Experienced local private pilot and aircraft buff with wife could not figure out what this object over NYC was.
Curiosity finally took hold and after 3 years I am investigating what was so obvious to my wife and I. I am a private pilot of small aircraft out of NJ as well as a military aircraft buff. I am highly familiar with the NYC sky, aircraft, military aircraft and flight patterns. Now that I have given you my credentials I will explain what we saw while sailing 4 miles south of the Verazzano bridge just 4 days after the WTC disaster. You could document my being there because besides the coast guard there couldn't have been more than a handful of boats in the entire area.
This is what we observed: From my positions sailing from the Naval ships docked at Earle to Keyport NJ (east to west) we saw a perfectly shaped reflective "pill" shaped object that was positioned like a blimp standing on its end. The sky was perfectly clear with a light North to Northwest breeze blowing. The object was absolutely stationary, seemed to be at an altitude of 10K to 15K feet and the approximate size of a blimp. However it looked nothing like a blimp acted nothing like a blimp and I am very familiar with the many blimps in our area. We were extremely upset that entire sailing trip seeing first hand the devistation that had taken place with our own eyes and smelling the acrid smoldering of the WTC all day. We were a bit shocked so the sighting didn't seem as spectacular as it might have at another time. So, after observing this thing for some 45 min plus the sun lowering seemed to illuminate or reflect twilight making it more and more visible. It then did something that really amazed me. It started to move slowly (relatively slowly depending on its actual size and elevation) and smoothly across the manhattan skyline and straight up the Hudson river (North) at the same altitude until it dissappeared. This thing didn't move an inch and then she just moved with utter perfection directly AGAINST THE WIND. Not a sound and defied everything I knew about aircraft and proposed military aircraft. I know that the military was flying high altitude CAP at that very time and did not seem to be at all interested in this giant thing hanging over NYC.
Curiosity finally took hold and after 3 years I am investigating what was so obvious to my wife and I. I am a private pilot of small aircraft out of NJ as well as a military aircraft buff. I am highly familiar with the NYC sky, aircraft, military aircraft and flight patterns. Now that I have given you my credentials I will explain what we saw while sailing 4 miles south of the Verazzano bridge just 4 days after the WTC disaster. You could document my being there because besides the coast guard there couldn't have been more than a handful of boats in the entire area.
This is what we observed: From my positions sailing from the Naval ships docked at Earle to Keyport NJ (east to west) we saw a perfectly shaped reflective "pill" shaped object that was positioned like a blimp standing on its end. The sky was perfectly clear with a light North to Northwest breeze blowing. The object was absolutely stationary, seemed to be at an altitude of 10K to 15K feet and the approximate size of a blimp. However it looked nothing like a blimp acted nothing like a blimp and I am very familiar with the many blimps in our area. We were extremely upset that entire sailing trip seeing first hand the devistation that had taken place with our own eyes and smelling the acrid smoldering of the WTC all day. We were a bit shocked so the sighting didn't seem as spectacular as it might have at another time. So, after observing this thing for some 45 min plus the sun lowering seemed to illuminate or reflect twilight making it more and more visible. It then did something that really amazed me. It started to move slowly (relatively slowly depending on its actual size and elevation) and smoothly across the manhattan skyline and straight up the Hudson river (North) at the same altitude until it dissappeared. This thing didn't move an inch and then she just moved with utter perfection directly AGAINST THE WIND. Not a sound and defied everything I knew about aircraft and proposed military aircraft. I know that the military was flying high altitude CAP at that very time and did not seem to be at all interested in this giant thing hanging over NYC.
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Off
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Raritan Bay
USA
45 minutes
45 minutes
other
NJ
Occurred : 9/15/2001 17:00 (Entered as : 09/15/2001 17:00) Reported: 9/29/2004 12:41:15 PM 12:41 Posted: 9/29/2004 Location: Raritan Bay, NJ Shape: Other Duration: 45 minutes Characteristics: There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Experienced local private pilot and aircraft buff with wife could not figure out what this object over NYC was.