NUFORC Sighting 12591

Occurred: 2000-03-27 18:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2000-04-12 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 15 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

My first impression was that I was looking at 2 commercial jet airliners moving together, side by side with their spotlights on. When the 2 lights were almost overhead, the light on the left turned off. The bright light on the right continued on about 5 more seconds, and then it went out and the "running lights" came on. There was enough daylight for me to see that where the light on the right had been was a plane. But where the left light had been was nothing.

We live about 12 miles west of the municipal airport, so we see a lot of air traffic. A lot of the planes that I see flying over from east to west are displaying their bright white spotlights, and then it seems like once they reach altitude their spotlight goes out and then you see their blinking "running lights"; it's pretty obvious that it's a plane. Something in the sky caught my attention in the early evening a few weeks ago, and I looked up and saw a pair of very bright white lights, coming from the east and moving together to the west. There was a short distance between them and I felt sure that I was looking at two separate objects. My first impression was that I was looking at 2 commercial jet airliners moving together, side by side with their spotlights on. Their speed was not unlike other planes I see flying in the area; however, I don't often see 2 planes flying side by side like this. So I continued to watch them. When the 2 lights were almost overhead, the light on the left turned off ; like a big stadium light when it's turned off, it sort of faded out. I expected then to see the blinking running lights turn on, but they didn't. In fact, I didn't see any structure or lights in that space at all. The bright light on the right continued on about 5 more seconds, and then it went out and the running lights came on. There was enough daylight for me to see that where the light on the right had been was a plane. But where the left light had been was nothing. It was like this thing on the left was flying with the plane and then just disappeared. There were no other planes nearby. I was puzzled and wondered where the 'thing on the left' went, but I figured there must have been something there that I missed. Problem is, I haven't been able to forget about it.

Posted 2000-04-15