NUFORC UFO Sighting 2882

Occurred: 1997-11-14 18:35 Local
Reported: 1997-11-17 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 35-45 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth (Approaching), TX, USA

Shape: Formation


Summary : Saw strange lights above high clouds from an American Airlines flight into Dallas-Ft Worth

I am writing you because of something I saw (along with a friend) while flying into Dallas Friday evening. The more I have thought about this the more I knew I should write down what I saw.  

I was flying from Seattle to Dallas on Flight 18 Friday Nov. 14th. At about 6:35-6:45 P.M. Dallas time, about a half hour out of Dallas/Ft Worth we were high above thick cloud cover. There was a full moon out and the clarity above the clouds was good. As we looked out ahead and to the east (port side of the aircraft), I noticed few lights out ahead of us. I presumed they were other aircraft coming right at us since the lights did not blink like wing lights but as the head lights do at times. There were two such lights and they looked far off but being at night it was hard to tell just how far. I watched for a long time watching other aircraft with blinking strobe lights passing in various directions. These lights (the identifiable aircraft with blinkers) were much smaller in size to the constant lights. What started to seem strange was the fact that the original two lights which were constant began to appear to be closer the nearer we flew, not farther apart as it should be is! we were approaching them. Also what seemed strange was the fact that at no point did there appear any other lights such as a green (starboard) or red (port) lights with these two constant lights. I watched intently as I saw a normally lit and identifiable aircraft fly perpendicular to the main light on my left that I had been watching. The identifiable aircraft approached extremely close and behind this light. The light was not a distant star or light on a hill or a beacon as my mind raced to start to explain what I was seeing.  

The time span now is maybe 15 full minutes of watching these lights. We were approaching these lights which was apparent since the lights were now directly to the port side of the aircraft and no longer in front of us. As we continued on, and our approach to Dallas caused as to slightly alter our approach, these lights became directly to port from us and even closer and seemed to rise higher above the cloud layer than before. I had mentioned the lights to my companion several times since I first spotted them when I had described them first as two aircraft with their  headlights on. At this point I saw a third light low in the cloud cover below these two lights. This third light was hazy as if slightly in the clouds and also seemed larger and closer to us. It had shape to it, almost like it was like a soft cube shape (a cube with rounded corners and puffed up sides. It was not just light). I was seriously questioning that these lights were anything I had seen before. I had made! several comments to my friend trying to explain what I was seeing since I knew they were not aircraft like "these have to be beacon lights" or "maybe they are power lines" always to be followed by, "but we are too high for that".   I said to my companion that she should look at the lights. Right about then, I leaned back as we passed the lights. My companion leaned over me and looked now back slightly aft and to port through the windows and said to me "You mean those lights that look like a triangle?". I looked out the window again and now saw that indeed there was three distinct lights, not blinking above the cloud cover in a triangle formation. The third light had indeed come out and was well above the clouds.   As we continued to move towards Dallas and begin our decent, the lights remained in a triangle formation eventhough we continued make a left turn towards the Dallas/Ft Worth airport. In other words, even thought they were in a triangular formation while we looked at them to port, they remained in a triangular formation as we viewed them to aft.  

Within a few minutes we were descending into the clouds and I lost sight of the lights.   I have thought a lot about what I saw and discussed it with my companion who also saw them. These were stationary lights at our altitude during normal flight approach about 35-45 mins out of Dallas or slightly higher (with the exception to the third light) which would put them at  least 25-35K feet. The lights were stationary since while we approached they were in front, as we continued they were to the port and then aft of us as we passed. There were initially two constant lights very far apart when first viewed and only slightly brighter and very much closer to each other 30 minutes later when joined by the third light from the clouds. the lights did not seem to move but were stationary though they must have moved since they were closer to each other after viewing them for 30 minutes than at first.   I am a 42 yr old businessman in Seattle (your town). I work as a real estate broker. I was a concert promoter for many many years and have flown hundreds of thousands of miles. I have a good grasp of astronomy and can identify the moons of Jupiter with my binoculars and Venus along with my favorite constellations. I grew up with a pilot as y best friend and have logged hundreds of right seat flying in small aircraft so I have an appreciation for what aircraft look like at night and during the day. Though I do listen to Art Bell and have read many books on Roswell and a few about other UFO's, I am not a "believer". I am a curious observer. With thousands of hours of staring at the skies, of flying all over this country many times over during night and day, I have never seen anything that wasn't identifiable, at least after 5-10 minutes of viewing. These objects were viewed by me for nearly 45 minutes non-stop and I have no explanation that meets any test I put to it. I have replayed the tape in my head over and over. I keep seeing the aircraft passing behind the main left light. I keep seeing the two lights far apart and them seeing the triangle shape after the appearance of the third. I see the third boxy light shrouded ion the clouds then see it clearly in view above the clouds. These objects had to be moving, but in such a way that they seemed stationary. There were no additional lights associated with these white lights. there were no strobes with these lights. While other aircraft came and went from Dallas and appeared across the sky, these lights seemed to sit still.  

I had to finally admit I saw something strange and unexplainable with my resources. I guess in a way, I wanted to live in denial that I saw anything weird at all, but in the end, had to write this down and send it off as a statement of my very best recollection of what I saw.   My companion is a person who works for the airline, does not wish to be involved but has flown extensively for the last 5 years in her porfession

Posted 2001-08-05

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