NUFORC Sighting 38000

Occurred: 2004-07-04 21:15 Local
Reported: 2004-07-09 06:17 Pacific
Duration: 20-25 Minutes
No of observers: 10

Location: El Cajon, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

July 4th fireworks display takes a back seat to piercing red lights in the San Diego sky...

On July 4th just after 9:00 PM my family and I returned to our home from an outing. Since my brother and law and I had our children with us, we decided to stay outside to view a local fireworks display. There were several neighbors doing the same in the vicinity. After a few minutes of viewing I noticed one group of neighbors standing 10 feet away looking up in the opposite direction of the fireworks display. I followed their line of sight and noticed two red points of light flickering in the sky. What struck me at that moment is that these lights appeared to possess the same characteristics as the lights that I had seen on two previous occasions (single point, bright red, same intensity). Both lights were located in roughly the same area as the single red light my family and I witnessed just after 12:00 AM New Years 2004 (I called several family members away from our party to witness that event) and a single red light I witnessed some time in the early morning hours of October 2003. During the New Years sighting I watched a single red light slowly move from south to north and to nearly overhead where it then stopped and stayed stationary for 15-20 minutes. The light subsequently disappeared. During the October event I drove 3 miles west in an attempt to align myself directly under the light. I did this in an effort to try to ascertain what exactly it was. I eventually positioned myself to what I perceived as being directly under it, but still could not make any real determination as to the type of aircraft I was observing. It too then disappeared abruptly within 20-30 minutes of initial sighting. July 4th's lights appeared stationary at about 75 degrees above the horizon west of our position. For the majority of the sighting there were two distinct lights approximately one fists distance from one another. They appeared to remain equal distanced and didn't produce any sound. Unlike the previous sightings these flickered. There were private aircraft in the area and on one occasion a small aircraft passed slightly east and under the lights as it continued on its the downwind leg for Gillespie (KSEE, small regional airport in the vicinity 2 miles north). I would estimate the small aircraft was flying at 1000-1500 AGL. These lights seemed much higher and both the small aircraft and unidentified lights were unaffected by one another’s presence. Some minutes later the north side light dimmed, flickered on and off in random pulses, almost like it was struggling to stay lit, then disappeared entirely. The south side light continued to flicker for an additional 5 minutes and then it too disappeared. The final light disappearance strangely coincided with the conclusion of the fireworks display.

It seems too much of a coincidence that two of my observations occurred on holidays and during what most would consider the peak period of the holiday. I live in a densely populated, brightly lit suburb in east San Diego. I have 2 small regional airports within 15 miles, and MCAS Miramar is 10 miles northwest. I have been on the MCAS Miramar air base several times and the installation has never struck me as a special projects installation. It seems to me that any sort new platform testing from Miramar would be unlikely considering the base's proximity to greater San Diego. Perhaps some type of new surveillance device related to homeland security? The lights had to be noticed by many this time.

Posted 2004-07-25