Yellow ball of light following a commercial airliner.
At approximately 9:20 p.m. on July 25, 2010, in El Paso, TX, I was on my apartment balcony observing an incoming commercial airliner flying from the east to west as it was making a descent to land at our local airport. The night sky was clear, other than the clouds in the north.
It is difficult to judge the airplane's altitude, though I could see its underside in detail. As the plane flew directly above my apartment complex, I noticed a yellow ball of light dart into a position behind the plane's tail where it began to follow the plane for about 4 seconds.
The ball of light was about the size of the airplane's tail section. The light did not seem to produce a noise, though it was difficult to know since I could only hear the sound of the plane's engines. After it trailed the plane for a short time, the ball of light veered off in a northerly direction, and at times flew erraticly (suddenly slowing down, then speeding up). I estimate the light was traveling at least twice as fast as the plane.
I continued to track the ball of light until it faded into the clouds in the north. It was obvious to me that this ball of light was not another airplane, considering it was not displaying blinking lights, nor was it at a safe distance between the plane I was observing. This incident has great significance to me, especially having read about the increase in "fireball" reports recently.
At approximately 9:20 p.m. on July 25, 2010, in El Paso, TX, I was on my apartment balcony observing an incoming commercial airliner flying from the east to west as it was making a descent to land at our local airport. The night sky was clear, other than the clouds in the north.
It is difficult to judge the airplane's altitude, though I could see its underside in detail. As the plane flew directly above my apartment complex, I noticed a yellow ball of light dart into a position behind the plane's tail where it began to follow the plane for about 4 seconds.
The ball of light was about the size of the airplane's tail section. The light did not seem to produce a noise, though it was difficult to know since I could only hear the sound of the plane's engines. After it trailed the plane for a short time, the ball of light veered off in a northerly direction, and at times flew erraticly (suddenly slowing down, then speeding up). I estimate the light was traveling at least twice as fast as the plane.
I continued to track the ball of light until it faded into the clouds in the north. It was obvious to me that this ball of light was not another airplane, considering it was not displaying blinking lights, nor was it at a safe distance between the plane I was observing. This incident has great significance to me, especially having read about the increase in "fireball" reports recently.
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El Paso
USA
1 minute
1 minute
31.78
-106.39
light
TX
Occurred : 7/25/2010 21:20 (Entered as : 7/25/10 21:20) Reported: 8/8/2010 7:13:05 PM 19:13 Posted: 8/24/2010 Location: El Paso, TX Shape: Light Duration: 1 minute Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Yellow ball of light following a commercial airliner.