2012-11-19 - Saugerties, NY - Disk

Rocking, slow moving disk high in sky visible due to reflected sunlight

I was traveling south on the New York State Thruway between exits 20 (Saugerties) and 19 (Kingston). The sun was quite bright overhead - not visible to me. Ahead of me were high flying clouds approaching from the south (they then totally dispersed, on the trip back they were nowhere to be seen.) These were, again, HIGH flying clouds.

I was going 62 miles per hour (I know this because I watch my speedometer carefully and the car in front of me was a bit slower than usual). I had reached (approximately) the mid-way point (mile marker 96-95) between Saugerties and Kingston exits which are eight miles from one another. I’m unsure the exact direction since the road has many wide curves but it was the southbound lane (two lane thruway, I was in the right hand lane). It was approximately 11:50 AM (I checked the car clock a couple of minutes later at 11:54). I noticed a very bright, gleaming object reflecting sunlight. It appeared in the sky immediately to my left in front of me (impossible to know how high it was.) It was not low flying, it had no wings or rotors, and if it were at a cruising altitude of a commercial airliner, it would have been huge. It flew much higher than a small plane could or any helicopter, it was not a dirigible or anything easily identifiable. As directed, if I had to compare i! ts size to that of the sun (mid-day) it appeared flatter top and bottom, and perhaps 3/4 as wide.

It drifted "slowly" (in an easy manner) more toward the center of my windshield (this all took place in 7 to 10 seconds), stopped, rocked two times (like a plane rocking its wings) and slowly and smoothly went back to the original position. It was metallic (which caused the sun to reflect off it as I stated) and shaped rather like a disc (saucer). The road then curved widely and treed area came between me and that portion of the sky for several seconds (perhaps another eight) before I could get a glimpse of that piece of the sky again (which was extremely identifiable because of the formation of high flying clouds in an otherwise crystal blue sky). The object was no longer visible.

When I reached my destination and parked, it so happened that the formation of clouds was directly in my line of vision. I was able, standing still, to see that they were quite high. A commercial jetliner was climbing to cruising altitude (I am 40 miles from both Albany and Newburgh airports, so planes climbing are commonly seen). The plane appeared to be almost at cruising altitude and was quite high. It entered the cloud structures and I lost sight of it. I believe that the object I saw while driving also got "lost" into the cloud structure which explains why it was suddenly no longer visible (as the plane was suddenly no longer visible). This suggests to me that the object I saw was flying as high as, or close to, the altitude of the commercial jetliner (since the same formation of clouds provided cover for both, once entered).

The most interesting aspect was the "rocking," a lazy but precise maneuver, before it went back toward the direction where I had first seen it. It was oval, as I said, rather like ( ) but with brackets top/bottom and very bright due to reflected sunlight. It was obviously under control (the rocking indicates that to me) and was being deliberately maneuvered.


((NUFORC Note: We spoke with this witness, and she seemed to us to be quite eloquent and sincere in her description of her sighting. We suspect that she is a highly reliable witness. PD))