NUFORC Sighting 35784

Occurred: 2004-03-22 22:53 Local
Reported: 2004-03-23 16:55 Pacific
Duration: approx. 2 min. 30 sec.
No of observers: 1

Location: Fairfield, PA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Slow moving object in night sky abruptly disappears

As I was leaving work on the evening of March 22, 2004 at 10:53 PM, I noticed a very slow moving light in the distance, aprroximately 4 nautical miles or so in a cloudless sky. I was facing in a NNE direction and the object was moving in a SW direction. At first I took the object to be a distant airplane, as we live approximately 94 nautical miles from BWI, DCA and IAD and am quite familiar with how approaching or cruising airplnes appear in the night sky. There was also air traffic in the vacinity that evening, so it was easy to make a quick comparison. But as this object moved and appeared to get closer I could see no individual strobe or marker lights. The object also seemd to be lower than a typical cruising or approaching airplane would be for our region. Due to the distance of the object I could not confirm any presence or lack of any sound. It was at this point that the object, which had a steady luminosity, abruptly and un-nervingly dissapeared. I continued to scan the area of the night sky for its reappearance, but to no avail. It is possible that it may have been a small airplane departing from Doersom Airport, outside of Gettysburg. But wouldn't small aircraft still be required to have strobe and marker lights? I would like to know if I have mis-identified a known object, please advise.



Posted 2004-03-28

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.