dozen yellowish-orange lights flying in formation
At approximately 0030h (1230am), 2001.07.15 (I am estimating time and date from other Cartaret reports), while going out to my car, saw 12-18 yellowish-orange lights, about thumbnail size at arm's length, moving in formation from right to left (roughly parallel to the turnpike) at the approximate height and speed a small private plane would fly, lasting for maybe a couple of minutes. I estimate the height in this way because that is what I thought the objects were, a bunch of private planes, i.e. a local flying club, out for a night flight around town (although I did not see any particular form or shape to the objects). They gradually veered away from me (for them, they would've been making a right hand turn). They may, in fact, have been gradually veering away from me from when I first saw them (being at night it was impossible to accurately determine if they were proceeding directly across my line of vision and then veered away, or if they had been gradually veering away from me from the start (moving laterally diagonally across my line of vision) and then veered "more sharply".
1) I say "in formation" because all though all the lights appeared to move in concert, or in a pack, there was smaller movement between some of the lights, like individual objects speeding up to keep up with each other and/or slowing down to avoid getting to close.
2) That the objects didn't make a sound, I attributed to their being down wind of me, i.e. the wind blew the sound of the planes away from me.
3) That no small plane I had ever seen before at night had ever been lit up like this and, in any event, probably wouldn't be if they really were out for a night flight, i.e. out to see the city all lit up at night, strange as this sounds, I didn't think anything of it.
4) In retrospect, I guess the only thing stranger than the sight itself, was my nonchalant reaction to it. I certainly wasn't frightened, but neither do I remember being particularly awed, I seem to remember thinking: "Oh, that's neat".
((NUFORC Note: Our gratitude to the witness for his having submitted such a nice report. NUFORC has radar data from the FAA which confirms that the objects did appear on radar. We suspect that Newark Airport was shut down during the incident, although we have been unable to confirm that fact. PD))
At approximately 0030h (1230am), 2001.07.15 (I am estimating time and date from other Cartaret reports), while going out to my car, saw 12-18 yellowish-orange lights, about thumbnail size at arm's length, moving in formation from right to left (roughly parallel to the turnpike) at the approximate height and speed a small private plane would fly, lasting for maybe a couple of minutes. I estimate the height in this way because that is what I thought the objects were, a bunch of private planes, i.e. a local flying club, out for a night flight around town (although I did not see any particular form or shape to the objects). They gradually veered away from me (for them, they would've been making a right hand turn). They may, in fact, have been gradually veering away from me from when I first saw them (being at night it was impossible to accurately determine if they were proceeding directly across my line of vision and then veered away, or if they had been gradually veering away from me from the start (moving laterally diagonally across my line of vision) and then veered "more sharply".
1) I say "in formation" because all though all the lights appeared to move in concert, or in a pack, there was smaller movement between some of the lights, like individual objects speeding up to keep up with each other and/or slowing down to avoid getting to close.
2) That the objects didn't make a sound, I attributed to their being down wind of me, i.e. the wind blew the sound of the planes away from me.
3) That no small plane I had ever seen before at night had ever been lit up like this and, in any event, probably wouldn't be if they really were out for a night flight, i.e. out to see the city all lit up at night, strange as this sounds, I didn't think anything of it.
4) In retrospect, I guess the only thing stranger than the sight itself, was my nonchalant reaction to it. I certainly wasn't frightened, but neither do I remember being particularly awed, I seem to remember thinking: "Oh, that's neat".
((NUFORC Note: Our gratitude to the witness for his having submitted such a nice report. NUFORC has radar data from the FAA which confirms that the objects did appear on radar. We suspect that Newark Airport was shut down during the incident, although we have been unable to confirm that fact. PD))
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Off
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Cartaret
USA
2 mins ?
2 mins ?
formation
NJ
Occurred : 7/15/2001 00:30 (Entered as : 07/15/01 00:30) Reported: 6/6/2002 12:01:26 PM 12:01 Posted: 6/12/2002 Location: Cartaret, NJ Shape: Formation Duration: 2 mins ?
dozen yellowish-orange lights flying in formation