NUFORC Sighting 15007

Occurred: 1995-09-04 05:45 Local
Reported: 2000-11-21 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Playa del Rey, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Emitted beams

Anomalous light approaches LAX neighborhood and disappears at high altitude.

I believe I saw something this morning. I'm not saying what but they were highly irregular anomalous lights. I live about 1/4 mile north of LAX and have been there over 10 years. I know what types of aircraft are in the sky but more important how they approach and leave the airport and at what time of day. So at 5:45 am this morning I left my apartment for work. I walked out back to the alley which runs parallel to Manchester Bl to get to my car in the carport. Looking due west down the alley, about this time, I noticed a pair of lights, white and blue-green, about 45 deg. above the horizon traveling southwest. It was just before dawn. The air traffic at this time makes its approach from out of the West to land at LAX. So it is very quiet since all the jet noise is over the water. I thought the lights were a helicopter but it turned sharply due South then stopped moving. Helicopters do this but usually at lower altitudes. I would estimate the altitude around 10,000 feet at 2 miles. These lights which seemed to be hovering had my attention and still I didn't hear any noise. This time of morning you can hear a pin drop and you would never know you where next door to an international airport. No traffic on Manchester either. Silence. Then I noticed the white light grow very bright and begin moving east toward me. As it moved east, the space around the light began to glow and spread out in a wider diameter from the source in a truncated cone shape. The light seemed to be moving through some high altitude clouds but there did not appear to be any outside of its beam. In other words, this area of the light seemed to be filled with swirls of vapor. I followed this light until I was looking nearly straight up with my head bent back. Then the light stopped moving. I thought maybe the light source was slipping behind a fog bank. But that was not the situation. There were no low clouds or fog. The point source of the light finally just seemed to disappear in the middle of this bright glow which was left behind to fade in the clear dark sky and spread out in a sharp afterimage looking like high altitude vapor which was being illuminated by the sun still below the horizon. This entire sighting lasted 45-60 seconds.

Posted 2000-12-02

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