NUFORC Sighting 16071

Occurred: 1999-08-01 20:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2001-01-27 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2-3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Rialto, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted other objects

slow moving object burning and dropping pieces of burning material

My apologies for submitting this form twice but the first date I gave was wrong. It was a little over a year ago, in 1999, not 2000. sorry I've never thought of this as a UFO experience but I'm watching a UFO-sightings show on the Travel Channel and one of the things that people in the show had video taped in Florida is the exact thing that I saw from my backyard. I had borrowed a night vision scope from a friend and I was playing with it in my backyard just after the sun had set. I often look at the night-time sky and I live right under the approach path of Ontario airport. Looking north/north-west over my rooftop I saw a sputtering light which looked like something burning fiercely, like magnesium, but not as bright. It was moving too slowly (in my opinion) to be a jetliner, and it wasn't losing any altitude. When I saw it I wasn't looking throught the night-vision scope but the magnitude diminished quickly and I began using the scope which had magnification as well as light-amp. Through the scope I could see the sputtering light very well and before it stopped I saw at least two to three small flare-type objects fall from it. This is when I realized that the main thing was moving very slowly, like a blimp or something. The "flares" would vanish within a couple of seconds and were not nearly as bright as the main light, and shortly after they dropped from the main part the whole thing sort of faded away until nothing was visible through the scope or without the scope. I kept looking for something in that direction for 30-45 minutes and saw nothing.and at no time did I see any structure attatched to any of the lights. All of this, in my estimation, was taking place at about 2000 feet in altitude and I think about 20-30 miles away, possibly over the high desert to the northwest of Wrightwood. I must say however that my ability to estimate values, distances, and altitudes has never been great. I expected to see something in the paper the next day about a airplane/military accident or even on the news shows that night, but nothing ever came of it. So, there it is, I hope this helps. I would be more than happy to attempt to submit a mor! e detail ed report if you like. I'm only sorry I didn't think more of it when it happened, and I could draw from a fresh memory. Thanks. By the way, I was reading some of the local reports and there is one in Fontana about 10 years ago- a red light 300-500 feet up- stationary, as rain clouds passed by it didnt move...yadda yadda.. Myself and a buddy saw a bunch of people out of their cars in slight rain and looking up, so we stopped and saw that red light. But quite frankly think it was a light attatched to a kite or something.. but who knows.

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. The witness may be describing the dramatic event that was seen from Oregon, California, Nevada, and Utah on 01SE99. The event may have been caused by re-entering space debris, but we are not certain of that. The report does not indicate which direction the objects were traveling, relative to the observer. PD

Posted 2001-02-18