NUFORC Sighting 63558

Occurred: 2008-02-17 19:40 Local
Reported: 2008-05-27 10:08 Pacific
Duration: 60-90 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Object with bright light above San Francisco accelerated towards my plane at impossible speed for a normal aircraft

On Sun Feb 17 2008 I was flying into SFO from Toronto on AC755. The time was about 10-15 minutes before our scheduled landing time of 7:52 PM, which would make it around 7:30-7:45 PM. We were flying over land that was spotted with some bodies of water. I was sitting on a window seat on the left side of the plane so I assume I was looking south. Here is a picture I found on the net that is similar to the view I had: http://www.factionfive.com/blight/uploaded_images/DSC02804-771617.JPG. I would guess we were about 10,000 feet high, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable can estimate the height given the information above.

I was admiring the view when I noticed a light that was noticeably brighter than the other city lights coming from an object above a small body of water (like a small lake). The shape appeared to be a sphere but I can't be sure as it was far away. It was unusual enough to keep my attention. The light was a bright yellowish white but seemed to change to a bluish white and did not blink. It was moving very slowly so at first I thought it could be a helicopter. After observing it for about 30 seconds I felt it was not a helicopter and was definitely not a plane. What happened next is why I think it is worth reporting as a UFO; the object started to accelerate at a geometric rate. It quickly sped up and flew up towards the plane and passed below and in front of us in about 2-3 seconds. If I had to guess, I would say the object was 15,000 feet away when I first saw it over the lake and it came within 2000 feet of the plane when it passed under and front of my view. I may have the absolute distances wrong but the relative distance (2000:15000) is about correct. The point is the object appeared to accelerate from almost nothing to beyond 1000 mph in about 2 seconds. It happened so quickly and I was in disbelief by what I saw. I looked around at the other passengers hoping that someone else saw it but no one appeared to have. I recall a red glow on the lower half of the object but I am not confident about this particular detail (this happened over 3 months ago) but the rest I am confident of what I saw. I have never reported a UFO before. I would like to know if anyone else saw this.

Posted 2008-06-12