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There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? Does 'formation flying' involve craft flying around in random non-linear fashion? There was

by rblion 7y ago

There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? Does 'formation flying' involve craft flying around in random non-linear fashion? There was a bunch of us and we discussed it for awhile, aircraft is the first thing we jumped to...

ceejayoz 7y ago
> There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_flying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_flying That you're asking that question really makes it hard to credit the claim that you successfully ruled out "all the logical possibilities". edit: You edited in some additional, so: > Does 'formation flying' involve craft flying around in random non-linear fashion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight A distantly seen dogfight at night would involve afterburners (bright lights! and they'd wink on/off during maneuvering, when they're turned on/off, or when the plane turns to face towards you instead of away from you) and rapid random non-linear movements as described.
- ozzmotik 7y ago
  my only question is, how likely is it that anyone is going to actually be witness to a dogfight at any given time? seems like something that would be pretty rare.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    Depends where you're located. I don't have an aviation map handy, but Beale AFB is less than 200 miles south of Mt. Shasta, and the Air Force trains continually.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? How close is "next to"? Aircraft tend to have multiple lights, many symmetrically positioned. And when it's closer than you think and maneuvering, it may look as if the lights are moving non-linearly. Disappearance of a light can be explained too - the plane maneuvered in a way that its wing or fuselage blocked your view of the light.
deleted 7y ago
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by rblion 7y ago

ceejayoz 7y ago

> There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_flying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_flying That you're asking that question really makes it hard to credit the claim that you successfully ruled out "all the logical possibilities". edit: You edited in some additional, so: > Does 'formation flying' involve craft flying around in random non-linear fashion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight A distantly seen dogfight at night would involve afterburners (bright lights! and they'd wink on/off during maneuvering, when they're turned on/off, or when the plane turns to face towards you instead of away from you) and rapid random non-linear movements as described.

ozzmotik 7y ago
my only question is, how likely is it that anyone is going to actually be witness to a dogfight at any given time? seems like something that would be pretty rare.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  Depends where you're located. I don't have an aviation map handy, but Beale AFB is less than 200 miles south of Mt. Shasta, and the Air Force trains continually.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all? How close is "next to"? Aircraft tend to have multiple lights, many symmetrically positioned. And when it's closer than you think and maneuvering, it may look as if the lights are moving non-linearly. Disappearance of a light can be explained too - the plane maneuvered in a way that its wing or fuselage blocked your view of the light.

deleted 7y ago

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