Low, slow, nealy silent delta wing 'airliner.'
Location: Suburban Philadelphia, PA USA Environment: Mostly clear sky, after sundown, light breeze Witnesses: (2) Male - 25, Male - 55 Aircraft: One triangular/delta wing shaped object of airliner size at an altitude of not greater than 800 ft (more likely below 500 ft) making very little noise and traveling very slowly (150MPH estimated).
-Shape- Triangular in shape, although not a 'triangle.' The outline was distinctly a delta wing configuration and there was a clearly visible fuselage. The best example of the shape is the old F16 Delta Wing concept. No rear mounted horizontal stabilizers and a clean, straight trailing edge to the main wing. No forward mounted horizontal stabilizers were visible either. Two vertical stabilizers were visible, ruling out many possible aircraft types that fit the 'basic' shape (B2, etc). The total wingspan of the 'delta wing' was longer than the totall length of the aircraft.
-Lighting- Very familiar lighting pattern. Red, white, and blue lights on the wing, nose, wing, respectively, as one would see on a normal airliner, but the lights were in the wrong places. The wing tip lights were 'too far back' to denote a typical airliner. No other visible running lights. No strobe effect or color changes.
-Size- Large. 737 size at least.
-Position- Altitude between 500 ft and 800 ft AGL. Traveling from ENE to WSW.
-Speed- Very, very slow. Best guess is between 150-200MPH - if that.
-Sound- Astonishingly quiet. The exhaust note was more similar to a constant gust of wind than a jet engine.
Description of Event: Standing outside home talking. During the converasation, the lights of an 'airliner' were visible approaching from over the roof of the house across the street. Initially, the size, speed and altitude through me off. The aircraft traveled in our direction, although very slowly. As it came nearer, its outline was visible against the stars and moonlight. The aircraft resembled a typical airliner in lighting patterns only - and only at a distance. It was apparent when the aircraft flew overhead that the lights were in the wrong positions as the wingtip running lights were at the trailing edge of the aircraft - too far back. The delta wing shape became visible at roughly the same time, which sparked my interest as I moved a few feet down the driveway to keep the aircraft in view longer.
Other obervations made during this time (~30 seconds from initial view to passing over house) were the flight charectaristics. The altitude of the aircraft was very abnormal for my area. Philadelphia Int'l airport does not have traffic patterns over my area and even if they did, an approaching aircraft would still be well above 10,000 feet as the airport is a good 45 miles away. The local NAS operates mostly C130's, A10's, and the occassional F18. The altitude of the aircraft was almost enough to make me duck - it appeared that the aircraft would be landing no more than 1000 yards away based on this as well as the speed. The speed again reinforced the idea that the aircraft was landing somewhere very close by. At rougly 150 odd MPH, you would expect an airliner size aircraft to be seconds away from touchdown, full flaps, etc. Except this aircraft kept on going straight and level until it disappeared from view over treetops 500 yards away.
The sound was the last abnormal charectaristic of the aircraft - there really wasnt any. The aircraft engines sounded more like a sustained gust of wind than a jet or prop engine. At that alitude, one would expect even a civilian airliner to drown out the conversation, let alone a military aircraft, but the aircraft was so quiet that we were able to speak to eachother while observing it.
Reason for reporting: Was advised to do so. There is no single aspect that stands out about this aircraft - but the sum of all the aspects made this an interesting experience. The combination of 'way' too low, 'way' too slow, 'way' too quiet, and shaped like the old British Avro Vulcan were enough for me to question what, exactly, the aircraft was because I know of no civilian or military aircraft that exibits this combination of charectaristics.
Location: Suburban Philadelphia, PA USA Environment: Mostly clear sky, after sundown, light breeze Witnesses: (2) Male - 25, Male - 55 Aircraft: One triangular/delta wing shaped object of airliner size at an altitude of not greater than 800 ft (more likely below 500 ft) making very little noise and traveling very slowly (150MPH estimated).
-Shape- Triangular in shape, although not a 'triangle.' The outline was distinctly a delta wing configuration and there was a clearly visible fuselage. The best example of the shape is the old F16 Delta Wing concept. No rear mounted horizontal stabilizers and a clean, straight trailing edge to the main wing. No forward mounted horizontal stabilizers were visible either. Two vertical stabilizers were visible, ruling out many possible aircraft types that fit the 'basic' shape (B2, etc). The total wingspan of the 'delta wing' was longer than the totall length of the aircraft.
-Lighting- Very familiar lighting pattern. Red, white, and blue lights on the wing, nose, wing, respectively, as one would see on a normal airliner, but the lights were in the wrong places. The wing tip lights were 'too far back' to denote a typical airliner. No other visible running lights. No strobe effect or color changes.
-Size- Large. 737 size at least.
-Position- Altitude between 500 ft and 800 ft AGL. Traveling from ENE to WSW.
-Speed- Very, very slow. Best guess is between 150-200MPH - if that.
-Sound- Astonishingly quiet. The exhaust note was more similar to a constant gust of wind than a jet engine.
Description of Event: Standing outside home talking. During the converasation, the lights of an 'airliner' were visible approaching from over the roof of the house across the street. Initially, the size, speed and altitude through me off. The aircraft traveled in our direction, although very slowly. As it came nearer, its outline was visible against the stars and moonlight. The aircraft resembled a typical airliner in lighting patterns only - and only at a distance. It was apparent when the aircraft flew overhead that the lights were in the wrong positions as the wingtip running lights were at the trailing edge of the aircraft - too far back. The delta wing shape became visible at roughly the same time, which sparked my interest as I moved a few feet down the driveway to keep the aircraft in view longer.
Other obervations made during this time (~30 seconds from initial view to passing over house) were the flight charectaristics. The altitude of the aircraft was very abnormal for my area. Philadelphia Int'l airport does not have traffic patterns over my area and even if they did, an approaching aircraft would still be well above 10,000 feet as the airport is a good 45 miles away. The local NAS operates mostly C130's, A10's, and the occassional F18. The altitude of the aircraft was almost enough to make me duck - it appeared that the aircraft would be landing no more than 1000 yards away based on this as well as the speed. The speed again reinforced the idea that the aircraft was landing somewhere very close by. At rougly 150 odd MPH, you would expect an airliner size aircraft to be seconds away from touchdown, full flaps, etc. Except this aircraft kept on going straight and level until it disappeared from view over treetops 500 yards away.
The sound was the last abnormal charectaristic of the aircraft - there really wasnt any. The aircraft engines sounded more like a sustained gust of wind than a jet or prop engine. At that alitude, one would expect even a civilian airliner to drown out the conversation, let alone a military aircraft, but the aircraft was so quiet that we were able to speak to eachother while observing it.
Reason for reporting: Was advised to do so. There is no single aspect that stands out about this aircraft - but the sum of all the aspects made this an interesting experience. The combination of 'way' too low, 'way' too slow, 'way' too quiet, and shaped like the old British Avro Vulcan were enough for me to question what, exactly, the aircraft was because I know of no civilian or military aircraft that exibits this combination of charectaristics.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Lansdale
USA
30 seconds
30 seconds
40.24
-75.30
triangle
PA
Occurred : 11/11/2003 19:00 (Entered as : 11/11/1903 19:00) Reported: 11/23/2003 10:40:30 PM 22:40 Posted: 11/26/2003 Location: Lansdale, PA Shape: Triangle Duration: 30 seconds Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object made a sound
Low, slow, nealy silent delta wing 'airliner.'