2020-05-20 - Pompano Beach, FL - Other

I witnessed a small, black, airborne object traveling south to north across Pompano Beach Airpark at a low altitude and moderate rate o

I’d just finished a walk around the Pompano Beach Airpark Bike Trail. The grounds encompass ±1,000 acres and include a public airport (PMP), Goodyear Blimp operations center, horse stables, outdoor shopping mall, municipal golf course and dog park.

My vehicle was parked in the public parking lot located at the southeast corner of the property, approximately 25-feet from a chain link fence that denotes the border of the airport grounds. I frequently park in that lot and have become accustomed to seeing aircraft take off from runways 28 and 33. The confluence of the runways is ±1,000-feet west of the fence line at that location. Airplanes that take off from runway 28 fly directly over the parking lot at a very low altitude.

The weather was clear and visibility was excellent. I had my (prescription) sunglasses on and was monitoring some thunderclouds that were forming off in the distance, to the west/northwest.

I was sitting on the tailgate of my truck, facing the airport. I’d just removed my shoes and was looking down at my feet when I heard an airplane making its way down the runway. I looked up to see a small prop plane that had just taken off from runway 33. It was headed south/southeast, moving right to left, and was ±50-feet off the ground when I focused in on it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an object at a higher altitude that was moving left to right, in the opposite direction of (i.e. towards) the airplane. From my vantage point, the object appeared to pass directly over the airplane. I thought to myself “the pilot must have seen that.” Because the object was much smaller than the airplane, I assumed that it was a helium filled party balloon. I looked away and thought how dangerous it was for something like that to be floating in the airspace of the airport.

Immediately, something didn’t sit right with me. I looked back, relocated and started tracking the object. I watched it very closely for ±5 seconds until it was out of my view. It definitely wasn’t an airplane, helicopter, balloon or any kind of drone that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what it was.

It stuck out like a sore thumb, thanks in part to the contrast provided by the backdrop of the thunderclouds that were forming in the distance, but more so in the way that it moved. It moved effortlessly and never varied in speed or altitude. It was as if the object was gliding on an invisible track or rail. Most curiously, it seemed to be tumbling, every which way. Nonetheless, its trajectory was in a perfectly straight line and it was moving much faster than the plane. It was surreal.

The shape of the object has proven difficult to describe. It had no discernible points, edges or sharp angels. Rather, everything was rounded and smooth. It was slightly oblong, kind of like if you squished a football from end to end.

- It was the size of a large trash can or 55-gallon drum; - It was flying at an altitude 2 to 3 times higher than the airplane; - It was moving 3 to 4 times faster than the airplane; - It was solid black and not reflective; - It didn’t have any windows, doors, seams or markings; - It didn’t have any lights or make any sound; - It didn’t have any props or rotors.

Although there were other cars in the parking lot, no one else was around. Presumably, they were out on the trail. There may have been people on the golf course who saw it, as it flew right over it and out of my view.

I pulled out of the parking lot at ±7:15 PM.