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originally posted by: vlawde
The flashing red lights tell me this is not a legit UFO
We can personally confirm that the videos showing the four lights in the night sky over the Cincinnati area on August 3rd is actually showing four team members of America's largest professional demonstration skydiving team, Team Fastrax, (based out of our location in Middletown, Ohio) performing a night time pyrotechnic skydive over the Back Porch Saloon on August 3rd for the memorial service of MSG Corey Hood, a US Army Golden Knight from Cincinnati who was killed during a performance at the Chicago Air and Water Show in August of 2015.
Team Fastrax performs for this event every year as he was a great friend. They also perform hundreds of times in various locations across the world every year. I bet if you look at Google maps and draw a line from the location of these videos using the direction that was being faced, it would roughly line up with the Back Porch Saloon. The lights are super bright pyrotechnic gerbs attached to their legs being wirelessly electronically ignited while under parachute and burn for about 30 seconds. They have multiple sets of them on their legs. They disappear every so often because the gerbs burn out after about 30 seconds (note the time stamps between when they ignite and when they burn out) and then reappear because they ignite the next set. They typically open their parachutes between 3,000 and 6,000 feet AGL, meaning they are typically in the air for about three to five minutes (it takes about one minute to descend 1,000 feet once under parachute).
Our jump plane is also rigged with pyrotechnic gerbs to perform a flyby once the jumpers were low enough. They also use professional grade fireworks that they launch off of their legs while under parachute once they get closer to the ground (makes for a better show). This is the sparkling effect that you may have seen in some videos. They also had flashing red lights on the front of their legs and a solid amber light of the back of their legs to help see one another when not firing pyro. These lights are only visible for about three statute miles though, so you may not see them in the videos that are taken from farther away. However, the pyro is visible from many miles away. Yes, they do fly that close to one another while under parachute. Although, they look closer together than they really are when viewed from farther away.
Distance and darkness are also why you can't see the parachutes or the jumpers themselves with the naked eye or with a cellphone camera. You can see them if you were at the event or had a telephoto lens though. As far as seeing them "go up and down" in some videos, it's just a matter of perspective. When something in the sky near the horizon is moving horizontally directly towards the viewer, it may appear as though it is momentarily hovering or "going up" in relation to the horizon, especially if it is dark which distort our depth perception. The opposite occurs when something in the sky flies away from the spectator towards the horizon making it appear as though it is "going down". This can be perceived during a jet flyover (watch a video on YouTube). Imagine a jet flyover at night where you can only see their lights.
This effect would be even more prevelent because our eyes play tricks on us in the dark. In regards to skydivers not being allowed to jump at night, licensed skydivers are indeed allowed to skydive at night (it's quite fun!). In regards to interfering with air traffic, we submit paperwork to the FAA for approval prior to every performance. Our pilots also make radio announcements for the local air traffic. Not to mention that airliners cruise at 30,000 feet. Most skydiving performances occur below 14,000 feet with a majority taking place around 5,000 feet or so. Look up Team Fastrax online to see some better footage of their awesome performances!
"Tyler Rice
Hey there, I was flying the aircraft circling the team. This is Team Fastrax Professional Skydiving Team performing our pyrotechnic skydiving show for the Corey Hood Memorial a couple days ago. Feel free to reach out with any questions!"