Pilot Sightings

[mike]

Occurred : 9/16/2011 11:16 (Entered as : 09/16/11 11:16)
Reported: 1/23/2012 8:25:48 PM 20:25
Posted: 1/24/2012
Location: Sisters (in-flight), OR
Shape: Triangle
Duration:.5 sec
Orange Dart-like craft passes our aircraft at close proximity in flight

I am an airline transport pilot with over 14,000 flight hours in unique aircraft such as the HU16b I am flying in these pictures I have been flying for 40 yrs I am also a certified A&P mechanic and an IA or inspector with over 25 yrs maintenance exp on planes like these. The Albatross we have is used as a test bed for Satellite broadband internet, we are one of the few companies in the world that has airborne satellite systems for high-speed internet. The plane is full of sophisticated equipment for this purpose as it is the original test bed for this.

I have better than 20/20 vision and I usually can spot any single helium balloon of 15" diameter from a great distance and I am trained to do so. I see them all the time. That being said, the object was literally a blur and I didn’t see it as it was moving in the same direction as the plane. The order of the pictures attached here is the series of the 3 that I took with my iphone as I was just trying to get a shot of "Sisters" and Mount Jefferson in the Bend area.

As for the pictures, they cannot be a balloon cluster as this thing passed us!! Look at the lake on the first picture as the object comes from right to left, go to the next shot, it's in frame, look at our relative movement passing the lake then the last shot as the thing is hidden by the wing and our location relative to the lake again. We were cruising at 11,500 ft at approx 200 mph. the balloons would have to be fast!! That thing was a streak, it went by as nothing but a blur. Only the luck of the camera could tell me that it was some sort of object of quite some size, as our wing is nearly 50 long and that float out there (40 ft away) is 10 ft long. I estimate that it is about the same size as our plane or longer, that would make it approximately 70-80 ft long. I would also estimate it to be within 1000 ft of us laterally. The object made no noise that I could discern, nor did it leave any sort of contrails or exhaust paths. It appears to be banking around us for a split second then gone.

Our plane is traveling south-east at approximately 200 mph at 11,500 ft We were in the vacinity of Bend or Sisters Oregon.

Bizarre UFO

 

[Elendil]

Iron Man testing a new suit?

 

[pixelsmith]

pretty cool sighting. i like seeing ufo's other than saucers

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Looks like parachute poping . Mind you pilots do see some strange shit a acquaintance of mine flew Tornado's over the Middle East seeing green balls of light. Which seems to quite a common occurrences by ufologist reports?

 

[stonehart]

Thanks for the post Mike that is interesting to say the least. I do like pilot reports as they tend to be far better observers of the sky (well duh) than your average person as well as being much more aware of what it is they are looking at. In short if they do not know what it is chances are it is worth looking into.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

It looks a bit like a witch's broomstick to me! Balls of light, flying saucers etc fine, but you gotta wonder just what kind of technology is behind this thing?
I probably come down more with the ETH and nuts and bolts over anything else, but don't exlude anything until resolutely ruled out. This type, if it is an actual flying object, is utterly new to me?
Another nice one mike.

 

[stonehart]

First thing to consider is that it could well be man made. Air Force technology that no one has seen yet.

 

[Xylo]

Looks a bit like this to me...but from a bit different angle, and with a rusty red paint job.

 

[stonehart]

Looks a bit like this to me...but from a bit different angle, and with a rusty red paint job.

Yeah now you mention it I agree. Could the pilot have caught a test flight of a more modern version of the Blackbird?

However the SR71 was black due to it being built from Titanium which made them extremely expensive and to an extent unpredictable from plane to plane. Due to the way the air friction at M3 heated the Titanium it tended to give each plane its "own personality" to use the words of pilots who had the chance to fly them.

Makes you wounder again if what we are seeing here is a test of the same technology but with new materials or application.

 

[Xylo]

Yeah now you mention it I agree. Could the pilot have caught a test flight of a more modern version of the Blackbird? <snip>

Makes you wounder again if what we are seeing here is a test of the same technology but with new materials or application.

Agreed. Always worth sending a pic of this to Janes and see if they know, or if they'll admit anything.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

It really looks like Iron Man.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

So maybe Robert Downey Jr. is playing a prank.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

Well, The Avengers is coming out in a few months.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

And The Dark Knight Rises, and Star Trek 2, and, in 2013, Man of Steel. It's a great time if you like super heroes.

 

[stonehart]

So maybe Robert Downey Jr. is playing a prank.

Maybe its a try at viral marketing?

 

[mike]

The Pilot estimates the object at 70-80 feet long, so i think we can rule out iron man

Only the luck of the camera could tell me that it was some sort of object of quite some size, as our wing is nearly 50 long and that float out there (40 ft away) is 10 ft long. I estimate that it is about the same size as our plane or longer, that would make it approximately 70-80 ft long

 

[Randall]

I didn't see any mention of the pilot or anyone actually watching the object as it went by. It seems to have just shown up on the photos after the fact. They look kind of like orange feather dusters. Maybe they were reflections off the window from inside the cabin. Until we have more information there is no reason to consider these pictures as evidence of a UFO.

 

[stonehart]

I didn't see any mention of the pilot or anyone actually watching the object as it went by. It seems to have just shown up on the photos after the fact. They look kind of like orange feather dusters. Maybe they were reflections off the window from inside the cabin. Until we have more information there is no reason to consider these pictures as evidence of a UFO.

Very good point.. Not sure if any of us are playing the UFO or ETH card right yet as I for one would sooner look for a more mundane or human explanation for this.

 

[mike]

If it were a reflection, i would expect to see other objects from within the cabin though

There does seem to be a dark shape around the object (window?) so its possible i guess.
But looking at this larger shot it doesnt strike me as a reflection

 

[Goggs Mackay]

And I think there is a bit of 'atmospheric hazing' which I learned from David Biedny, tho I am the first to admit I am no expert on any photo interpretation....
To say that something 'just looks like a large object in the middle distance' is completely unscientific I know, but it does!