NUFORC Sighting 79702

Occurred: 2010-01-16 19:20 Local
Reported: 2011-01-16 19:25 Pacific
Duration: 5
No of observers: 1

Location: Great Falls, MT, USA

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

Slow, low craft with bright lights in a triangle pattern- heavy wind- Great Falls, MT

I was walking out to my truck when 2 large lights in the distance caught my eye. I live on Malmstrom AFB and on a Sunday night, we don‘t normally have any air traffic and there are no active runways in this general area. The lights were very low, just above the houses a few blocks away and almost looked like gigantic auto headlights. It was coming from the South. I was surprised to see a plane flying so slowly and low in the area, but then it dawned on me that I’ve never seen a plane like that. For a moment, I thought it might be a helo, but it was too large and didn’t move like a helicopter. It was about the size of 3 average-sized houses. It also had a blinking red light somewhere just above or below the 2 “headlights”.

I stood and watched the craft and it very slowly banked SWest and as it turned, I saw 8 (I think) bright white/yellow lights shining from the underside in a triangular pattern. It was completely silent and very slow and the lights seemed to be a bit hazy, possibly from the debris caught in the wind. It disappeared from my view as it moved away. We also had a major temperature change today (it went from below zero F to about 60 F in a matter of hours- it happens in MT quite a bit) Just before I saw the craft, the wind was so intense that I had to brace myself on my vehicle. About 10 minutes after I saw the craft leave, the wind died down significantly. I’ve worked and lived around aircraft for over 15 years and have never seen anything like this.

Posted 2011-01-31