NUFORC Sighting 176248

Occurred: 2023-06-10 15:17 Local
Reported: 2023-06-13 07:29 Pacific
Duration: About 15 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Vass, NC, USA
Location details: 35.1671761244123, -79.32732573807961

Shape: Orb
Explanation: Balloon - Possible

Silver Orb/Balloon Passing Aircraft around 5,000 feet MSL near Fort Liberty/Fort Bragg June 10th, 2023 3:17pm local

My passenger and I saw a silver orb (possible balloon) with small flat edges (not a perfect circle) while flying northbound at 5,000 feet msl at ~135 knots (ground speed). The object appeared in front of the airplane on the left side and traveled pass the left side slightly lower at perhaps 4,500 to 4,800 feet msl. Perhaps the object was 200 to 3,000 feet from my left wing.

The object appeared near the western edge of the Fort Bragg/Fort Liberty Restricted -5311 airspace.

The object was reported to Fayetteville Approach in the air shortly after the sighting. Also, video/digital evidence was provided to an FAA (Fayetteville approach) employee after landing. As of this post on June 13th 2023, there has been no follow up questions.

Either the object was either small (weather) balloon perhaps extremely nearby (possibly stationary) or a larger object, further away traveling in the opposite direction… hard to tell without a known size of the object… perhaps someone can calculate possible speeds and sizes based on the aircraft’s information, my estimates, and the object relative to the relative ground reference in the video.

I’m withholding the tail number of the aircraft unless someone is serious about calculations and further information.

I am an accountant and IFR pilot. The passenger is a program manager/data analyst.

Posted 2023-07-10