NUFORC Sighting 83957

Occurred: 2011-09-14 19:45 Local
Reported: 2011-09-16 16:27 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Henderson, NV, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail, Changed Colo

Saw the light in Las Vegas before it turned green and yellow

On Wednesday evening September 14, 2011 at approximately 7:45 P.M. local time I was driving Southbound on Executive Airport Rd in Henderson, Nevada. I was driving parallel to and about 1 mile West of the runway at Henderson Airport.

Since I am a pilot I always tend to scan the sky for aircraft. I observed what appeared to be a small aircraft landing light moving from West to East and descending at about a 10 degree angle. This made perfect sense since it was consistent with a small aircraft on a left base to Runway 35.

At this time it was only a small bright white light. I then noticed that it was traveling at a greater speed than a small aircraft normally would in the traffic pattern. My thought was that it was a hotshot pilot in a high performance aircraft.

Right after I had that thought the white light grew to about 5 times it’s original size and turned a beautiful shade of green and yellow with a long tail of light trailing behind it.

It was still descending at a 10 degree angle. It then disappeared behind some foothills that are located about 5 miles South of the airport. It was then apparent to me that I was a much greater distance from the light than I had originally thought.

Posted 2011-10-10