NUFORC Sighting 16592

Occurred: 2001-02-21 20:15 Local
Reported: 2001-02-22 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 Minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fishkill, NY, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Black diamond-shaped object w/three bright white lights crossed I-84 and headed west paralleling highway towards Hudson River.

Heading west on I-84, approaching exit 13 (Fishkill, NY), as the highway crests a ridge and drops into a valley there is a panoramic view of the sky. As usual, I scanned the sky for lights, and saw the usual assortment of recognizable aircraft lights. However, at my 1:00 position (approx. NW), I saw a group of three very white bright lights in a straight line, close enough to each other that my initial reaction was that they couldn't be separate aircraft. They were also much lower than aircraft in the area typically fly. As I continued west, I tried to gauge the object's motion relative to mine. While I initially thought the object was travelling east, opposite me, it began a banking manouver which carried it perpendicularly across the highway directly in front of me, approximately 1/4 mile away, and only a couple of hundred feet up at most. Though it was night, there was more than enough ambient lighting from the surrounding area, so as the object crossed my path while banked to it's right side I could see it's bottom, which was a black diamond shape, with three bright white lights across it. There were no discernable wings - it was as though I was looking at a large, black kite. Two of the lights were at opposite points of the diamond, with the third in the middle. Since the object was banked over, the three lights were in a vertical line. The object continued it's turn, then levelled out at treetop height and continued westbound towards the Hudson River, paralleling the highway but on the other side from me. My exit came up and I pulled off, then watched until the object left my field of view. When I first observed the craft, I called my girlfriend at home (appox. 2 miles from my position) intending to ask her to go outside and look for the object. When she answered I didn't have a chance to ask, as right away she started telling me that she was watching an object from the house. We agreed that it was the same craft, and she was able to view it for a minute or two after it left my view. She had initially noticed it through the living room window, due to it's bright, unusually configured lights and low altitude. Though I've always believed that our planet is (and has been throughout history) visited by extraterrestrials, I've never witnessed anything like this myself. This area of the Hudson Valley is known for many sightings, particularly during the early 1980's. Having spent five years in the Air Force with a keen interest and familiarity with most types of aircraft, I know that what I saw was not a conventional aircraft. This was not an instance of ambigous/anomalous lights in the sky. I saw a distinct shape to the object. Furthermore, it's flight characteristics were unusual. Not in the sense of speed or extreme manouverability, but more regarding it's flight path. Even if, for arguements sake, it was a military aircraft of unconventional design (Stewart AFB is nearby), I can't understand why it would fly so low as it crossed over a heavily travelled interstate highway, then descend to treetop level and parallel the road... As soon as I got home I continued to search the sky for another glimpse, and turned on the scanners, all in vain. The morning paper didn't carry any stories about it, but hopefully others saw it and will report their sighting(s). Tonight I plan to call the tower at Stewart and ask if they received any reports or tracked anything themselves.

Posted 2001-02-24