7 ms·

I won’t be able to provide information that other people haven’t already but I have encountered one of these “aircraft”. I own a small light sport airplane and

I won’t be able to provide information that other people haven’t already but I have encountered one of these “aircraft”. I own a small light sport airplane and was flying between UT and CA at 12.5k ft and saw one of these pass 1,000ft below me not far outside of Reno. ATC didn’t call it so presumably they didn’t see it on radar. It was exactly as described, small, shiny, cylindrical, no wings, and fast. If I could guess it was doing 500kts in the opposite direction. By the time I pulled out my phone to snap a picture it was gone. If it was a cruise missile it was flying over a populated area and not in restricted airspace or a MOA. Not sure what conclusions to draw other than these things are real and probably more common than people assume. It was not an airliner or private jet I’ve seen plenty of them.

exporectomy 6y ago
I'm wondering how you estimate its speed and distance Wouldn't it look identical to a smaller, slower object closer to your aircraft?
- oceanplexian 6y ago
  It’s an educated guess from years of watching and avoiding other airplanes. The reason it drew my attention was the abnormal speed, then I focused in on it and realized it was a featureless cylinder.
  - gher-shyu3i 6y ago
    How long ago did this take place?
  - exporectomy 6y ago
    Doesn't that mean you assumed it was similar size, speed, or distance as another plane? If you really have no idea what it is, I can't think of any way you could distinguish a large fast distant object from a small nearby slow one. It's too far away for our binocular depth perception to measure distance. I hope I don't sound too critical. I wondered if the thing in the article's story was some small object ejected from the pilot's own plane and he overtook it as it slowed down so it appeared to be moving backwards. Since you had a similar experience, I wondered if there was some other information that helped you judge it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mmahemoff 6y ago
I'm curious why you don't film the whole flight. I'm almost surprised it's not a requirement, given how cheap and easy it is now.
- Joky 6y ago
  There is very little requirement on equipment to fly in the US, you don't even need a radio in the majority of the space (only when you approach towered airports and other busy / special areas). So we're far from requiring a camera :)
  - sjburt 6y ago
    Sure but for what GA costs on a recurring basis, a small camera or two is such a negligible cost and is really valuable for learning.
    - bonestamp2 6y ago
      Not to mention, there's a great possibility that these unidentified aircraft are American.
  - sneak 6y ago
    What you say may be true, but the conclusion isn't, I don't think. Case in point: the FAA now requires a digital transmitter beacon (ADS-B) in most of the commonly used airspaces in the continental US as of last month.
themodelplumber 6y ago
Always fascinating to read about similar accounts. Have you checked MUFON for others who may have seen it when you did? Edit: Any resemblances to these? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLACOmOyjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLACOmOyjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36KOqbwrMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36KOqbwrMY
lumost 6y ago
tbh this seems like the perfect situation to test US air defences and radar technology. Flying a long range unarmed stealth drone in lightly populated areas through the US would tell you a great deal about how observable the drone is to US radars. Flying dangerously through Air traffic controlled space also ensures that the military radars get pointed in your direction at some point or another. For an unarmed small(ish) drone the risks of getting caught are likely minimal. Crash in an unpopulated area (plenty of those in the west coast), self-destruct at high altitude or simply acknowledge the spying incident and point to the SR-71/U-2 as precedent.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  This seems like the perfect situation to test how quickly you would like to be arrested.
  - Ancapistani 6y ago
    If I understand the GP correctly, it’s hard to arrest the Russian or Chinese Air Force.
    - lumost 6y ago
      aye - or given how low cost/portable drones are now - any agents of those governments ( or other governments ).
  - sneak 6y ago
    It's also possible it is an internal US-on-US test of existing air defense systems? It's not like anything as huge as US air defense is totally monolithic, and people in the detection side may not even have need-to-know for the stuff being prototyped by offensive types.
nabla9 6y ago
(a) They are common, lots of stories. (b) Completely impossible to get good video about them. a & b => bs
- nyolfen 6y ago
  if something is small and fast and you are flying a plane i do not find it difficult to believe that capturing video might prove elusive
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  Oddly enough, people used to say the same thing about gorillas. They thought people were just confusing the natives with monkeys, or making up stories about monsters. https://listverse.com/2010/04/16/10-beasts-that-used-to-be-mythical/ https://listverse.com/2010/04/16/10-beasts-that-used-to-be-m...
  - scotth 6y ago
    Surely things have changed between then and now. We're talking about visual phenomena, and we capture video constantly.
    - Judgmentality 6y ago
      I'm a pilot (recreational, and my license is not current). Although I've never personally seen a UFO, I've heard enough stories to believe it (not implying alien but nobody seems to know what they are). I've never once recorded anything while flying, ever. And I don't know anybody who ever records while flying (I don't mean for long periods of time, I mean at all). Why would I ever think to do that? By the time I see the thing and pull out my phone it's already gone before I can hit record (unless it's really slow I guess, but those reports are much less common).
      - oh_sigh 6y ago
        > Why would I ever think to do that? ...because one has seen UFOs in the past, and wants to capture them? If I went on a walk through the woods behind my house and saw Bigfoot, I would probably carry a camera next time I went walking behind my house to try and get a picture of bigfoot.
efraim 6y ago
Did it leave a trail?
- oceanplexian 6y ago
  Nope
danaliv 6y ago
> ATC didn’t call it so presumably they didn’t see it on radar. Not a reasonable presumption. VFR aircraft are lowest priority, and traffic calls for VFRs are very much not guaranteed. If a controller has too much to do, you won’t get traffic calls. And just because the frequency is quiet, doesn’t mean the controller is twiddling their thumbs. They could be on the landline or briefing the next controller.
- oceanplexian 6y ago
  While this is true something at that closing rate and speed would have stood out like a sore thumb, it’s also probable alarms would have gone off. Source: I’ve been inside of a center facility and had the privilege of playing with a scope and asking questions.
  - aaronfitz 6y ago
    ATC operates on secondary radar (transponder data). If there is no transponder, it would not appear on their scope. Some facilities have an option to switch to primary radar, but it is not usually monitored.
grecy 6y ago
> It was exactly as described, small, shiny, cylindrical, no wings, and fast. When you say "small", can you give an estimate of it's length and diameter? Are we talking small-plane-small, or welding-gas-cylinder-small?
akouri 6y ago
I saw one too when I was flying in/around the restricted airspace near Cape Cod / Camp Edwards in MA. I was flying at 5,500 ft. Surprised the heck out of me, until I realized it was probably just a drone.
TheBlight 6y ago
What would you guess the dimensions were? Color(s)? Was there any vertical component to its trajectory?
- lupire 6y ago
  Dimension: Fifth Color: Twilight.
trustdragon 6y ago
Is it possible this thing is like a cigar with a propeller rotates around the cigar so that you don't actually see there being a propeller because it's rotating? And somehow computer control maintains level flight, or maybe it's multiple propellers around the axis of the cigar. Alternate theory: Boeing wheels one of these things out to buzz commercial aircraft and airports every time they have some sort of mishap as a PR diversion.
artifact_44 6y ago
A cylinder like.. a cylinder with flat ends? No aerodynamic control surfaces? Was it metal? Was it rotating along an axis? Did it make a sound? Was it 1 foot, 10 feet or 100 feet long? Did it leave a vapor trail? Your story sounds like bullshit.
LinuxBender 6y ago
In the off chance you pass one again, would you consider mounting go-pro's on your plane, or one of those fancier ones that gets 360 degrees some bush-plane youtubers are using? I don't have a link handy to the model of camera.
- ASalazarMX 6y ago
  There are dirt cheap HD dash cameras that would work nearly as well.
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    Which will capture 3 blurry pixels if anything...
andreygrehov 6y ago
I wonder if this was NASA's Super Guppy: https://www.kwch.com/2021/03/05/nasas-super-guppy-spotted-over-wichita-thursday-morning/ https://www.kwch.com/2021/03/05/nasas-super-guppy-spotted-ov...

exporectomy 6y ago

I'm wondering how you estimate its speed and distance Wouldn't it look identical to a smaller, slower object closer to your aircraft?

oceanplexian 6y ago
It’s an educated guess from years of watching and avoiding other airplanes. The reason it drew my attention was the abnormal speed, then I focused in on it and realized it was a featureless cylinder.
- gher-shyu3i 6y ago
  How long ago did this take place?
- exporectomy 6y ago
  Doesn't that mean you assumed it was similar size, speed, or distance as another plane? If you really have no idea what it is, I can't think of any way you could distinguish a large fast distant object from a small nearby slow one. It's too far away for our binocular depth perception to measure distance. I hope I don't sound too critical. I wondered if the thing in the article's story was some small object ejected from the pilot's own plane and he overtook it as it slowed down so it appeared to be moving backwards. Since you had a similar experience, I wondered if there was some other information that helped you judge it.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mmahemoff 6y ago

I'm curious why you don't film the whole flight. I'm almost surprised it's not a requirement, given how cheap and easy it is now.

Joky 6y ago
There is very little requirement on equipment to fly in the US, you don't even need a radio in the majority of the space (only when you approach towered airports and other busy / special areas). So we're far from requiring a camera :)
- sjburt 6y ago
  Sure but for what GA costs on a recurring basis, a small camera or two is such a negligible cost and is really valuable for learning.
  - bonestamp2 6y ago
    Not to mention, there's a great possibility that these unidentified aircraft are American.
- sneak 6y ago
  What you say may be true, but the conclusion isn't, I don't think. Case in point: the FAA now requires a digital transmitter beacon (ADS-B) in most of the commonly used airspaces in the continental US as of last month.

themodelplumber 6y ago

Always fascinating to read about similar accounts. Have you checked MUFON for others who may have seen it when you did? Edit: Any resemblances to these? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLACOmOyjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLACOmOyjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36KOqbwrMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36KOqbwrMY

lumost 6y ago

tbh this seems like the perfect situation to test US air defences and radar technology. Flying a long range unarmed stealth drone in lightly populated areas through the US would tell you a great deal about how observable the drone is to US radars. Flying dangerously through Air traffic controlled space also ensures that the military radars get pointed in your direction at some point or another. For an unarmed small(ish) drone the risks of getting caught are likely minimal. Crash in an unpopulated area (plenty of those in the west coast), self-destruct at high altitude or simply acknowledge the spying incident and point to the SR-71/U-2 as precedent.

saagarjha 6y ago
This seems like the perfect situation to test how quickly you would like to be arrested.
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  If I understand the GP correctly, it’s hard to arrest the Russian or Chinese Air Force.
  - lumost 6y ago
    aye - or given how low cost/portable drones are now - any agents of those governments ( or other governments ).
- sneak 6y ago
  It's also possible it is an internal US-on-US test of existing air defense systems? It's not like anything as huge as US air defense is totally monolithic, and people in the detection side may not even have need-to-know for the stuff being prototyped by offensive types.

nabla9 6y ago

(a) They are common, lots of stories. (b) Completely impossible to get good video about them. a & b => bs

nyolfen 6y ago
if something is small and fast and you are flying a plane i do not find it difficult to believe that capturing video might prove elusive
Judgmentality 6y ago
Oddly enough, people used to say the same thing about gorillas. They thought people were just confusing the natives with monkeys, or making up stories about monsters. https://listverse.com/2010/04/16/10-beasts-that-used-to-be-mythical/ https://listverse.com/2010/04/16/10-beasts-that-used-to-be-m...
- scotth 6y ago
  Surely things have changed between then and now. We're talking about visual phenomena, and we capture video constantly.
  - Judgmentality 6y ago
    I'm a pilot (recreational, and my license is not current). Although I've never personally seen a UFO, I've heard enough stories to believe it (not implying alien but nobody seems to know what they are). I've never once recorded anything while flying, ever. And I don't know anybody who ever records while flying (I don't mean for long periods of time, I mean at all). Why would I ever think to do that? By the time I see the thing and pull out my phone it's already gone before I can hit record (unless it's really slow I guess, but those reports are much less common).
    - oh_sigh 6y ago
      > Why would I ever think to do that? ...because one has seen UFOs in the past, and wants to capture them? If I went on a walk through the woods behind my house and saw Bigfoot, I would probably carry a camera next time I went walking behind my house to try and get a picture of bigfoot.

efraim 6y ago

Did it leave a trail?

oceanplexian 6y ago
Nope

danaliv 6y ago

> ATC didn’t call it so presumably they didn’t see it on radar. Not a reasonable presumption. VFR aircraft are lowest priority, and traffic calls for VFRs are very much not guaranteed. If a controller has too much to do, you won’t get traffic calls. And just because the frequency is quiet, doesn’t mean the controller is twiddling their thumbs. They could be on the landline or briefing the next controller.

oceanplexian 6y ago
While this is true something at that closing rate and speed would have stood out like a sore thumb, it’s also probable alarms would have gone off. Source: I’ve been inside of a center facility and had the privilege of playing with a scope and asking questions.
- aaronfitz 6y ago
  ATC operates on secondary radar (transponder data). If there is no transponder, it would not appear on their scope. Some facilities have an option to switch to primary radar, but it is not usually monitored.

grecy 6y ago

> It was exactly as described, small, shiny, cylindrical, no wings, and fast. When you say "small", can you give an estimate of it's length and diameter? Are we talking small-plane-small, or welding-gas-cylinder-small?

akouri 6y ago

I saw one too when I was flying in/around the restricted airspace near Cape Cod / Camp Edwards in MA. I was flying at 5,500 ft. Surprised the heck out of me, until I realized it was probably just a drone.

TheBlight 6y ago

What would you guess the dimensions were? Color(s)? Was there any vertical component to its trajectory?

lupire 6y ago
Dimension: Fifth Color: Twilight.

trustdragon 6y ago

Is it possible this thing is like a cigar with a propeller rotates around the cigar so that you don't actually see there being a propeller because it's rotating? And somehow computer control maintains level flight, or maybe it's multiple propellers around the axis of the cigar. Alternate theory: Boeing wheels one of these things out to buzz commercial aircraft and airports every time they have some sort of mishap as a PR diversion.

artifact_44 6y ago

A cylinder like.. a cylinder with flat ends? No aerodynamic control surfaces? Was it metal? Was it rotating along an axis? Did it make a sound? Was it 1 foot, 10 feet or 100 feet long? Did it leave a vapor trail? Your story sounds like bullshit.

LinuxBender 6y ago

In the off chance you pass one again, would you consider mounting go-pro's on your plane, or one of those fancier ones that gets 360 degrees some bush-plane youtubers are using? I don't have a link handy to the model of camera.

ASalazarMX 6y ago
There are dirt cheap HD dash cameras that would work nearly as well.
- dogma1138 6y ago
  Which will capture 3 blurry pixels if anything...

andreygrehov 6y ago

I wonder if this was NASA's Super Guppy: https://www.kwch.com/2021/03/05/nasas-super-guppy-spotted-over-wichita-thursday-morning/ https://www.kwch.com/2021/03/05/nasas-super-guppy-spotted-ov...