UFO/aircraft over northern Florida

I was on a flight recently, at a window seat, and saw something I couldn't identify. Coming up through a good-sized-cloud, below me, was an aircraft. I didn't think anything about it when I first saw it. You see other airplanes all of the time while flying. But then, my brain couldn't make out what it was as it came through the clouds. I finally saw the entire shape and my brain "err'ed". I couldn't categorize what it was. I had never seen anything like it.

As a disclaimer, I have no proof of seeing this plane. Also, it was only in my line of sight for maybe 5 seconds.
The object/plane was almost certainly terrestrial, but very different from anything I've ever seen... like the next-gen of the next-gen.

Why I might be imaging it:
1. There was no contrail.
2. I couldn't tell what type of propulsion it used--no visible jets, nor propellers (from my perspective).
3. It vanished suddenly without a trace, no longer on its original trajectory--it was on a clearly visible path, originally.
4. I'm not so familiar with atmospheric phenomena that might explain an optical illusion.
5. The clouds did not move/swirl/shift when the plane went through them, as you might see when something disturbs the air.
6. There were no markings on it, like USAF, nor graphics, nor any other visible indicators of ownership.
7. There were no visible lights on the wings (like the red/green lights you typically see).
8. I couldn't tell if the shape had a viable airfoil (leading me to wonder if it was some sort of illusion of an object somewhere else in the sky).

Why it might be real:
1. I moved my head around the window to ensure it wasn't a reflection on the window.
2. It had a stable flight path.
3. Despite the billowing cloud below it, it had a stable shape in the foreground--no shimmering.
4. It was moving fast, but not other-worldly-fast.
5. It was between the size of a drone and a medium private jet (hard to tell from that distance).
6. It was flying around northern Florida, which has military, NASA, and a bustling private aerospace industry.

Other things I found odd:
1. It had a twin fuselage with no visible cockpit(s) (a drone perhaps?). This type of twin fuselage configuration: www.nasa.gov...
2. The wings had a manta ray curvature to them.
3. The tail appeared to be triangular (or circular) and very large.
4. It was only visible right after it went through the cloud, then vanished, as if it was only visible due to the condensation of the cloud.
5. It was really badass looking--like it was designed for intimidation (something military designers strive for).

Imagine combining these planes into one:
www.blendernation.com...
1.bp.blogspot.com...

This makes me wonder if it was an experimental design for a test program:
www.darpa.mil...

As you can see on page 3, there is a lot of aerospace in Florida:
www.enterpriseflorida.com...

Maybe other members of ATS would have a better idea of what I was seeing.

a reply to: Protector

Ewww, a mystery witnessed by a competent observer. Short duration, no air foil or visible propulsion system, 'twin fuselage', no markings or beacons…

It vanished suddenly without a trace, no longer on its original trajectory--it was on a clearly visible path, originally.

"Vanished" while you were directly observing it, or when you looked away? Could it have flown into a cloud bank…

The only twin fuselage I come up with is a "flight" (two aircraft in formation). That and other features depend on distance to object, I guess.

Sounds really cool looking ! My guess would be a fancy drone of some sort ?

I watched a pretty cool talk about 4d shapes recently and I'll indulge myself in suggesting you saw the 3d shadow of a 4d craft cast onto the clouds during interdimensional travel.

Shadows don't cause clouds to move and our 3d perception doesn't allow our brains to identify 4d shapes, right?

a reply to: SlowNail

All things being equal the simplest explanation tends to be correct so yeah I'd say you nailed it. LOL.🚝🚀

I have no idea what you saw, but I am kind of hoping Zaphod sees this post and chimes in, or some of the other folks that hang around the military aircraft forum.

I will give you credit for being very observant in that short amount of time and laying out the details. Rarely do we ever get that around here anymore! Good job there.

The only thing I am aware of that is twin hulled and flying is this;

White Knight Two

But given the marking-less description I'm intruigued unless Scaled Composites cleaned her up for a bit. It would tie in to the NASA/Florida flying areas.

a reply to: intrptr

I did take a picture, probably 5 to 10 seconds later:


Changes to picture (full disclosure):
1. Enhanced color.
2. Fixed issues with white-washed look.
3. Adjusted brightness.
4. Added markup.
5. Cropped.

It "vanished" as soon as it was no longer above the cloud. I marked 2 locations on the image where I might have seen it. I can't remember which stretch of cloud it was. You'll notice they are similar. The scene had slightly altered over the seconds it took me to get the picture. Also, I don't want to make assumptions or give false memories (common when you try to remember the same event over and over again).

I did consider that I was looking at multiple aircraft (2, maybe 3). However, most planes have a lot of "light pollution". They have headlights, wing lights, tail lights. I would have expected to see the lights reflecting off the clouds, if not directly with my eyes, particularly with multiple aircraft. And, how do you lose multiple aircraft so easily? Losing one aircraft--maybe. Overall, I'd put it in the "plausible, not probable" category.

Meldionne1: Safe money would be on it being a drone since there was no visible cockpit--but I only saw it from one perspective.

SlowNail: Technically, all shapes that last more than an instant are somewhat 4D, i.e. with a fractal dimension of 3.x, where "x" is greater than zero. That may sound slightly complicated. But it's really simple. Time is sometimes considered to be an aspect of the 4th dimension, so anything that persists in time is also part of the 4th dimension. We never think about this as humans because we can't experience things outside of time. And, to be fair, some scientists/mathematicians believe time is not part of the 4th dimension, but rather a separate "thing" from physical dimensions that just happens to interact with physical dimensions. Both are plausible theories.

onehuman: I've been around a long time. I know the high expectations of many of the people on this forum.

neformore: I would have recognized White Knight 2. That would have been an amazing sight to see. White Knight 2 doesn't have a manta-ray-like swooping wing, plus, from my angle, the cockpit would have been easy to see. My vision is about 20/15, so I have the bio-hardware to see some of the details that others might miss. But since I'm not an expert in aerospace, nor visual phenomena, it is a bit of a weakness in this situation.