NUFORC Sighting 40443

Occurred: 2004-11-04 18:45 Local
Reported: 2004-11-04 19:26 Pacific
Duration: 15 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Costa Mesa, CA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Triangular craft seen over Orange County at high speed

I was standing on my patio looking west into the night sky. I was looking between some large Queen Palm trees, so those managed to give me a feeling of scale. There were no clouds that I could tell, the stars were out. The sky was a bit hazy. We are near John Wayne International Airport so I am always seeing and hearing planes flying overhead, usually on takeoff, and usually flying from east to west (opposite to this things flight path) I also have a strong understanding of visual recognition of aircraft from many years working at/near air bases - I am in the aerospace industry. Note that we are about 1 mile south of Interstate 405.

At about 6:45 PM, I saw a motion in the sky that attracted my attention. It was moving from the west towards the east, straight in front of me. Since I was looking west, it appeared to move up in the sky. It was moving at a high velocity compared to the aircraft I usually see flying, perhaps twice as fast or more. It flew up to almost directly overhead, then turned abruptly to the southeast. It appeared to be increasing alitude, although that is a bit speculative. It flew between the fronds of the palm tree, and finally up over the roof. By the time I got to a better viewing angle, it was gone.

The vehicle itself looked triangular in shape and was black/gray, looking more like a mottled gray shadow against the black sky. It seemed as if the bottom of the vehicle either had a slight glow or was reflecting lights from the city below, as there seemed to be a bluish mottling over the bottom surface. The leading edge had a number of fairly dim lights, perhaps five to seven. I think there were a couple of lights on the trailing edge, but I'm not certain of that. There was no sound whatsoever, although aircraft engines were heard a few minutes later as a airliner flew over. The size of the vehicle seemed impressive .. I see aircraft through our typical haze all the time, including planes flying around tonight, and this seemed much more diffuse, so I think it was fairly high up, higher than typical commercial aircraft. The overall impression was a large triangular shape flying high above the normal traffic pattern at a high velocity, but that could be way off. I did notice a decrease in traffic around that same time.

Bear in mind I do not think this was "alien", more likely some sort of secret military surveillance vehicle.



NUFORC Note:

Witness describes himself as an engineer. We suspect he may be a highly qualified witness. PD


Posted 2004-11-09

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