NUFORC Sighting 62093

Occurred: 2008-03-06 21:45 Local
Reported: 2008-03-07 16:04 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Gig Harbor, WA, USA

Shape: Cylinder
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby, Electrical or magnetic effects

cigar shaped object reflecting for clouds

On March 6, 2008, in Gig Harbor, WA, a local theater was due to open the next day. The evening of the 6th, as a promotion the theater had numerous search lights (I would say five to seven) scanning the skies to attract attention of the event. The weather that evening was probably 1000 foot layer of broken to overcast clouds.

Earlier that evening my girlfriend and I were watching the searchlights scan the clouds and watched the lights dance through the clouds for several minutes, as they lit the undercast. Later that evening, about 9:45pm we once again went outside before going to bed. I looked up at the searchlights still scanning the skies, when I noticed as the lights crossed a certain point in the clouds, there was a bright reflection coming from within the clouds. The reflection was not like anything I had seen before, a very distinct long narrow reflection.

It remained in the same place, not moving with the clouds, changing shape or intensity as the lights randomly past the same place. I have been a commercial airline pilot for over 20 years and know the effects lights or lighting can have on the clouds. This was NOT light reflecting of different layers or shear lines of the overcast.

We watched the object for about 15 minutes, until the searchlights were extinguished for the night. The object appeared to be in the cloud deck itself, and we were only able to see the light refracting off the object. It would not have been balloons or other promotional material such as a banner, sign, etc for the theater as it would have been tethered almost on the centerline of the Tacoma Industrial Airport (TIW) and in the decent path, less than 1 mile for the runway. That would have caused serious FAA fines to pull such a stunt.

At several times, as the lights passed the object there appeared to be two reflections. I would be hard to estimate the size, due to it being in the clouds, but I would guestimate due to the height of the cloud deck I would say 30 to 40 feet in length, and 10 feet in width. There was no lights on the object.

Posted 2008-03-31