Triangle Sighting Tonight

The area I live in is heavily populated with lots of major roads. I should be able to find someone else who saw something. As far as covert goes it hardly seems to be covert flying around with 4 lights blazing.
No grasshopper I haven't seen any such turns by what I have seen of the local air traffic. I just see em flying over in mostly straight lines. And usually at higher altitudes and traveling faster. I do see some smaller ones lower but I rule them out because of the size of the object and the noise factor.
I spend quite a bit of time looking at the sky and most evenings when the sky is clear I am outside with my telescope.

Originally posted by BRCMontana
I think it is reasonable to assume that these triangle shaped craft are NOT covert Dept. Of Defense aircraft. The fellow from the NUFORC website told me that these craft are almost always spotted near major urban centers or from major interstate highways. This is inconsistent with both covert testing and/or operation of a secret DoD aircraft. I was on Interstate 15 when I saw mine.

On the contrary Tampa is home to McDill AFB, even though they do not keep a fighter squadron based there any longer, they still host all kinds of strange aircraft at certain times. Just off the top of my head, the SR-71 made an emergency daylight landing here once and flew right over everyone that was on the Clearwater beach, Nasa’s 747 with the shuttle on its back had to land there and sat for a day while the cape was weathered in, just this year I saw two F-22 Raptors flying north up Dale Mabry.

Now while I cannot explain why this aircraft had its nose light on, I can say that I am 100% certain that it was an aircraft, that is unless the UFO drivers are worried enough about cross traffic to run navigation strobes.

Originally posted by BRCMontana
Also, when the craft began to move after remaining stationary, it did not appear to be moving fast enough to generate lift. This suggests some other type of propulsion system is utilized, obviously not the propulsion systems we are familiar with.

An aircraft that is flying away from you then starts to bank to the left or right would give about the same illusion of standing still then starting to move.

Originally posted by grasshopper
You are so near an airport being next to the big city. Do you ever see other planes make slow turns like that? I drive by Lambert Airport in Saint Louis most nights. It used to be that most planes just had the blinking lights on the wing tips until they were getting ready to land or take off. That isn't true anymore. I'm seeing lights on the nose as well as the wing tips and they aren't blinking.

The only other light I can think of on most planes is behind and below the cockpit, I really cannot recall what these lights used to illuminate on the planes. I know that MD80’s have them, and it could very well be that this was the 3rd light I saw on the plane that night.

Military aircraft, especially fighters have much paler or dimmer, more subdued looking navigation lights on them then other aircraft, especially fighters. Its hard to describe, its something you have to see in person. There is no reason for a plane to have a forward light on except to land, take off and taxi, they are not like cars that have to look for things on the road while in the air.

Could be normal aircraft or small ultralight or other experimental craft - there are some weird ones.... FAA does have lighting requirements - military can brake the rules in certain locations but they have to have em on near any commercial traffic...:


ANTI-COLLISION and POSITION LIGHT REQUIREMENTS, LOCATIONS, & DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS

All aircraft must have an approved anti-collision light and position light system for nighttime operations. The position lights consist of an Aviation Red on the left side, an Aviation Green on the right, and an Aviation White tail-light (REF. FAR 23.1389). *The position lights must be wired independent of the anti-collision lights.

The anti-collision lighting system is required under FAR PART 91.205(c). There are different requirements affecting different aircraft. These aircraft are categorized by the date of application for type certificate. Home built aircraft are determined by the date of issuance of the Experimental Operating Limitations. The different categories are as follows:

1. Aircraft for which type certificate was applied for after April 1, 1957 to August 10, 1971:
These anti-collision systems must produce a minimum of 100 effective candela in aviation
Red or White (REF. FAR 23.1397), 360¼ around the aircraft's vertical axis,
30¼ above and below the horizontal plane (REF. FAR 23.1401).

2. Aircraft for which type certificate was applied for after August 11, 1971 to July 18, 1977:
These anti-collision systems must produce a minimum of 400 effective candela in aviation
Red or White (REF. FAR 23.1397), 360¼ around the aircraft's vertical axis,
30¼ above and below the horizontal plane (REF. FAR 23.1401).

3. Aircraft for which type certificate was applied for after July 18, 1977:
These anti-collision systems must produce a minimum of 400 effective candela in aviation
Red or White (REF. FAR 23.1397), 360¼ around the aircraft's vertical axis,
75¼ above and below the horizontal plane (REF. FAR 23.1401).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTALLATION LOCATIONS
WINGTIP:
The installation time for wingtip strobe light systems will vary depending on the type of system being installed. Installation time can be greatly reduced if it is done in conjunction with an annual or one hundred-hour inspection. The major difference in the systems is the location of the strobe power supply. They can be mounted locally, one in each wingtip, or a single power supply mounted in the fuselage.

There has been some concern in the past with running the high voltage cable through the wings and by the fuel tanks. For there to be an explosion two conditions must be met. There must be an explosive atmosphere, and there must be a source of ignition. For there to be an explosive atmosphere inside the wing, it would require a fuel tank leaking into the wing. However, strobe power cables are not routed through the wing bays, they are routed forward or aft. Then there is the matter of spark for ignition. For this to occur there would have to be a breakdown of the cable insulation. This is very unlikely if the cable has been properly installed. The power supplies are designed to turn off when there is a short. With power supplies mounted in the wing, the input wires still need to be run to provide power to them.

FUSELAGE:
Another option is to install fuselage mounted units. They can be either self-contained, in which the power supply and light head are one unit, or remote light heads run off a separate power supply. To meet the field of coverage, one must be on the top of the fuselage & one on the bottom.

VERTICAL FIN:
Lastly if applicable, a single anti-collision light can be mounted on the vertical stabilizer. It also can be either a self-contained unit or a remote light head, depending on the aircraft.

Thanks UofC. Your information has done one thing for me........made me more baffled. The lightrs I observed didnt conform to what you posted other than the brightness. There was no fin light that I could see.
And there was no sound. and the apparent air speed would have sent anything but an ultra lite to the ground. But the lights were too wide spread to be an ultra lite.
All I come up with is more questions.

Originally posted by defcon5

Originally posted by BRCMontana
I think it is reasonable to assume that these triangle shaped craft are NOT covert Dept. Of Defense aircraft. The fellow from the NUFORC website told me that these craft are almost always spotted near major urban centers or from major interstate highways. This is inconsistent with both covert testing and/or operation of a secret DoD aircraft. I was on Interstate 15 when I saw mine.

On the contrary Tampa is home to McDill AFB, even though they do not keep a fighter squadron based there any longer, they still host all kinds of strange aircraft at certain times. Just off the top of my head, the SR-71 made an emergency daylight landing here once and flew right over everyone that was on the Clearwater beach, Nasa’s 747 with the shuttle on its back had to land there and sat for a day while the cape was weathered in, just this year I saw two F-22 Raptors flying north up Dale Mabry.

Now while I cannot explain why this aircraft had its nose light on, I can say that I am 100% certain that it was an aircraft, that is unless the UFO drivers are worried enough about cross traffic to run navigation strobes.

Originally posted by BRCMontana
Also, when the craft began to move after remaining stationary, it did not appear to be moving fast enough to generate lift. This suggests some other type of propulsion system is utilized, obviously not the propulsion systems we are familiar with.

An aircraft that is flying away from you then starts to bank to the left or right would give about the same illusion of standing still then starting to move.

Originally posted by grasshopper
You are so near an airport being next to the big city. Do you ever see other planes make slow turns like that? I drive by Lambert Airport in Saint Louis most nights. It used to be that most planes just had the blinking lights on the wing tips until they were getting ready to land or take off. That isn't true anymore. I'm seeing lights on the nose as well as the wing tips and they aren't blinking.

The only other light I can think of on most planes is behind and below the cockpit, I really cannot recall what these lights used to illuminate on the planes. I know that MD80’s have them, and it could very well be that this was the 3rd light I saw on the plane that night.

Military aircraft, especially fighters have much paler or dimmer, more subdued looking navigation lights on them then other aircraft, especially fighters. Its hard to describe, its something you have to see in person. There is no reason for a plane to have a forward light on except to land, take off and taxi, they are not like cars that have to look for things on the road while in the air.

I am familiar with MacDill AFB being from Tampa myself. While this may or may not explain longhaircowboy's sighting, it certainly doesn't explain mine.

Originally posted by defcon5An aircraft that is flying away from you then starts to bank to the left or right would give about the same illusion of standing still then starting to move.

Yes, I too tried relentlessly to rationalize my sighting to myself, however this is wrong because I was close enough to the craft to tell whether or not it was moving.


EDIT: I wanted to mention I am not ready to classify my own sighting or longhaircowboy's as bona fide alien ships. They are exactly what they are - unidentified flying objects

[edit on 1-1-2006 by BRCMontana]

Right on BRC. What I saw was definitely a UFO. It was an object, it was in the air(flying), and I havent found a reasonable explanation(unidentified).