Night-time flight of lights changes formation suddenly.
i became an amateur astronomer around the age of 14. One night, I was outside with my 8" Cave newtonian telescope when my father came out to tell me it was time to go in. I happened to look to the north-east and saw a V-shaped formation of lights moving in a westerly course. I knew that the LAX flight corridor is in the same area but I had never seen a flight of planes in that corrider as it is for "heavies" only, and not for military planes. I told my father to look at the formation. It moved to the western horizon and dissappeared into the L.A. light pollution in about 7 seconds. That was faster than any jumbo jet would have moved in that corridor, and it made no sound. I could always hear the jets flying by but these made no sound. The best part was that as my father and I watched, the V-shaped formation suddenly shifted. It seemed as if each light flew across the path of the others and it became a stright-line (line-abreast) formation. The change was almost instantaneous, but slow enough for us to see them move. We looked at each other knowing that military planes don't fly in the LAX approach corridor and they sure don't switch formation like that, especially at night. Plus they made absolutely no sound; we would have heard that many military jets. Like I stated earlier, I am an amateur astronomer and have seen everything under the night sky, from flocks of geese, to meteors, to planes, to balloons, and this was none of the above. I had another experience like this but I'll submit it as a separate incident.
((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. One of two excellent reports submitted by same witness, who appears to us to be an excellent witness. PD))
i became an amateur astronomer around the age of 14. One night, I was outside with my 8" Cave newtonian telescope when my father came out to tell me it was time to go in. I happened to look to the north-east and saw a V-shaped formation of lights moving in a westerly course. I knew that the LAX flight corridor is in the same area but I had never seen a flight of planes in that corrider as it is for "heavies" only, and not for military planes. I told my father to look at the formation. It moved to the western horizon and dissappeared into the L.A. light pollution in about 7 seconds. That was faster than any jumbo jet would have moved in that corridor, and it made no sound. I could always hear the jets flying by but these made no sound. The best part was that as my father and I watched, the V-shaped formation suddenly shifted. It seemed as if each light flew across the path of the others and it became a stright-line (line-abreast) formation. The change was almost instantaneous, but slow enough for us to see them move. We looked at each other knowing that military planes don't fly in the LAX approach corridor and they sure don't switch formation like that, especially at night. Plus they made absolutely no sound; we would have heard that many military jets. Like I stated earlier, I am an amateur astronomer and have seen everything under the night sky, from flocks of geese, to meteors, to planes, to balloons, and this was none of the above. I had another experience like this but I'll submit it as a separate incident.
((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. One of two excellent reports submitted by same witness, who appears to us to be an excellent witness. PD))
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Brea
USA
7 seconds
7 seconds
33.93
-117.88
formation
CA
Occurred : 3/15/1977 22:00 (Entered as : 03/01/77 22:00) Reported: 7/29/2003 10:45:45 PM 22:45 Posted: 8/1/2003 Location: Brea, CA Shape: Formation Duration: 7 seconds
Night-time flight of lights changes formation suddenly.