2017-03-27 - Sarasota, FL - Light

Large white light attached to black object flying low in sky

I was driving north on US 41 in Sarasota at around 8:30pm, when I spotted a bright white light low in the sky at my 10 o’clock position that did not appear not to be moving. This put it over Sarasota Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, depending on the distance it was from me.

Much too large to be a star, my first impression was it was a low flying aircraft like when you see the landing lights of a commercial jet on approach coming towards you, it will give the appearance of it hovering. The light in color was a bright silvery white not a yellowish white. I figured it was a large military jet out of MacDill AFB, since commercial traffic to Sarasota/ Bradenton Airport do not come from this direction.

I continued to watch it as best I could while I was driving as it really had my attention. The sky was dark over the western horizon but not black, more of a violet hue as the sun had not been down too long. I bring this up because as I continued to watch it I could actually make out a black shape behind the light, I have to say I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I rolled my window down and turned off my radio to see if I could hear an aircraft or helicopter, since I felt the object was close enough that I would be able to hear it. There was no noise.

Another thing that entered my mind was it might be a blimp or balloon, maybe some kind of promotional thing positioned over the water. All these thoughts ran through my head very quickly, maybe 15-30 seconds. As I continued to drive I would lose sight of it for a few seconds from time to time because of its low angle in the sky where buildings and trees started to obstruct my view. I thought about pulling over but there was really no place that would give me a better view. Anyone on the bay or waterfront would have had a perfect, unobstructed view.

After losing sight of the object/ light for a short time, it appeared still to my left ahead of me but much closer and now at a higher angle so much so I had to peer out my driver’s window to get a good view. I was still driving North and it was clear the object/ light was indeed moving and traveling due East. It crossed over the highway slightly in front of me, almost directly over me, where I lost sight of it temporally before I could again see it from my passenger window to my right. It continued to travel East at the same low attitude over what is a residential area. I want to point out from the time it passed over me and flew off to the East, I was only seeing the light and not the black object attached to it because that part of the sky was too dark. Suddenly another identical light appeared to the right of it very close and level. They were close enough for me to consider both lights were attached to the same object but it had to be huge. I don’t think a KC-135 a! t 500 feet would appear that large. At the low altitude it appeared to be traveling, it was just going too slow for any jet to stay airborne. Again, I heard no sound and saw no red and green navigation lights during the whole sighting.

The two white lights became very low on the horizon as they seemed to continue to travel off to the East and I eventually lost sight of them as I continued to drive North. I’m at a loss of what I could have seen. There is another sighting with a similar description that was submitted to this website that took place on the same night and time but in a town 80 miles northeast of Sarasota, Florida. My time of 8:30 is only an approximation and could have been a little before or after. Thank you for taking the time to read my report, I hope it is of some interest to you.