1996-02-23 - Poway, CA - Light

Saw 2 points of light moving slowly across sky then after 11 minutes, 1 of them streaked off towards the east and was gone in 10-12 seconds.

I was taking a lunchtime walk around an industrial area in Poway, CA on 02/23/96. At approximately 12:40 pm, I was heading in a NNW direction on Stowe Road, 1/4 mile north of Scripps-Poway Pkwy. I looked up into the sky and noticed a white point of light about 60 degrees above the northern horizon. It was slowly moving toward the south. The weather conditions at the time were as follows: mostly clear skies, scattered cirrus clouds, temperature about 65 degrees, winds from the SSW (both at the surface and aloft), with wind speed about 10 mph at ground level. By 12:43 pm, the object became stationary at a position about 70 degrees above the northern horizon. It appeared to hover in that position until 12:45 pm, when another similar object "blinked on" just to the east of the first object. At that moment, both objects began to move fairly slowly towards the west, with the first object pulling slightly away from the second. Both objects appeared to pass under the cirrus clouds in the area. At 12:49 pm, the first object changed direction towards the SW. The second object continued to move toward the west. The distance between the two objects continued to increase to the point where I could no longer keep both of them in a single field of view. At 12:51 pm, the first object was approximately 50 degrees above the western horizon when it suddenly streaked across the sky from west to east and disappeared over the eastern horizon. The elapsed time of this high-speed exit from the area was 10-12 seconds. I immediately looked back to where the other object had been, but it was gone. I did not see it leave. I have made the following conservative altitude and velocity estimates: 1. Scattered cirrus clouds at approximately 25000 feet 2. Both objects were below the cirrus clouds. 3. Distance travelled by first object during high-speed exit from the area assuming altitude of 15000 feet = 25-75 miles 4. Estimated velocity of first object during high-speed exit = 6000-18000 mph It is clear to me that these objects were not conventional airplanes, balloons, meteors, stars, etc. They moved against the wind, hovered and displayed high-speed characteristics beyond anything that I've ever seen or heard. At no time did I hear any sound from either of the objects. There was no sonic boom during the high-speed maneuver. Both objects appeared as white points of light with no other details observed. They were both clearly under intelligent control. The sighting took place in an area where there were frequent flybys of Navy F-14 and F-18 fighters returning to Miramar from training exercises over the Pacific. However, no military or civilian aircraft were seen in the immediate area over the entire duration of the sighting. I believe my estimates of altitude and velocity are conservative, my gut feeling is that these objects may have been at an altitude closer to 25000 feet and the velocity during the high-speed maneuver may have been more like 20000-25000 mph. Personal Background: BS Mathematics, minor in Astrophysics. MS Computer Science I am currently a Sr. Engineer with 15 years experience in both defense and commercial applications. In the past, I have held both TOP SECRET and SECRET DoD security clearances. In the early 1980's, I was a field investigator for APRO and also wrote an astronomy column for the APRO Bulletin. I am a member of American Mensa and have been an associate member of the American Meteorological Society in the past. I have worked on in thunderstorm research and am quite familiar with many kinds of atmospheric phenomena.