2001-02-05 - Boise, ID - Diamond

A kite-shaped object with white lights in each corner was seen flying over central Boise and toward Meridian.

Feb. 5 2001. Boise Idaho. When driving southeast on Chinden Blvd at approximately 6:40 PM I noticed a set of two very bright lights about 10-20 degrees above the horizon that at first appeared to be stationary. My first impression was that this was a conventional aircraft with its landing lights on. After a minute or so I noticed the aircraft was not following the normal airport approach. (I live near the airport and have a good feel for the normal arrival and departure patterns as well as the appearance of various aircraft at night.) The aircraft proceeded in what appeared to be a straight line over Garden City directly toward west Boise. (Plotting the flight path on a map indicates that the object passed virtually directly over the state capitol building downtown.) As the object approached, a white strobe light between the two "landing" lights became visible. For a moment I got the impression that an aircraft was in trouble and considering Chinden as a possible landing strip. Then I got the impression that the object could possibly be a slow moving blimp or perhaps I was approaching a balloon over the fairgrounds. (I was searching for rational explanations that I dismissed one by one.) I was stopped at the intersection of Chinden and Kent Ln. (next to the fairgrounds) when the object passed overhead and to my left. I was able to roll down my car window and look up at the object. It consisted of four white lights (two bright ones on the "wingtips", one strobe on the "nose" and a dim one on the "tail"). There were no conventional (red/green) aviation lights. There was no additional "low flying jet" noise above the normal traffic noise. I caught a glimpse of the vehicle body as it passed in front of an upper level haze lit by moonlight and it appeared to be black and diamond shaped with four white lights at the tips. It was about 1 thumb width (at an arms length) from wingtip to wingtip. It also appeared to be leaving behind a vapor trial that was about the same width. It was difficult to estimate the altitude, and whether it wa! s ascend ing or descending. Unfortunately, I could not observe the shape at length because the traffic light changed. At this point, the object clearly seemed peculiar, so I made a U-turn when I could and attempted to pursue it in the direction of its travel. The rear light was dim and the object was much more difficult to make out from the rear. I noted once again that the normal red and green navigation lights that would otherwise clearly mark a conventional aircraft from the rear were absent. The object seemed to move away and disappear much more rapidly than it approached (Probably because the brighter "forward facing" lights made it visible from farther away.) It disappeared over the rim of a ridge above Chinden. My total observation time was approximately 5-10 minutes. Two acquaintences of mine mentioned the next day that they also noticed some strange lights. One was traveling west on I-84 approximately 7-10 miles SW of my location. She reported that she saw strange lights moving west and south of the freeway, about 20 degrees above the horizon. The direction and time are consistent with my observations. I also monitored the sky at the same time on subsequent evenings to verify that this was not part of a routine daily jet flight. While preparing this report, I conducted a casual search of your database for similar sightings and found the following report with a description that matched what I saw: Occurred : 12/28/2000 18:00 (Entered as : 12/28/00 18:00) Reported : 1/5/2001 18:30 Posted : 1/28/2001 Location : Holyoke, MA Shape : Diamond "… described it as being diamond shaped, like a kite, with white lights on the points…" That describes exactly what I saw. I'm a 44 year old electrical engineer who works for a well known high-tech company. I'm not fully convinced I observed an unconventional vehicle, but I do know that I saw what appeared to be an uncommon shape with a definite lack of red/green aviation lights on a strange flight path. I'm posting this in the event that it provides any additional useful information in combination with what others have seen.