NUFORC Sighting 81076

Occurred: 2000-07-20 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2011-05-01 16:28 Pacific
Duration: 8 seconds
No of observers: 4

Location: South Padre Island, TX, USA

Shape: Oval

Bright amber light, very high speed, no sound or trail, east to west over Padre Island, summer 2000.

Summer of 2000, no exact date recalled. We were a small crew of contract Audio/video design/installers working at the new Brownsville Federal Courthouse. The crew consisted of Northern Alabama, Southern West Virginia working class, slightly technical males. I was a degreed, technically savvy programmer in charge of the crew. I have had a lifelong interest in UFO’s but remain a skeptic of extraterrestrial explanations.

We were staying at a beachfront hotel on South Padre Island. While having cocktails on the surf-side deck after sundown I was showing the guys how to spot orbiting satellites. The night was clear and still. Satellites were easy to spot as the night was young. They were surprised it could be done with the naked eye.

Shortly one of the guys asked me if what he had spotted was a satellite. What he had spotted was an amber light in the shape of an oval (lozenge) flying from the gulf toward land. We were sitting facing the Gulf almost due east.

I first saw it about 30° to my left (facing east) and 40° from water horizon. The light was so clear and present I first thought it may be a streetlight reflecting off of the breast of a seagull. The direction appeared to be slightly northwest in a straight trajectory.

As the object continued it was temporarily out of sight by other hotels as it crossed over the coastline. The distance then seemed more apparent. It was at least many miles away with no trail or sound or sonic boom. The bright amber color was uniform and constant. While the altitude seemed no more than 35° from horizon from our standpoint, it could have been at any altitude depending on the distance from us. What makes this exceptional in my opinion is the fact that it crossed 45° of my visual in about 8 seconds at a minimum of 5 or more miles distance.

It came in and was first spotted out over the Gulf of Mexico, had passed to the left of us and continued on to the back of us in 8 seconds. Later looking at a national map and just estimating locations and observed directions, it seemed to be on a path that would have passed over Del Rio, TX. And if continued, on toward Southern California.

I guestimated the speed to be from 5,000 to 15,000 miles per hour depending on estimated distances and altitudes combined with the 8 second time interval and the 90° beginning and end of the sighting. I personally think it was a military device.

Posted 2011-05-02