2007-05-11 - Williamsburg, VA - Cylinder

Large gray cylinder seen over James River near Williamsburg, Virginia.

I was riding my bicycle south on Treasure Island Road at 15:50 when I noticed a large cylindicral craft in the sky somewhat ahead of me. From my angle of view I estimate it was over the James River and aligned towards the SSE. Visibility was a little hazy, but otherwise conditions were very good ( I was wearing prescription, polarized sunglasses and they allow me to see through haze quite well). There were a few high, scattered clouds and I could tell the craft was below the clouds. At first I thought it was a jet airliner. This is a common enough sight in our area, so I really didn't give it much thought at first. But the longer I looked at it, the more I realized that it wasn't behaving the way an airliner would. For one thing, it was barely moving. An airliner would have traversed a good piece of sky in the time I watched it. The other odd thing is that I didn't see any wings or a tail section. It was a long cylineder, dull gray color and the body seemed to be marked by four, equidistant black lines. I stopped my bike to get a better look at it. Because this is the 400th anniversary of the Jamestowne settlement my next thought was that it was some kind of military aircraft (the POTUS is due to be here on Sunday and security is very high). But it was not a fighter craft, or a helicopter, or a dirigible, or anything else I could recognize. Off to my right I did see a low-flying miliatry helicopter near Jamestown Island, but it was moving away from my position. It was probably part of the security arrangements for the weekend's festivities. I kept my eye on the cylinder for another minute or so and then it just vanished! One moment it was there and the next it was gone. I scanned the sky for another couple of minutes, but there was nothing there. I don't know if it moved off faster than my eyes could track it, or whether it had indeed disappeared. It was quite extraordinary.