2007-07-03 - Columbia, MO - Cigar

Black cigar shaped object flying north of Columbia, Missouri on 7/3/07.

Driving home from work on my motorcycle, I noticed a bird with its wings tucked in that seemed to be using a warm updraft to keep itself floating in a semi-stationary position. I looked back at the road and looked up again thinking that I had never seen a bird able to keep afloat for that amount of time without utilizing its wings. As I stared longer I realized it was not a bird at all. In fact it was something that I could not explain. I seem to want to compare it to a submarine that was flying. Or maybe a missile, due to its shape. It was black and long and thin, similar to a cigar. It seemed to have small fins sticking out of its sides. Again I was on my motorcycle and so I could not here any sounds, nor did I see any lights. Its movement was not that of a rocket, because it did not move in a linear manner. I would liken its movement to someone holding it on a string and pulling it up and down, and if it weren’t for the height of the object in the sky, roughly 500 feet, and location, over a heavily wooded area, I would swear someone was holding it up on a fishing line. It slowly moved north and soon was out of my view. I am a former airman in the U.S Air Force and have seen lots of crazy flying machines, but this was like nothing I have ever seen before.