NUFORC Sighting 176033

Occurred: 2023-05-28 23:00 Local
Reported: 2023-06-04 19:19 Pacific
Duration: 10 Minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Location details: ATL located 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta.

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

Commercial flight crew observes burst of light during takeoff.

May 28, 2023
Atlanta-Hartsfield (ATL) Sighting Report
Narrative of Events During Takeoff

2215 Hours: After a 15 minute gate hold, the aircraft, a Boeing 767-300ER with 226 souls and 2 laps on board, is pushed back from the terminal. Ground Control clears the aircraft to the active taxiway.

2245 Hours: Idle fourth in line, after 30 minutes aircraft cleared to taxi onto RWY 26 Left where we are instructed to hold. ATL Tower reports clear skies, visibility 10 miles or better, altimeter 29.92, winds calm.

2248 Hours: Cleared for takeoff, ATL Tower instructs us to climb heading 275 degrees to intercept course 288 degrees to Snufy. Flight course put us just west of East Point and south of state route 166, where we expect to be cleared to 15,000 feet, and from there to flight level 240 (24,000 feet).

2252 Hours: Outbound from ATL, Departure clears us to flight level 240. First Quarter Moon visible in the clear night sky, having risen high on the eastern horizon at sunset.

2300 Hours: Climbing through 15,000 feet, First Officer points over the instrument panel towards a sizable burst of white light, 12 o’clock off the aircraft nose, approximately 5 miles distant.

2301 Hours: My initial impression is that the burst represents some kind of missile denotation, and, as a result, I throttle the engines back so as not to ingest possible debris from the blast.

2302 Hours: First Officer reports the sighting to ATL Departure and requests a vector change further to the west. A mild buffet to the aircraft, accompanied by an audible drop in engine RPM. Cabin lights flicker for a moment or two, although the annunciator panel remains illuminated.

2303 Hours: Departure vectors us further west, which puts us outside the burst radius, and reports commercial traffic descending inbound as we resume our climb to flight level 240. Traffic, an Airbus heading for ATL, comes up on VHF Guard Frequency.

2310 Hours: After speculation by both flight crews as to the origin of the burst, resembling a nebulous ball of light, First Officer and myself concurred over the VHF frequency that the object appeared stationary, of significant size, perhaps 700 feet in diameter, and remained to the east, having fallen behind our present position as we continued to climb. It was, as I pointed out, “still out there," and appeared as bright as the moon, “...sort of a fuzzy silver ball.”

2315 Hours: Having been cleared to flight level 360, our cruising altitude, we continued to vector toward the northwest, en route to Chicago. It should be noted that ATL Departure showed no additional traffic, other than the inbound Airbus, and the remainder of the flight passed without incident

Posted 2023-07-10