Object with crescent-shaped 'nose' flew in direction of the opened side (i.e. with pointed ends of crescent leading)
While sitting in my car in a parking lot in downtown Lawrence I happened to notice an unusual aircraft heading in a north easterly direction. My training is in cognitive psychology and I no doubt lack the background and vocabulary to describe this object in precise terms, so please bear with me. Fortunately, my training and background did provide me with the good sense to sketch the object immediately after seeing it.
The overall shape of the object was roughly similar to that of a crescent wrench. The end-portions were like different sized semi-circles, with the one at the nose being smaller and perhaps less 'closed' than the one aft. The portion connecting the two crescents, or the 'handle-part' to continue the crescent-wrench metaphor, was oblong--perhaps something like a cigar, the extreme aft portion of which extended slightly into the inside of the crescent and was rounded. The end 'points' of the aft crescent seemed to have rounded objects attached or were perhaps rounded themselves as if there were engines (?) or something at those points. I cannot estimate speed or altitude reliably. I might hazard to guess that it was roughly the same size as a commercial jet. It appeared to be a dull black or dark-grey colored-- not the shiny metalic surface of commercial jets. It did seem to have a noise of some sort, but it wasn't very loud and I did not notice any visible exhaust or vapor; however, I don't recall now if the sky were overcast or not, which perhaps could mask a vapor trail (?). If it were, it must have been below any significant amount of haze or cloud vapor because I could see it clearly. Although it was 6:22 pm, it was still early enough to be seen easily. I did not notice any lights. The object moved outside of my view after a few seconds (10-15?) due to buildings around me.
What struck me as odd, was that the semi-circle or crescent on the front was opened in the direction of travel, i.e. the 'points,' if you will, of the semi-circle on the front of the 'fuselage(?),' pointed in the direction of travel. Perhaps this is not unusual in aviation today, but it is counter-intuitive to the casual observer.
I should also note that Lawrence is about 50 miles or so south/south west of Kansas City Internationl (MCI) airport. We are also about 100 miles east of Ft. Riley, a military base. I assume that this is some kind of new military plane or something, but the fact that no one else I showed my sketch to (non-military, non-aviation folks such as as myself) had ever seen one made me think I should report it. I also did a google search and was interested in the account of the engineer from Huntsville, AL who posted on your site in June of 2003. I was very interested in comparing my sketch to his if what I describe here is not a currently identifiable aircraft.
While sitting in my car in a parking lot in downtown Lawrence I happened to notice an unusual aircraft heading in a north easterly direction. My training is in cognitive psychology and I no doubt lack the background and vocabulary to describe this object in precise terms, so please bear with me. Fortunately, my training and background did provide me with the good sense to sketch the object immediately after seeing it.
The overall shape of the object was roughly similar to that of a crescent wrench. The end-portions were like different sized semi-circles, with the one at the nose being smaller and perhaps less 'closed' than the one aft. The portion connecting the two crescents, or the 'handle-part' to continue the crescent-wrench metaphor, was oblong--perhaps something like a cigar, the extreme aft portion of which extended slightly into the inside of the crescent and was rounded. The end 'points' of the aft crescent seemed to have rounded objects attached or were perhaps rounded themselves as if there were engines (?) or something at those points. I cannot estimate speed or altitude reliably. I might hazard to guess that it was roughly the same size as a commercial jet. It appeared to be a dull black or dark-grey colored-- not the shiny metalic surface of commercial jets. It did seem to have a noise of some sort, but it wasn't very loud and I did not notice any visible exhaust or vapor; however, I don't recall now if the sky were overcast or not, which perhaps could mask a vapor trail (?). If it were, it must have been below any significant amount of haze or cloud vapor because I could see it clearly. Although it was 6:22 pm, it was still early enough to be seen easily. I did not notice any lights. The object moved outside of my view after a few seconds (10-15?) due to buildings around me.
What struck me as odd, was that the semi-circle or crescent on the front was opened in the direction of travel, i.e. the 'points,' if you will, of the semi-circle on the front of the 'fuselage(?),' pointed in the direction of travel. Perhaps this is not unusual in aviation today, but it is counter-intuitive to the casual observer.
I should also note that Lawrence is about 50 miles or so south/south west of Kansas City Internationl (MCI) airport. We are also about 100 miles east of Ft. Riley, a military base. I assume that this is some kind of new military plane or something, but the fact that no one else I showed my sketch to (non-military, non-aviation folks such as as myself) had ever seen one made me think I should report it. I also did a google search and was interested in the account of the engineer from Huntsville, AL who posted on your site in June of 2003. I was very interested in comparing my sketch to his if what I describe here is not a currently identifiable aircraft.
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Off
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Lawrence
USA
approx. 15 sec.
approx. 15 sec.
38.97
-95.25
other
KS
Occurred : 10/15/2004 18:22 (Entered as : 10/15/1904 18:22) Reported: 10/24/2004 10:56:43 AM 10:56 Posted: 10/27/2004 Location: Lawrence, KS Shape: Other Duration: approx. 15 sec.
Object with crescent-shaped 'nose' flew in direction of the opened side (i.e. with pointed ends of crescent leading)