Unusual air traffic
The other night a friend of mine and I were leaving the Bothell YMCA around 2100 hours and looked over in the sky because we noticed an unusually bright light. It looked like a regular airplane, then we noticed 2 more. They didn't appear to be moving for a minute, but then they started moving and seemed to be circling an area. It could have been anything at all, nothing unusual, but we felt that there was a story behind it. So we grabbed some taco bell and set out on the highway to find a way to get closer to what these "planes" were circling. We belive we saw a military aircraft (but not positive) because it seemed to be still in mid-air, then just took off at great speed. Not your regular passenger jet. Anyways, we were going down the on-ramp to get onto 405 southbound from Bothell, and what do you know, there was a PACSAT van right there, with a satellite, stopped on the side of the road. We passed by him, then he started up his van and came onto the highway as well. I slowed down my car to let him pass me because we thought we would follow him for a while, which we did, and he was driving pretty quickly (over the speed limit), but he went too far South for us to venture out any further at that hour. We headed back home. We believe that something was going on somewhere near Woodinville/Kirkland/Redmond area. We haven't seen anything in the news since! The next evening near the same time, we noticed quite a bit of air traffic near the same area. Slow moving "planes" that would suddenly increase in speed, but circle the area. I wish that someone else would have seen too.
((NUFORC Note: We received no other reports from this area of Seattle for this time and date. The area is in the approach/departure area for Sea-Tac Airport, so it is not clear how "military" aircraft could be operating in this area when normal operations of commercial traffic are taking place. We will attempt to inquire of the witness what a PACSAT van with a satellite is. PD))
The other night a friend of mine and I were leaving the Bothell YMCA around 2100 hours and looked over in the sky because we noticed an unusually bright light. It looked like a regular airplane, then we noticed 2 more. They didn't appear to be moving for a minute, but then they started moving and seemed to be circling an area. It could have been anything at all, nothing unusual, but we felt that there was a story behind it. So we grabbed some taco bell and set out on the highway to find a way to get closer to what these "planes" were circling. We belive we saw a military aircraft (but not positive) because it seemed to be still in mid-air, then just took off at great speed. Not your regular passenger jet. Anyways, we were going down the on-ramp to get onto 405 southbound from Bothell, and what do you know, there was a PACSAT van right there, with a satellite, stopped on the side of the road. We passed by him, then he started up his van and came onto the highway as well. I slowed down my car to let him pass me because we thought we would follow him for a while, which we did, and he was driving pretty quickly (over the speed limit), but he went too far South for us to venture out any further at that hour. We headed back home. We believe that something was going on somewhere near Woodinville/Kirkland/Redmond area. We haven't seen anything in the news since! The next evening near the same time, we noticed quite a bit of air traffic near the same area. Slow moving "planes" that would suddenly increase in speed, but circle the area. I wish that someone else would have seen too.
((NUFORC Note: We received no other reports from this area of Seattle for this time and date. The area is in the approach/departure area for Sea-Tac Airport, so it is not clear how "military" aircraft could be operating in this area when normal operations of commercial traffic are taking place. We will attempt to inquire of the witness what a PACSAT van with a satellite is. PD))
No
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Off
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Yes
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No
Bothell
USA
30 minutes
30 minutes
47.80
-122.21
other
WA
Occurred : 8/25/2000 21:00 (Entered as : 08/25/00 21:00) Reported: 8/27/2000 16:00 Posted: 9/17/2000 Location: Bothell, WA Shape: Other Duration: 30 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Unusual air traffic