2003: Owensboro, Kentucky Sighting

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: Winter 2003

Sighting Time: 8:00 p.m.

Day/Night: Night

Location: Owensboro, Kentucky

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light) Point or extended luminous source observed at night.

Duration:

No. of Object(s):  1

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s): 2000′

Shape of Object(s):

Color of Object(s): black

Number of Witnesses: 1

Special Features/Characteristics:  

Source:

Summary/Description: I did have a minor experience last winter, sometime after the first of the year, that you might find interesting. Again I was walking the dog at about the same time of evening, but being winter it was long past dark. I noticed quite a bit of air traffic and remember thinking it must be Air Guard weekend. As I said, they have maneuvers above the open crop land of this area once a month.

About 8:00p.m. I took the dog out one more time before settling in for the evening. I heard a very loud twin turbo-prop coming overhead. I assumed he was either landing or taking off from the airport. However, when I looked up he appeared to be in level flight. Then I realized he was escorting some object. I say escorting because he was flying behind and to one side, like a wingman, and turned as the object ahead of him turned, but slightly later. Not a co-ordinated formational turn. I would guesstimate they were at about 2000′, separated by about 1500′. They passed directly overhead. The twin turbo-prop whose sound originally attracted my attention was overly lit with strobes and NAV lights. When I say overly, I mean more than required by FAA regulations.

The interesting part was the craft being followed/escorted. It was totally silent, no prop or rotor sounds whatsoever. I almost missed it, but caught it out of the corner of my eye as I searched for the turbo-prop which came out from behind some trees across the street. The lead object was almost completely black against the black night sky so I couldn’t determine a shape. There were only two lights, like landing lights, maybe 20′ apart, illuminating something toward their center. What I could imagine, but not see, were lights close in on either wing illuminating sides of a fuselage forward of the wings. I did not see the wings or cockpit, just imagined them as I grasped for an explanation of the object.

Obviously the silence and lack of lighting stunned me. As I said I’m a private pilot and anyone flying or escorting a private plane with no FAA lights, (forgetting the lack of sound for a moment)at night, in a direction away from an airport, would lose their pilots license quicker than they could say altimeter. I still don’t know what I saw that night.

I’ll keep searching the sky as I walk the dog.