strange lights over southern Ohio

I just spotted these a few hours ago
around 9:00PM - 10/20/2003
this is in Lucasville, OH
about 80 miles south of Columbus, in Scioto County...almost to the southern tip of Ohio

here's what happened

I was out on my back porch with one of our dogs when I noticed an aircraft off to the north moving south
it was kind of far away, but moving closer
as it got fairly close (now directly west of me) I noticed that it only had one light on it, a flashing white strobe that flashed about 2 times per second
I thought that was odd because all of the commercial and private planes I have seen have red and green lights too

I looked away from it for a few seconds and when I looked back it had completely changed directions
at this point I realized that it made no sounds at all...it was still a good distance away, but I should have been able to hear it

I decided to go in and grab my binoculars to get a better look at it...this took 20-30 seconds
when I got back outside the aircraft had moved halfway across the sky and was flying along side a 2nd identical aircraft
there is no way that it could have travel that far at its previous speed in that short amount of time...it had to accelerate to at least 5 times its original speed
but at this point it was flying slowly with the 2nd aircraft
the 2 aircraft where now north of me, flying west
they were definitely close to enough to hear them, but there was still no sound

I decided to go back inside and forget the whole thing
but just a couple minutes later I heard 1, maybe 2 jets fly right over my house...they sounded exactly like the Air Force F-16s that frequently fly over the area (its a USAF/Air Nat. Guard training/practice zone)
I went back outside to see if there was anything worth looking at
all I could see was 4 or 5 of the aircraft I had spotted just a few minutes earlier off the west moving slowly south
I could here the military jets, but they had no visible lights...isn't that against FAA regs, unless they are on a combat mission?
the jets went straight towards the other 4-5 aircraft
as the jets approached the other aircraft they quickly moved off to the west away from the jets
I could hear the sounds from the jets as the other craft disappeared into the distance
I know the other aircraft could not have been more F-16s
I would have been able to hear them, but all I could hear was the jets moving off into the distance

I saw something exactly like this about this time last year
2 of the strange aircraft appeared and where circling above me silently
a few minutes later I could hear a couple jets fly into the same area as the other aircraft...these jets also had no lights on them
the jets seemed to "dogfight" with the other aircraft for a couple minutes before they went off the west and the jets moved off to the north

Could it be a UFO they were chasing? Or some kind of military exercise?

I don't know what it was
whatever it was, it was totally silent
and when the military jets showed up they didn't have any lights on (which is against FAA regulations)

I see F-16s flying over here a lot
there or normally 2, somtimes 3 of them
they usaully just fly over once or twice, then go back deeper into the training zone (I live right on the southeast border of the training zone)

when they fly at night they have a tanker with them sometimes and will stay in the area for 10-20 minutes after refueling (I've never seen a refueling during the day)
usually their night flying includes dropping flares, which normally causes a few UFO reports from people that don't know what a flare looks like
but on these night flights, all jets have lights on them, the jets last night didn't have any lights at all

the only 2 times I have ever seen military aircraft flying with no lights on is the 2 times I have seen them chasing these other silent aircraft

Since When Has The Millitary Ever Listen To Something as small As The Faa?? If It was A UFO Then The Millitary Would Probably Be Following A Completly diffrent set of rules

I'd say if USAF planes are on an actual combat mission they would be exempted from many FAA rules and restrictions

flying with several flashing lights would make a jet very easy for an enemy aircraft to spot...so I think that would be one rule that doesn't apply to them
but every other time I have seen them flying at night, they have had the same light pattern as other private and commercial aircraft

Have you checked the local news in the area yet for the time period....any other sightings or reports?

I'll have to pick up a newspaper later today
we don't have any TV news coverage here unless something big happens
our only TV station is a WB network, and they don't have any news
our ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX channels are in Columbus, Cincinnati, Huntington, WV, and Charleston, WV

you could do a search on the internet to see if anyone else saw something

....an in-flight refueling exercise.

I've seen inflight refuelings before
and this did not look like one

when they fly with a refuling plane it is usually obvious that its up there
I didn't see any large aircraft last night
just the 4-5 flashing lights and heard 2-3 jet fighters

and the 2 that I saw flying close together were not close enough to have been refueling

[Edited on 21-10-2003 by MrStealth]

this is the only recent UFO sightings I found in this area that are recent
home.fuse.net...
there is also a report on the page about the recent discovered crop cirlces in some nearby towns

Mr Stealth,
How close are you to Wright Patterson?
You know WP's history and importance as far as research goes... You could have witnessed some new technology demonstrators doing flight tests - it is very dificult for turbofan propulsion chase planes to keep up with some of these test vehicles.

intelgurl

Mr. Stealth, from your link, I see that there have been numerous sightings in Ohio as of late and most seem close to the Serpent Mound. You say that these objects turned and moved off toward the West? Looking at my mapping program, there is one airport that lies west of Lucasville. Alexander Salamon Airport which appears to be only a single runway running east to west. In the same county and to the north is Serpent Mound Park which has long been the subject of much speculation.

It might help feed your curiosity to take a weekend drive on a clear night out that way. Finding an abandoned field out of the city might allow for a better view of the sky without the street lights. If you have access, take a camcorder but be sure to figure out how to make it focus in the dark. Many will give you a lense cap error when run in auto mode.


Looks like taking state route 348 west out of Lucasville will take you that way straight through Brush Creek State Forest. Let us know if you think this might be something you want to do. I think its a good drive if nothing else. Thanks for your report.

I'm probably 70-80 miles from Wright-Patterson AFB
maybe a little farther

even if this was just a test of some new technology, why would the chase planes be flying without lights?
thats the one thing that makes this seem so odd to me

and at the speed these things were flying at when I first spotted them, a jet would have no trouble keeping up with them...it would probably stall if it tired to fly that slow

they only moved fast when the 1st aircraft flew over to meet up with the 2nd and when the group of 4-5 of them flew away from the jets

I have a good view of the sky from here
no street lights (I live about a mile outside of Lucasville)

my best view near here is where we saw them last year
a few miles north, near a uranium enrichment plant

going up to Highland or Adams County(where Serpent Mound is) would probably give a much better view
that area is basically an open plain
Scioto County (where I live) has a lot of hills and valleys that limit the viewing distance, but I still have very good view of the sky in most directions

Thats cool. I grew up along US 23 which runs through there only I was in KY. If you have a good view, you might wanna just observe from there. The reason I thought Serpent Mound might be a better place is because since recorded history in the Ohio valley, there have been strange events associated with it. If sightings are on the increase, it might be a precurser to something about to ahppen there. I'd keep my distance form that Uranium plant.

Originally posted by MrStealth
I'm probably 70-80 miles from Wright-Patterson AFB
maybe a little farther

even if this was just a test of some new technology, why would the chase planes be flying without lights?
thats the one thing that makes this seem so odd to me

As you probably realize, it is prudent as well as policy to have chase planes accompany tech demonstrators/test vehicles; whether they are monitoring flight characteristics or simply observing the vehicle(s) in case they take a plunge.

However, around areas where there are large populations such as Wright Patterson it is also not a good idea to further confirm the general public's suspicions by allowing F-16's to be seen flying with vehicles that exhibit unconventional speed, acceleration or handling characteristics.

Therefore the F-16's in this case would probably have orders to go dark - [no, the USAF/DARPA does not have to abide by FAA rules & regulations when conducting tests of "black" projects] You may ask why does the test vehicle not go dark instead? Visual observation of flight characteristics... especially if it's not showing up on a radar screen.

I'm certainly not making a blanket statement that this is definitely what you saw but I've heard of this happening before and I know that WP field has occasional "black" visitors from Nellis and Edwards.

intelgurl

the uranium plant doesn't worry me too much anymore
its basically shut down, but there are still people working there, but the plant is no longer used for processing uranium
they have already moved a lot of the materials to different facilities

I'm going back out tonight to watch the skies
this time armed with a digital camera
I borrowed one from a relative...its decent and I hope it can take a reasonable low light image

Will sometimes get a good pic in the dark that you can't make out until you use photoshop or another similar prog to enhance it,so don't throw any out or record over them until you are sure they're junk.
Just my 00.02