Monitored radio report of crashed object on fire, "meteors"
On the evening of 09/14/2011 I was sitting on my deck, watching the sky. I was also listening to a scanner radio, as I had seen a USAF C-17 from March ARB circling overhead and was trying to pick up radio comms from March field.
About 2030 hours I heard a dispatcher from the Riverside County Sheriff's Dept. calling their helicopter to investigate a report of a downed aircraft in the Lake Elsinore area. The dispatcher told the pilot that a motorist on the freeway had seen an orange object, apparently on fire and leaving a trail of fire, pass over their vehicle and crash behind a ridge, where it was now starting a brush fire, as the sky was starting to glow orange. A ground unit was also sent to check the area. The pilot acknowledged and reported a 7 minute ETA.
On arrival, the pilot checked the area and reported to dispatch that he could not locate any object or fire. He added that he had used FLIR as well, and that he was not NVG equipped, and requested furt! her information. The dispatcher advised that there was a helicopter reported overdue from Hawthorne airport, but no other information. She added that dispatch was receiving numerous reports of “meteors” in the same area as the alleged crash. The pilot and ground unit both reported that they could find no signs of a crash or fire and cleared the call.
I am reporting this in case you receive any reports from the Lake Elsinore area for this time frame. I did not observe any meteor s while I was watching the sky that evening, and I was facing south towards the area of the reports. The sky was fairly clear with a few high clouds. There was thunderstorm activity to the northeast over the desert areas.
On the evening of 09/14/2011 I was sitting on my deck, watching the sky. I was also listening to a scanner radio, as I had seen a USAF C-17 from March ARB circling overhead and was trying to pick up radio comms from March field.
About 2030 hours I heard a dispatcher from the Riverside County Sheriff's Dept. calling their helicopter to investigate a report of a downed aircraft in the Lake Elsinore area. The dispatcher told the pilot that a motorist on the freeway had seen an orange object, apparently on fire and leaving a trail of fire, pass over their vehicle and crash behind a ridge, where it was now starting a brush fire, as the sky was starting to glow orange. A ground unit was also sent to check the area. The pilot acknowledged and reported a 7 minute ETA.
On arrival, the pilot checked the area and reported to dispatch that he could not locate any object or fire. He added that he had used FLIR as well, and that he was not NVG equipped, and requested furt! her information. The dispatcher advised that there was a helicopter reported overdue from Hawthorne airport, but no other information. She added that dispatch was receiving numerous reports of “meteors” in the same area as the alleged crash. The pilot and ground unit both reported that they could find no signs of a crash or fire and cleared the call.
I am reporting this in case you receive any reports from the Lake Elsinore area for this time frame. I did not observe any meteor s while I was watching the sky that evening, and I was facing south towards the area of the reports. The sky was fairly clear with a few high clouds. There was thunderstorm activity to the northeast over the desert areas.
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Lake Elsinore
USA
15 minutes
15 minutes
33.66
-117.34
fireball
CA
Occurred : 9/14/2011 20:30 (Entered as : 09/14/11 20:30) Reported: 9/15/2011 10:57:21 AM 10:57 Posted: 10/10/2011 Location: Lake Elsinore, CA Shape: Fireball Duration: 15 minutes Characteristics: The object left a trail, The object landed
Monitored radio report of crashed object on fire, "meteors"