NUFORC Sighting 13817

Occurred: 2000-08-17 10:24 Local
Reported: 2000-08-17 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: NJ Turnpike (near Exit 11), NJ, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

A fast moving silver ball following the New Jersey Turn Pike

I work for a moving company and was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike this morning with a co-worker. Everytime we pass Newark airport, we watch the planes land and take off , sometimes we get a really good view. We were watching the planes land and come in as I passed the airport. As we traveled we saw a few more planes coming in, like always from off in the distance- no big deal. As we got near exit 11 going south I saw the sun glint off another plane in the distance and looked away. It was traveling north toward us to the left of the north bound lanes. It glinted again so I looked at it. Another plane I thought. As we got closer I thought oh, its a helicopter. As I looked I could see it was round in front but it didnt look right. As we got closer I started asking myself in my mind, 'What the !@$%#@! is that? ' It was just a big round silver ball. After thinking this about twice I said outloud ,"Bob, what the !$#@! is that??? " I was surprised to hear my own voice in a igh pitch to. He was staring at it to. It was round like a ball and silver and about -he said three miles to our left- I think it was closer about two miles away. It just kept traveling toward us and passed us on the left moving faster than any plane we have ever seen going to Newark airport. I was driving, and as it passed us on the left I got a real good view. It was silver and round about the size of a helicopter- there were no windows- lights- nothing on it at all and heres the part that got us , it moved in a perfect straight line as it traveled -no wobble- no up or down no side to side or spinning motions. It just went straight. There was no noise no smoke nothing. To us it looked to be made of a solid metal,it glisted real bright from the sun off in the distance which first got our attention- Bob said thats when it turned- I didn't see it turn. Right after we say it the radio had static on it - we were listening to CBS 101.1 FM. I didn't pay much attentio to this because of what we saw. Bob said he saw it glint and watched it and it turned to go north following the NJTP. I saw it glint and took my eyes off of it and only saw it go in a straight line after watcing it after the second glint. We agreed that it was up about 2000 feet and the only clouds were way off in the distance far away. The sun was out and the sky was very clear. So it moved about five to seven miles toward us in a straight line followig the NJTP going north. The whole event lasted about 30 seconds or so. When I first saw it we must have been doing about 60 mph -I know I slowed down during the event but probably didnt go under 50 mph. We both had the same thoughts - its a plane - no its a helicopter- what is it???? I looked at the time and it read 10:24 (AM) right after this happened. Allot of people had to see this thing. The NJTP was packed as usual and the sky was perfect. This thing was going much faster than the planes that go to Newark airport . Maybe you can contact someone and see if it was picked up on radar. A few minutes after the event I thught it might have been some type of ballon. But - could a balloon travel that fast?? And the part that reall gets me! Can a ballon travel at 'helicopter level' in a perfectly straight line? I mst have watched it travel for several miles and thought it was an aircraft until it got within a mile or so. I know other people saw this. If its a government device - I say this because it followed the northbound lane the way cruise missles followed highways during the Gulf war - why did they test it under clear skys during the day i such a very busy area? And there was a plane coming in not to long after it- I bet they saw it to.

Posted 2000-08-19