2007-01-03 - Chambersburg, PA - Cylinder

Cylindrical aircraft with two bright, white lights at either end and a red light strobing between them

I was out on my back porch in rural PA when I saw a very bright light in the distance of what seemed to be a small aircraft. As it approached, I initially thought it was a helicopter because it was making a humming sound. As it got nearer though, the sound was not as loud as I would have expected as it first seemed to look like one of those Chinook twin-propellor helicopters.

It was cylindrical in shape, with a very bright, white light slightly above either end of the aircraft. In between the two lights, a red strobe light moved back and forth between the two. This was unusual for a helicopter, and it was also much larger and much quieter. It did not move particularly fast and it was relatively low to the ground, at typical helicopter altitude.

It was dark, but as it passed near the moon (it was nearly full) I tried to discern the rotating helicopter blades to reassure me, however I did not see any. This is also a remote area where we rarely ever see helicopters, particularly large Chinook ones. It passed by me and over my apartment to the point that I could not see or hear it any longer. From the time I first noticed the light to the point where it passed by was about 3 minutes in duration.