On Mar 8, 7:37 am, Pat Flannery wrote:

Okay... how exactly how can a rock falling through around fifty miles of
atmosphere end up going in any direction but pretty much straight down
by the time it impacts?

It has a large ballistic coefficient? Remember, ICBM RVs with large
ballistic coefficients entering the atmosphere slower than most
meteors arrive at the surface at a considerable angle.

http://img.rtvslo.si/upload/Svet/kwajalein_show.jpg
http://www.afa.org/magazine/Oct2005/ICBM01.jpg