UFO/UAV Sighting in North Carolina Time: 10:01 PM (22:01) Eastern Time Location: Morrisville, North Carolina Corner of Chapel Hill Rd/Hwy 54 and Green Drive Sky Conditions: Clear, excellent visibility, ceiling clear to tens of thousands of feet, some stars visible.
Occurred while driving southeast on Hwy 54. Stopped and photographed the craft at this location using an iPhone 7.
This craft was in close proximity to RDU International airport flying perpendicular to the main runways at a distance of approximately three nautical miles.
My friend, who was in my car with me, immediately called Air Traffic Control at RDU to report the incident. The tower should have had a visual on the craft as well as on radar. The info was taken, but we have no information as to any observations made at the airport.
UFO/UAV craft configuration: A flying wing with two white and one red light. The red light was in the center, with the two white lights at equal-distance at each end. The craft was moving away from us. We were tracking it from the rear. It was flying directly before us, above the road and on the same track.
We could not see additional shape details. It basically looked like a straight line with three lights. It appeared to be flying very slowly. There was no discernible noise you would expect from an aircraft flying away from you. I want to stress, at the first sighting, it was not some distant blip far off in the sky. It appeared to be a very large, low flying plane at a close distance.
Now, seeing aircraft constantly at RDU, everything from small commuter planes to Jumbo jets, I report the following — The craft was of immense size, frightfully immense, dwarfing anything I have ever seen. It is hard to evaluate the size accurately without a firm reference to distance. It did not have standard navigation red/white/green lights, nor landing lights. No strobes lights. No pulsing of its lights, just the three steady lights as previously mentioned. This is a high traffic take-off and landing pattern area. No conventional aircraft would be flying in this area without strobes, nav-lights and landing lights full on. It would be an FAA violation and a severe hazard unless it was in communication ATC and had clearance.
The sighting was as follows: We were headed south on Airport Blvd and turned left onto Chapel Hill Rd/Hwy 54 in a southeast direction. I noticed what I momentarily thought were aircraft lights forward and above us at a close distance. I immediately realized it was not a conventional airplane and said to my friend, “That’s a UFO.” She scoffed, looking at the three lights and assumed it was three airplanes. She then realized, as I had, that this was a single craft and there was structure between the lights. She yelled to me to, “Pull over, pull over and take a picture!” I had to drive, watch this thing, and find a safe place to pull over. As you will see in the photo that I did manage to get, there were other cars on the road. This is not some deserted country lane in the middle of nowhere. She, in the excitement, was unable to find her phone buried in her backpack fast enough. And is now giving me grief that I didn’t put the phone in video mode.
After I got the photo, we followed down the road trying to get to a more open view. This is an Eastern US road with trees on both sides and the leaves are still on. While she kept it in view for a short while, less than a minute, it was then lost in the trees and horizon. She immediately called RDU Air Traffic Control to report the sighting. At the time of this writing, the incident occurred six and one-half hours ago.
About me: I am a licensed private pilot for many years. In years past, I had flown my airplane to/from RDU. I had a professional news reporting background.
Occurred while driving southeast on Hwy 54. Stopped and photographed the craft at this location using an iPhone 7.
This craft was in close proximity to RDU International airport flying perpendicular to the main runways at a distance of approximately three nautical miles.
My friend, who was in my car with me, immediately called Air Traffic Control at RDU to report the incident. The tower should have had a visual on the craft as well as on radar. The info was taken, but we have no information as to any observations made at the airport.
UFO/UAV craft configuration: A flying wing with two white and one red light. The red light was in the center, with the two white lights at equal-distance at each end. The craft was moving away from us. We were tracking it from the rear. It was flying directly before us, above the road and on the same track.
We could not see additional shape details. It basically looked like a straight line with three lights. It appeared to be flying very slowly. There was no discernible noise you would expect from an aircraft flying away from you. I want to stress, at the first sighting, it was not some distant blip far off in the sky. It appeared to be a very large, low flying plane at a close distance.
Now, seeing aircraft constantly at RDU, everything from small commuter planes to Jumbo jets, I report the following — The craft was of immense size, frightfully immense, dwarfing anything I have ever seen. It is hard to evaluate the size accurately without a firm reference to distance. It did not have standard navigation red/white/green lights, nor landing lights. No strobes lights. No pulsing of its lights, just the three steady lights as previously mentioned. This is a high traffic take-off and landing pattern area. No conventional aircraft would be flying in this area without strobes, nav-lights and landing lights full on. It would be an FAA violation and a severe hazard unless it was in communication ATC and had clearance.
The sighting was as follows: We were headed south on Airport Blvd and turned left onto Chapel Hill Rd/Hwy 54 in a southeast direction. I noticed what I momentarily thought were aircraft lights forward and above us at a close distance. I immediately realized it was not a conventional airplane and said to my friend, “That’s a UFO.” She scoffed, looking at the three lights and assumed it was three airplanes. She then realized, as I had, that this was a single craft and there was structure between the lights. She yelled to me to, “Pull over, pull over and take a picture!” I had to drive, watch this thing, and find a safe place to pull over. As you will see in the photo that I did manage to get, there were other cars on the road. This is not some deserted country lane in the middle of nowhere. She, in the excitement, was unable to find her phone buried in her backpack fast enough. And is now giving me grief that I didn’t put the phone in video mode.
After I got the photo, we followed down the road trying to get to a more open view. This is an Eastern US road with trees on both sides and the leaves are still on. While she kept it in view for a short while, less than a minute, it was then lost in the trees and horizon. She immediately called RDU Air Traffic Control to report the sighting. At the time of this writing, the incident occurred six and one-half hours ago.
About me: I am a licensed private pilot for many years. In years past, I had flown my airplane to/from RDU. I had a professional news reporting background.
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Morrisville
USA
7 minutes
7 minutes
35.83
-78.85
chevron
NC
Occurred : 10/31/2018 22:01 (Entered as : 10/31/2018 22:01) Reported: 11/1/2018 10:13:06 AM 10:13 Posted: 11/9/2018 Location: Morrisville, NC Shape: Chevron Duration: 7 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
I noticed what I momentarily thought were aircraft lights forward and above us at a close distance.