NUFORC Sighting 08402

Occurred: 1999-07-16 14:30 Local
Reported: 1999-07-18 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 sec
No of observers: 1

Location: Highland, CA, USA

Shape: Rectangle
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Daytime observation of a very large rectangular object with rounded ends. Silver in the middle with white ends. No observable thickness. Moving very slowly and wobbling from end to end. Total observation time of ten seconds. Object abruptly disappeared.

I was inside my house when my attention was attracted by a loud sound of a group of 3 (military)helicopters passing overhead and proceeding in a northwesterly direction. Went outside and looked up at helicopters when a strange object was observed at a higher altitude and almost directly overhead. The object was a modified rectangle with rounded ends, approximately 3 to 4 times longer than wide. The center third was a silvery metallic color and the two end thirds were white with a sharp edge between the areas. There were no projections visible and no markings. A rough estimate of observed length is based on a length of 4 inches at a distance of one arm length. It appeared to be nearly stationary but wobbled or occilated from end to end. My impression was that it was very large. I could not observe any thickness to the object but it was directly overhead. Any sounds would have been obscured by the helicopter engine noise. It appeared that it was moving slowly and was about to become obscured by a large tree next to our house so I moved to a better viewing position about 10 feet away looking away during this brief period. When I looked up again the object had disappeared. A commercial jet was also passing overhead going south at this time. This object was lower than the jet and in a different part of the sky. This sighting was very short probably not greater than 10 seconds or so.

Posted 1999-08-10