NUFORC UFO Sighting 186948
Occurred: 2022-03-12 13:01 LocalReported: 2025-01-17 16:01 Pacific
Duration: Approximately 8 minutes
No of observers: 2
Location: , VA, USA
Location details: Object was at about eye level throughout the 8 minutes of observation.
Shape: Other
Color: Red with white bands
Estimated Size: 282 meters along one side (trigonometry calculated
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: Across the valley, about 13 km, First seen at our heading 251 deg, closest 180 deg, lost sight 108 d
Heading: heading east about 88 deg.
Closest Distance: 13 km
Estimated Speed: Calculated 725 kph
Very large rectangular box shaped object, up to 280 meters on one side, calculated speed about 725 kph, silent.
We hiked to the top of the Skyline Crest Peak trail, at 650 meters just north of Buckeye AZ which is a bit west of Phoenix. Google maps places the location of the peak at 33.49126, -112.56869. As we sat at the peak to eat our sandwich, we saw something far to the right of the valley which looked like a balloon. But it was moving east along the valley just off the mountains on the south of Buckeye, and moving far too fast to be a balloon, especially against the winds. As it loomed closer, its shape became quite clear, like a very large red box with white strapping around the middle. The box was tilted downward and rotated clockwise from our perspective about 15 to 20 degrees and kept that orientation throughout its traverse. It did not change altitude. When it was to our right, we could see the left side of the box, but as it moved to our left, we then saw the right side of the box. We could see the top of the box, but not the bottom. The right side image is what shows in the attached sketch. There was no sound detected. Using the thumb at full length, it covered the Object fully, but I was able to find a STAA Double-Double truck on I-10 highway, which I later determined should be 22 meters long, and compared it to the Object. The angular size of the Object was about 3 times that of the truck. Using some basic trigonometry, knowing the distance to the truck (Google maps 3,250 meters) and the truck’s length (22 meters), I was able to determine the angle of the truck at 0.40 degrees (tan 0.4 = 0.0069814 Radians). Therefore the Object would be 3 x 0.4 = 1.2 degrees. Tan 1.2 = 0.02094398 Radians x 13,480 meters = 282 meters. If you follow the trigonometry, the Object was 282 meters on the side. At a glance across the valley at 13.48 km (estimated), the Object was easily larger than 3 or 4 of the largest houses below it, although at this distance, such discrimination was uncertain. We followed the Object until it faded into the mist near Phoenix, just a bit north of the South Mountain reserve and south of the PHX airport. I estimated the observed distance it covered was about 72 km in about 8 minutes, which gave it a speed of about 725 kph. I did not have my camera or binoculars with me.
Posted 2025-01-27