NUFORC Sighting 181243

Occurred: 2024-04-17 08:45 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2024-04-23 14:23 Pacific
Duration: At most 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Aalborg, , Denmark
Location details: In the air, onboard a British Airways flight from Stockholm to London

Shape: Cigar
Color: White
Estimated Size: A Boeing 787, probably bigger.
Viewed From: Aircraft
Direction from Viewer: WSW. If me looking straight ahead is 360 and straight left is 270, I saw it at 340-300 degrees.
Angle of Elevation: 40
Closest Distance: Less than 10 miles.
Estimated Speed: VERY fast for a passenger jet.
Explanation: Aircraft - Possible

A large craft crossed our path at slightly lower altitude. Could have been an airplane, but lacked markings and was VERY fast.

Time of day approximately 8:45AM Central European Time. I was sitting at a window on the left side of the plane, over the front end of the wing. It was cloudy beneath us. I was looking out the window to spot any landmarks, but it was too cloudy; my location estimate - northern Jutland in Denmark - is based solely on flight time and route. Suddenly, a large craft, AT LEAST the size of a Boeing 787 or Airbus A380 comes flying from right to left, under our flight path, crossing where we would be at most a minute later. Its flight path was straight, and it departed at about a 75 degree angle from our flight path. Its elevation was at most 1,000 feet below us.

The craft could have been a very large airplane, but here is why I am not sure about that. First, the speed. I compared the speed to two passenger jets I saw later during the same flight, adjusting for elevation and distance. Given the distance to this craft, I was struck by how fast it flew. It "felt" abnormal. Secondly, the color and lack of markings. It was all white, and there were no markings whatsoever on its body. Nothing to indicate that it belonged to an airline. If it had a tailfin, it did not catch my eyes, which means that if there was one, it must have been all white and drowned out by the clouds in the background. But I don't remember seeing one. Third, I did not see any wings. Again, the same caveat as with the tailfin; if this was a white airplane, its shape could have been distorted by the sunlight and the background. Fourth, the size: given the distance, if this was an airplane it was AT LEAST as large as the biggest passenger jets out there.

To sum up: it was large, long, tube-shaped, and very fast.

I saw no windows. It could have been a cargo plane, but the trajectory of the craft and the elevation at no more than 1,000 feet below us, put it in dangerously close proximity to us. This makes me doubt it was an airplane. If it was, someone at air traffic control made a very big mistake that day.

Posted 2024-04-27