NUFORC Sighting 126651

Occurred: 2016-04-01 19:30 Local
Reported: 2016-04-01 20:43 Pacific
Duration: 45 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Goodyear, AZ, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Left a trail

Was heading North this evening with my wife and son shortly after sundown, when we noticed a fireball at about 45 degrees in the direction of true north (about 11 degrees east of magnetic north here). It was a funny orange color, round and had a moderately long tail of fire the same color. Once the object got to around 20 degrees, it stopped and just hung there for about 15 seconds then disappeared.

To be fair, Luke AFB is off in roughly the same direction at about 10 miles from this location, and the Thunderbirds are in town, however I have never seen an aircraft at night with fire coming out of its tail, drop straight down and stop mid air, sit there and disappear. Since we are on the outskirts of the city we also see our share of meteors and I have never witnessed one doing anything remotely similar.

Posted 2016-04-15