2003-08-25 - Phoenix, AZ - Unknown

i was flying near pheonix when a craft flew right in front of my airplane for 16 min

On Aug 25th at 9:45pm I was flying from Gila Bend Airport to Deer Valley Airport when I saw a shape and movement that should'nt be in the sky.

I have been flying for 4 years and have never saw anything like this.

It was a very clear calm night, the surrounding area was very dark, except for Phoenix in the background. I was at 5500 ft above the ground, cruising at 145 knots.

I had just taken off from Gila Bend, when from out of nowhere a somewhat big craft of some kind flew right in front of me, approx 50 yards.

I instantly turned to my left and reported it to ATC, who told me they had nothing on their radar.

For the few seconds I was directly behind it, I should have been in some kind of turbulence, but instead the flight got even smoother. I also noticed my ADF CDI started malfunctioning, the needle started pointing directly at it.

The craft flew along my right wing occasionaly increasing speed dramatically to possibly 300 knots, and changing its altitude. It appeared to be getting closer to me at one point, and instead of backing away like I should have, I kept my current course.

It must have been about 100 ft away, and I noticed what I thought was the front. I saw no lights on it, the only reason I could see it at all was because of the glow of Phoenix in the background 40 miles away. after exactly 16 min and watching it pretty closely it made a sudden move farther from my course and a rappid increase in speed and a slight climb and it was gone.

I contacted Phoenix Sky Harbour, and told them what I saw and that it appeared to be entering their airspace. They also told me they had nothing on radar.