NUFORC Sighting 75486

Occurred: 2010-05-19 22:10 Local
Reported: 2010-05-20 23:26 Pacific
Duration: 6 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Sarasota, FL, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Red and Blue lights jerking across the sky and multiple helicopters circling the event during and after.

I received a call from a friend to look at some weird lights in the sky. He described them as red and blue lights moving back and forth like a kite (they saw it from 10-10:13pm prior to calling me @ 10:13). At approximately 10:13pm on May 19, 2010 I looked out the back window of my house and saw four red lights lined up horizontally, they were stationary at this point. They had an LED look to them, very bright and focused points of light, not beams. I immediately told the two friends I had at my house with me to come outside and see it. When we came out it was gone, but there were many helicopters in the air circling (at least three). Then the four red lights came back into view as they quickly moved straight upwards from behind the buildings directly to my West until they were approximately 20 degrees above the horizon, at this moment the object transformed instantly from four red lights into one slightly larger blue light and headed in the exact oppos! ite direction straight down. The change in color, direction and number of objects seen happened simultaneously and it appeared to move sharply with no acceleration or deceleration and did not seems to make any noise. The four red lights from end to end were approximately two to three times as wide as the moon was from my vantage point and the blue light was about a third as wide as the moon. I was located at Nutmeg Avenue and Lexington Street in Sarasota, FL facing between W and WNW. My friends who called me were standing at Superior Avenue and Gulf Gate Drive in Sarasota facing directly North, it was about 15 degrees above the horizon from their point of view. The helicopters that were in the sky circled this area for about twenty to thirty minutes after we last saw the lights. Afterwards, I called every news station in town and they all confirmed that they either did not own a helicopter or it was grounded at the time. I also contacted the County Sheriff’s Departme! nt and they confirmed that they did not have their helicopter ! in the a ir. I called everyone again the next day (5/20/10) and asked if they would confirm that they had no helicopters in the air at that time. They all confirmed. Next I called Air Traffic Control at the Sarasota International Airport, they said that they knew of nothing, but gave me the FAA Flight Standards contact information. After asking about the helicopters, I explained my story to them. About an hour later I received a call back from the FAA, the gentleman I spoke with was very friendly and helpful but could not give me any answers. He suggested I contact NUFORC at that point. That leaves me with two lingering questions: 1) What did we see? 2) Whose helicopters were in the air, why were they there and what do they know about the events we witnessed?

Posted 2010-06-03