1998-02-20 - Columbus, OH - Triangle

I first noticed a long, thin, sort of cigar shaped bright white light slowly moving W to E behind my house. Upon looking out the window that was gone but, after several seconds 3 lights just came on, about 150 or 200 ft. up. They were in a triangular formation, the front being yellow, one red and one green. These lights made several odd manuvers and never flashed or blinked; we are realatively close to Port Columbus so, I am used to seeing airplanes and helicopters yet, I have never seen anything like this.

The long, bright white light was odd because it seemed to be close and flying very low,( 20-40 ft.), and even though this was a very intense bright white light it cast no light on surrounding objects. I could see the trees in my neighbor's yard silohetted against the light as it moved across the neighbor's yard. This object was about as long as the first joint of your finger,( from the tip of your finger to the first knuckle), held at arms length - as I sat about 22 ft. from the window that I saw it through. The triangular shaped object that I saw after I got up and went to the window appeared over the intersection of Morse & Westerville Roads at an altitiude of about 100-150 ft. and headed due North, in my general direction. Once it got slightly North of Morse Rd.,( which runs E & W), it banked slightly and headed west, the whole time going about 25-35 mph. The object traveled West until it was 200 ft. or so past Westerville Rd. then, came to a stop rotated 180 degrees and began flying back East at about the same speed as before. When the object got back to where it origanally began moving to the West it suddenly got a burst of speed like nothing I've ever seen and made a U-turn that seemed to take it slightly higher and its own width to the South. This U-turn was one of the main things that made me stop and think " Hey this is not a helicopter or airplane" because, just last year I went to the Dayton Airshow and saw how fast these modern millitary planes can accelerate. Let me tell you nothing I have ever seen could do this- not to mention the g-forces this manuver would have exerted on a pilot would have been more than any human could ever stand. After this abrupt U-turn the object immediately returned to its previous snail like speed and continued on to the West. As it got about 300 ft. or so from Westerville Rd. it slowly turned to the South South West and as it made this turn all the lights instantly turned red but, there was no blink or flash as though I was seeing a different side of the object, the lights just simply switched colors!!!! After the object had changed course and color it just flew at the same slow speed out of my field of view to the Southwest. This triangular object seemed to emmit a wide, highly despirsed light at about a 45 degree angle, from the front yellow light- this light is totally different than a normal search light on a helicopter. It also seemed like there was a triangular shadow inbetween the lights so that since the sky was overcast the clouds were slightly brighter than the object itself- so, it was possible to make out the shape but, there was only a slight hint of it. The object appeared to be an equilateral triangle of about 50-75 ft. per side. I also stuck my head out the door during the sighting and heard no sound, other than the usual traffic sounds, and there was no change in the object's appearance.