NUFORC Sighting 25585

Occurred: 1990-07-01 14:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2002-10-14 20:16 Pacific
Duration: 15 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Victoria (Canada), BC, Canada

Shape: Oval


Uh, date is very approximate. It happened within a year of the summer of 1990. Event occurred mid-afternoon on a bright, clear summer day over the city of Victoria, B.C., Canada. I was in a backyard, in the city, looked up and noticed, flying directly overhead, apparently very high up, an object. It flew right over the city. It was roughly football-shaped. Both ends were the same, and more rounded than a football.

Its shape was approximately a marriage between a football and a watermelon. Oblong. It looked sort of like a pod. Very symetrical.

It had smooth, distinct, well-defined boundaries. Definitely an object - a craft - and obviously artificial. And it definitely had no wings.

Its surface appearance was a light...dull...silvery...metallic. But... I dunno. The surface seemed to my eyes somehow...a bit odd. Not blurry.

It was quite clear and distinct. And yet...I couldn't seem to see the surface of it clearly. So it confused me some. I wondered: what was I seeing? The object was flying too high to make out any surface detail. It appeared to be featureless. I saw absolutely no evidence of any wings, nor windows, nor anything that would have allowed me to know that it was some sort of aircraft.

It was utterly unlike any aircraft I had ever seen, or ever have seen. And it was *really* moving. In fact, it startled me, how fast it appeared to be flying.

I said, to two other people who were with me, "What is that?" I pointed up at it. They both looked up, and they both also saw the object.

One of my friends suggested that it was a "cruise missile". (Like he could immediately see for himself that it was not an airplane or a jet.) (Some cruise missile testing has been conducted in Canada, but I doubt that any such tests have occurred over Vancouver Island.) I said no, cruise missiles are long, like cigars. That is definitely *not* a cruise missile. It looked to be totally the wrong shape, and far too large to be a missile, and it was also flying way too high, and travelling too fast. Usually cruise missiles travel close to the ground. The object I saw was at very high altitude.

Several things about that object have left a lasting impression.

(1) It appeared to be flying very high. I would estimate that its altitude was likely several kilometers.

(2) It appeared to be *big*. I guessed that it was probably approximately the size of a small house. I got the impression from observing it that its body was much larger than the body of any aircraft I'd ever seen. I've been around Hercules transport, and even flown on one.

They are quite large aircraft. So I konw their size. The body on this thing looked to be a lot fatter than a Herc's. This is guessing, as you can understand, because I was seeing this thing from a considerable distance. But right above me, on a clear day. Its size would naturally depend on its distance. But what my brain was telling me was: it was big, and very high up.

(3) It was also really moving. I guessed that it was probably travelling at approximately Mach 2. It was in sight for only about 15 seconds.

In that time it travelled all the way overhead. It was just racing across the sky, at several degrees of angular travel, per second.

It was definitely *not* a meteorite. No glow, and it looked definitely *constructed*. I could see it very clearly.

I saw first it when it was almost directly overhead. I was just stretching or something, looked up, and bingo. I'd say it was moving at about 5 degrees of arc per second. Fast.

If the object I saw was at high altitude - several kilometers up - and it did appear to be, very high up, that means that it was going pretty fast.

Probably supersonic.

(4) It was totally silent. That struck as me as strange. I was listening intently for some engine sound, or possibly even a sonic boom.

Because I thought it was probably flying faster than the speed of sound. So I naturally expected to hear something, maybe even a boom.

But I heard: *nothing*. Just silence. It didn't make a sound. I heard from it not even the faintest whisper of an engine. Just silence.

So I thought: whoa. That is pretty weird. Why can't I hear that thing? And I was really pondering then. There's this...high performance craft of some sort, flying high up, probably at close to Mach 2, yet it is *silent*.

And I wondered, how can any aircraft move that fast, apparently supersonically, yet make *no* sound? I kept listening. I heard no engine sound; no boom, no anything. It just seemed so strange.

But it also *looked* weird. Like a football. Something with no wings. Flying.

(5) And no contrail. No hint of any conventional engine. It was flying along like it was propelled by magic.

For those several reasons - its apparent size (big), its shape (weird, round, no wings), it's apparent altitude (very high up), its apparent velocity (fast), but especially its acoustic stealth...it all kind of spooked me. I thought: wow, whatever that is, it's *really* different. If it's some sort of experimental aircraft, some new kind of jet, that a human pilot is flying, then it must have a pretty wickedly *different* engine in it. Powerful, for one thing.

Because it seemed to be really travelling overhead, and effortlessly. I'd gues that even the most advanced scram(?) engines that are capable of pushing an aircraft that fast, or faster (even to Mach 5), must make a lot of *noise*, yes? I kept wondering, as I stared at it, what kind of airplane looks like a football, has no wings and is *silent*? I just kept staring up at it in awe.

Now, bear in mind, I am a skeptic. I think a lot of the reports are due to either intoxication or imagination or are just bull. But my report is sincere.

I have attended university and I have worked in a scientific field. (Earth physics.) I have studied science. (Physics.) I'm a very logical person. I do not believe easily. I always want *evidence* before I believe something. But on that sunny summer day...I figure that I got some evidence, with my own eyes. Enough. I saw something really strange in the sky. Enough to warrant a report, I think.

To this day I have a lot of difficulty believing that what I saw that summer day, about 12 years ago, flying high overhead, was designed and built by humans. Because every time I've seen an aircraft flying overhead - even if it's flying at 35,000 feet - I can always *hear* something.

Always. I used to listen to jets flying over the North Pole, way up. Intercontinental jets on their way from South Korea to Europe, or the other way, over the pole. (We were on their flight path. I was posted at a weather station up there for a while.) And I could always hear the jets flying over, no matter how high they were. Even when one was just a tiny dot in the sky. Even then. Always. And I could always see wings on it. Moreover, I could always see their contrails. Hot gases condense, cool, and form clouds behind the jets, when they're high up. Hot gas plus cold air leave a trail. But this thing left no trail. Apparently very high up, in the atmosphere, yet no sound from it, and no trail. No wings. An absolutely quiet football, passing quickly right overhead. It was rather spooky, in fact.

And perhaps more importantly, the many jets I've seen fly overheard - at approximately, apparently, the same altitude - were not moving nearly as fast as the thing I saw that day appeared to be moving. Jets travelling at around 35,000 feet and at roughly 3/4 the speed of sound move across the sky rather slowly. They just kind of creep along. They move at maybe one degree or so of arc per second. Ballpark.

So it takes them about a full minute from the time you can first see them until they are out of sight. So call that 180 degrees, from horizon to horizon. Divide that by 60 seconds, that is roughly 3 degrees of arc per second, give or take.

The object I saw that day covered about 90 degrees in only about 15 seconds. That's roughly 6 degrees per second, or twice as fast.

If it was indeed flying at the very high altitude that I thought it was flying, that means that it was travelling at something like 1200 or 1400 miles per hour, or almost Mach 2. Almost certainly faster than the speed of sound. Should be a shock wave from that. So logic told me, that thing should create a sonic *boom*. I knew it had a powerful engine, pushing it - it had to be, to go that fast - so I should hear some sort of sonic bang. And if was flying at a *lower* altitude than I thought it is, then it should definitely be able to hear its engine.

But what did I hear? I heard nothing. I heard absolutely *nothing* from it. Not a blessed sound.

So I was getting kind of weirded out about this, you know. I was trying to make all the pieces fit, logically, in my mind, and they just wouldn't fit.

I had no way to objectively know that object's true size or altitude or speed. And I realize that they all factor together. If I was wrong about its altitude, then I'd be wrong about its speed, and also about its size. But I saw it very distinctly, quite clearly, for a good many seconds, and I was studying it. I think my gut instincts are pretty good. My hearing is pretty good, too. I did not hear a whisper from that thing.

Not a whisper. Just silence.

Then after it was gone, I began to reason it out. (Or tried to.) OK. I just saw something that had no wings. Definitely no wirngs. Yet...it was flying.

OK. That's pretty weird but...a high performance jet that has no wings.... Hey, they make them every day. In fact, there are some craft we've built that have hardly any wings. (For example, the space shuttle has hardly any wings.) This thing that I saw - I am sure - had no wings at all.

None. A flying football. But also.... No engine sound. Ergo, no engine, either. And to me, that's altogether another matter. No wings is one thing.

No engine is...whoa. Over the line.

And that is why, despite my healthy skepticism, I have some *doubt* that humans built the thing with no wings that I saw that day, high up in the sky, and moving very fast. It bothers me. I still can't make all the pieces. Unless we didn't build it. Then...everything fits.

Years later I read and heard about an object that apparently flew right *under* (and close to) a British passenger airliner, as it was crossing the Atlantic Ocean. At some considerable risk to his career, that pilot bravely (and officially) reported a UFO that I believe was of similar size and shape, to my object. I believe he reported something that was shaped approximately like a watermelon, or a football, i.e. round? And *big*. Bigger than his airliner. And he said it was also travelling a lot faster. He estimated it was moving at least twice as fast as him.

It just whizzed by him. Now that would mean that it was moving faster than the speed of sound. He was going maybe 500 or 600 mph, so it was going roughly 1,000 or 1,200 mph. Maybe even 1400 mph. He said it passed right under him! So he expected to feel some turbulence from it, but in their statements, he and his co-pilot both said that they felt *nothing*. Not even a bump.

They also reported that they heard *nothing*. That the object that passed by them was silent.

Now, I believe that pilot indeed saw what he claimed that he saw. After what I saw, I believe him. And it's occurred to me that that sighting (a fairly respectable sighting) - by two professional airline pilots (who had a lot to lose by reporting what they saw) - matches up reasonably well with what I saw with my own eyes, from a distance of several kilometers, about 12 years ago.

In both cases, it was something *big*. It was round, and fast, and silent. I think *I* have seen that one, too. Maybe I saw the same craft, or type of craft, as they saw. There is bound to be some overlap in the appearance reported, if they are real. If at least one is real.

Whatever it is, I know - for pretty sure - that it's something approximately as big as a house, and it can move very fast - definitely supersonically - and yet it evidently does not disturb the atmosphere around it, and therefore it makes no sound. Somehow, it just slices through the air without creating any turbulence or wake or chaotic vortex behind it. It can move faster than sound, without creating a sonic boom. Its propulsion system Is, I can verify, dead silent. Now...you tell me, please, what sort of aircraft we (humans) have built that could possibly fit that description.

Because I'm not aware of any. And I suspect that not even the U.S. military are aware of any. Unless they do know, about those things, and they're keeping their mouths shut. Maybe to keep our sensitive brains from overloading. :) I suspect that it will be a very long time before *we* know how to build something like what I saw. Whatever it was, it just kissed the sky, a nice silent kiss. I would call it the ultimate in graceful flying machine. Thinking back now, on what I observed, during those few seconds...

I'd have to say that it was not only impressive, but beautiful. Somehow...elegant. Such a remarkable craft! To fly without any wings! Wow! If you ever saw it, I know it would be enough to make your jaw drop, when you witnessed it for yourself, zipping along, lickety-split, and passing quickly overhead, silently, like God throwing a silver football. You don't hear a thing. That's pretty neat.

I suppose the whole subject of UFOs alarms some people. But if I may speak to the issue of fear. Personally I regard it as unwarranted. Or at the very least, as unhelpful. It can only cloud our thinking on the issue. Of whether or not some extraterrestrial intelligence does indeed exist in the proximity of the Earth. I don't know if it does. It may.

They don't scare me. I never felt scared, or alarmed. Instead, I felt...awe. I remember feeling just very impressed. And I still feel that way, all these years later. As the amusing Pat Paulsen once said, there is nothing to fear, except fear itself. And of course, the bogeyman! :) I figure that if "they" are up there, cruising around, as though our atmosphere is their playground and race track, they are probably not bugs, or critters, like us. They are probably not green, or grey. They are probably not even alive, in the same sense that we use that term.

My own personal speculation (if I may be allowed that here) is that the pilot onboard that quite incredible craft I saw (if not human, and if that craft was not of human design) was probably the equivalent of a very advanced robot. Maybe I saw a probe. Something...probably self-repairing, highly intelligent, and autonomous.

Perhaps - I merely speculate here, because I *doubt* that we made the thing I saw - the pilot and the craft were one and the same. Maybe I saw one of the same sorts of things that weve sent out, to explore other planets. Unmanned. Yet still capable of doing a lot. But a *lot* more sophisticated, and a lot more capable. Maybe - just maybe - *one* of their probes, centuries or even thousands or perhaps even millions of years ago, found a planet with bugs on it. So it set about building more probes, using materials it found here, and now they are *all* busy studying us. :) I don't know. I'm just throwing that out as the most "reasonable" explanation, as I see it, if there *is* (indeed) something of an extraterrestrial nature in or around our atmosphere, and present there fairly often. There certainly do seem to be a lot of sightings, including a large percentage that some from very reasonable and responsible people, who have no interest in hoaxing anyone.

If you don't believe me, fine. But I *know* what I saw.

As I see, "machine" intelligence (only) would get around the long flight time problem. Let's suppose that matter indeed *cannot* travel faster than light, so even their fastest spacecraft travel at "less than". A robot probably wouldn't care how many centuries it took to reach another star.

Even if it took 10,000 years for it to get from there to here, so what? A well-designed, very advanced, sophisticated, intelligent, self-repairing probe could still be in perfect working order after many centuries, or even thousands of years. In fact, in theory, even a million years could pass, and it could still be fully functional. That would violate none of the laws of physics.

I'm not a UFO nut, at all. I actually have not a great amount of interest in it, because I think hard evidence will be very difficult to come by.

Basically if they're up there, I figure they're too smart and too fast for us. So doubtful we'll ever be able to capture one, or even real close to one.

But from all that I've read, and seen, of video clips of sightings - and there are now quite a number (including at least one video of things flitting around in space near rocket launches, caught on film)....

I'd humbly suggest to everyone that the behavior of those apparently ET vehicles that many have seen (maybe myself included) is probably best described (and understood) as the behavior of quite logical and advanced *machines*, rather than the behavior of living creatures.

They do not seem to much care what we think, do they? To my mind, that says: machines. Smart, analytical, but otherwise mostly devoid of sentiment.

In any event, if they *are* here (and I am not suggesting they are, because I don't know what I saw), they may "just" be doing science. Studying.

Collecting data. Curiosity is a trait we should easily understand. We - as a species - are very curious ourselves. We are already exploring other planets, too. I'm sure that if those craft are real, and alien in origin, and are piloted by "machines" (as I suggest), then those machine are still many times smarter than humans.

That is a logical assumption too, I think, because suppose they started exploring space "just" 100,000 years ago. In less than a hundred years, from now - and maybe in only a few decades - *we* will have machines that are much smarter than us. So...truly advanced (artificial) minds on those craft is not that hard to imagine. If you work it out, using carbon nanotubes and molecule-scale processors, one cubic centimeter of their processor cores could have approximately the processiong power of about a billion Pentium IVs processors. So an alien processor even a meter cubed would dwarf all of our computers, and maybe all of our minds as well.

Put in those terms, one of those ships wouldn't have much to worry about, in terms of being outsmarted, or outclassed.

As I see it, there is no inherent reason why even very advanced, intelligent probes should want or seek any direct or intentional contact with us.

That doesn't fit within the agenda of "study". Especially if we seem to them to be very primitive. And I wouldn't argue with them on that point.

We're still all pretty...duh. :) But even *if* that object I saw flying high overhead about 12 years ago was built in a plant somewhere right here on earth, by humans who get a paycheck for building neat stuff - I would say to the guys who built it (if I could): boys, congratuations! Your new airship is technology with a capital T.

I mean...first of all, it looks *alien*. It looks like...puh, Hollywood, move over. And on top of looking weird and ET-ish, you've managed to build something that's evidently about the size of a cottage, that has no wings, and it can zip through the earth's atmosphere at quite high altitudes, faster than a rifle bullet, and do it without making a sound. That's a pretty neat trick. Where did you get the design for it? :)



NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD


Posted 2002-10-15

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.