s/w of me who was walking with his wife and they witnessed it also.