NUFORC Sighting 05432

Occurred: 1999-01-29 07:20 Local
Reported: 1999-01-30 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
No of observers: 5

Location: Maricopa (4 miles west of, on Hwy 166), CA, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Saw an object to the left rear of a contrail left by a commericial aircraft that was heading towards Los Angeles. Object was two to three times the size of the aircraft and left no contrail.

I am a truck driver for a large freight company. I drive mostly at night, But at times, get delayed and do not finish my route until late in the morning. On the morning of 1/29/99 while en-route to Santa Maria, Ca from Bakersfield, Ca. on Hwy. 166 just west of Maricopa approx. 3 to 4 miles. Hwy. 166 west of Maricopa turns into a long steep grade which drops the speed of loaded semi trucks down to a crawl. The reduced speed gives me a great opportunity to gaze at the beauty of the San Jaquin Valley below. It also gives me the chance to watch the commercial airlines fly into & out of the Los Angeles area over the mountain range to the south of Hwy. 166. The temperature of the morning of 1/29/99 was down in the mid to low thirties. The aircraft that would fly north over the Grapevine would leave long, thick contrails as they entered the San Jaquin Valley. After listening to Art Bell's discussion a few nights earlier about aircraft leaving strange contrails is what drew my attention to these aircraft and there contrails. As I was watching one airplane and it's contrail I noticed an object just to the left rear of the contrail and the aircraft. It appeared to be about two to three times larger than the size of the commercial airliner. It also seemed to be at the same altitude. This object was unlike any thing I ever seen before. Being bit of a skeptic on UFO's I at first dismissed it as another plane. But then, This object in a matter of a few seconds darted over to a plane that was headed north and followed it for about a minute or two. This got my curiosity up, So at the first turn out I pulled over and got out my binoculars and started watching this object. It would follow one plane for two to three minutes. Then, In a matter of seconds, It would zoom across the sky and start following another airplane. It always stayed just to the rear and left of the plane and it's contrail. The odd thing about this object was that it appeared to be transparent at times, Then solid. The shape of this object would be like! if you put two coffee cup saucers together. One upside down from the other. On top this object had a small dome like shape, But with sharp angles. On the bottom, It had a smaller, More rounded dome shape that ran almost the length of the object. The object had a grey,silver color to it. No lights nor windows were visible any where on this object. Nor were there any type of numbers, letter's or any other identifying marks visible. The other odd thing about this object was the fact that every airplane that flew in the San Jaquin Valley area left a contrail. This object left none at all!!!!.

Posted 2001-08-05