High Altitude balloon at 50,000 feet MSL
Hello Mr. Davenport, At approximately 11 am Pacific 1800 GMT from our backyard in Gig Harbor, WA, we saw an object high and to the west reflecting silver in the sunlight. It appeared to be 50,000 ft+ MSL altitude and drifting from west to east. I assume it was somewhere over the southern Olympic Peninsula. I went into the house and got my camera with a telephoto lens and took a closer look and it revealed to be something like a high altitude research balloon.
I am a professional pilot with 50+ years in commercial aviation and 17000 hours of flight time. I send this to you so as to give my opinion of what I saw in case you receive similar reports of this object in the sky.
I look forward to your weekly reports on Coast to coast AM. But, I am a little bummed out in that I thought this was going to be my first ever UFO sighting.
Best regards,
Hello Mr. Davenport, At approximately 11 am Pacific 1800 GMT from our backyard in Gig Harbor, WA, we saw an object high and to the west reflecting silver in the sunlight. It appeared to be 50,000 ft+ MSL altitude and drifting from west to east. I assume it was somewhere over the southern Olympic Peninsula. I went into the house and got my camera with a telephoto lens and took a closer look and it revealed to be something like a high altitude research balloon.
I am a professional pilot with 50+ years in commercial aviation and 17000 hours of flight time. I send this to you so as to give my opinion of what I saw in case you receive similar reports of this object in the sky.
I look forward to your weekly reports on Coast to coast AM. But, I am a little bummed out in that I thought this was going to be my first ever UFO sighting.
Best regards,
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Gig Harbor
USA
10 minutes
10 minutes
47.33
-122.62
other
WA
Occurred : 4/17/2020 11:00 (Entered as : 04/17/2020 11:00) Reported: 4/17/2020 1:35:32 PM 13:35 Posted: 6/25/2020 Location: Gig Harbor, WA Shape: Other Duration: 10 minutes
High Altitude balloon at 50,000 feet MSL. ((NUFORC Note: Possibly a high-altitude, helium-filled research balloon?? PD))