2000-08-03 - Delta, BC - Cigar

Silvery cigar hovers over Boundary Bay

). I was driving west on highway 10, north of the Boundary Bay airport. The sky was absolutely clear with no clouds. I saw a small propeller powered plane, heading west. It was probably getting ready to land or had just taken off from the airport. I suddenly noticed an object in the same part of the sky (from my viewing perspective), as the airplane. At first I thought it was a passenger jet flying at a considerable altitude higher (and further away), than the propeller plane. The more I looked at it, the more I thought that it did not look like a jet, and it appeared to be hanging motionless in the sky (although I was of course, moving west at about 80 km per hour). It was quite light colored (whitish), but I also thought it had a bit of a silvery look to it. I did not see any winglike features, but the object did not look round or ellipsoid. Plus it did not really seem to have any distinct shadowed area in its underside. I very much wanted to stop to get a better look, but I didn't want to pull over on the narrow highway shoulder, so I drove on to the Delta Community Hall intersection (keeping an eye on the object as best as I safely could while operating my vehicle) and drove north a short distance, where I found a spot to pull over and stop. I got out of my vehicle for a better look, but I could no longer find the object in the sky. I thought it quite odd that it had disappeared so fast, when it had not appeared to be moving when I had observed it just a minute before. My best estimate of the object position would be that it was probably at least 2000 foot elevation, (and quite possibly a mile or two elevation) and appeared to be situated directly above Boundary Bay, between White Rock and Point Roberts. I would estimate that the object was probably at least five meters across. It was situated in a SSW direction from my viewing position, about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon. My estimate on the objects height is partly based on the fact that it had a far away and indistinct look (contour and edges obscured by distance, no sharp outline, color contrasts or shadow). I probably observed it over a distance of about one half a mile, without it changing significantly in direction, indicating the object was potentially moving in a westerly direction and close by (less than a mile away), or more likely, not moving much in east/west direction and further away (which matches perceived distance perception). A high flying jet, moving directly away from my observing position and increasing in elevation would explain the lack of movement. But this would not account for its fairly sudden disappearance (although the object seemed far away, it did not appear to be moving away at a fast rate). The perceived shape of the object did not match an end view of a jet, although unfortunately, I never had a chance to get a really good look at it.

((NUFORC Note: Date was corrected by investigator to 03AU00. PD))