Can you help me ID this aircraft?

I saw an aircraft on July 4, 2004. It was flying at about 1000'. It was white or offwhite and about the size of a 737.

What made it strange was that there was an extremely large glass room affixed (?) below the aircraft. The room was brightly lit up, and contained men dressed in black uniforms with black caps and black knee boots.

Some of them stood looking out of the glass, while others sat at what looked to be computer or electronics consoles.

The room was as wide as the plane, and as tall as the plane. It was reminiscent of a gondola on a blimp, except that it was made almost entirely out of glass. I do not understand how a plane like that could land.

Anyway, a lot of very strange things started happening after I saw this aircraft, and I was hoping someone could identify it for me. I've asked on a few forums but no luck yet.

BTW, two other people saw it with me and saw the same thing that I did. It was quite shocking.

Originally posted by Miss_Murphy

I saw an aircraft on July 4, 2004. It was flying at about 1000'. It was white or offwhite and about the size of a 737.

What made it strange was that there was an extremely large glass room affixed (?) below the aircraft. The room was brightly lit up, and contained men dressed in black uniforms with black caps and black knee boots.

Some of them stood looking out of the glass, while others sat at what looked to be computer or electronics consoles.

The room was as wide as the plane, and as tall as the plane. It was reminiscent of a gondola on a blimp, except that it was made almost entirely out of glass. I do not understand how a plane like that could land.

Anyway, a lot of very strange things started happening after I saw this aircraft, and I was hoping someone could identify it for me. I've asked on a few forums but no luck yet.

BTW, two other people saw it with me and saw the same thing that I did. It was quite shocking.

www.calspan.com...
www.airliners.net...
There are other planes with big windows.


[edit on 5-4-2008 by beachnut]


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[edit on 5-4-2008 by elevatedone]

Originally posted by beachnut

Originally posted by Miss_Murphy

I saw an aircraft on July 4, 2004. It was flying at about 1000'. It was white or offwhite and about the size of a 737.

What made it strange was that there was an extremely large glass room affixed (?) below the aircraft. The room was brightly lit up, and contained men dressed in black uniforms with black caps and black knee boots.

Some of them stood looking out of the glass, while others sat at what looked to be computer or electronics consoles.

The room was as wide as the plane, and as tall as the plane. It was reminiscent of a gondola on a blimp, except that it was made almost entirely out of glass. I do not understand how a plane like that could land.

Anyway, a lot of very strange things started happening after I saw this aircraft, and I was hoping someone could identify it for me. I've asked on a few forums but no luck yet.

BTW, two other people saw it with me and saw the same thing that I did. It was quite shocking.

www.calspan.com...
www.airliners.net...
There are other planes with big windows.


[edit on 5-4-2008 by beachnut]

Thanks for the response, but this wasn't simply a matter of "big windows".

It was a large aircraft with a glass room attached to the bottom. The room was large enough to hold the roughly dozen men dressed in black uniforms, as well as several computer or electronic consoles that we saw.


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[edit on 5-4-2008 by elevatedone]

Are you for real? April fool's is old news.

You must have the eyes of a hawk to see what these individuals were wearing flying overhead at roughly 1000'!!! Right down to the jackboots- which, incidentally, threw up the red flags for me.

Work a bit on your backstory before you try your next hoax, it'll go a little easier for you.

Not only could I see them, I could see them very well. The "room" was extremely well lit.

This isn't a hoax. I assume the aircraft is some sort of electronics platform, but I do not understand why no one can ID it because when we saw it, we were in the approach path for IAH near Houston...so they obviously weren't concerned about being seen.

Here's the whole story:

I was outside with my kids and some neighborhood kids shooting fireworks on July 4, 2004. This was during a time when there was a scare about hand held missiles shooting down commercial planes.

Anyway, I shot off a bottle rocket that went crazy. It went higher than the others and was all over the place. I immediately thought "uh oh...I hope nobody sees that" and then that strange plane flew over. After that, one of the neighbor boys said "WHAT was that!?" and his brother indicated that he had seen it also.

We went inside and drew sketches of what we had seen, and we all drew the same thing: A plane with a glass room on the bottom containing men dressed in black uniforms with boots and caps. One of the boys drew the computer terminals (or whatever they were) and the other didn't.

I've posted this description on probably five message boards since it happened, but no one seems to know what it was.

Erm, sure, I saw the Easter Bunny hopping down the road the other day too.

Originally posted by lonemaverick
Erm, sure, I saw the Easter Bunny hopping down the road the other day too.

Is it really that strange? I mean, I knew that it was unusual when I saw it, but I still think there is a reasonable explanation for it. I've asked a couple of pilots about it, and posted about it on an aviation forum, but no one has seen/heard of anything like it.

I have to agree, at 1000 ft and flying approximately say 200mph or more for a 737 size aircraft, its very unlikely that you would have been able to see that kind of detail regardless of how much light was coming from it unless you have super sight. Perhaps post a few of the drawings you and your friends made of this craft. Im not saying you are lying or a hoaxer but it is very herd to believe the story with such detail considering the physics behind it.

Originally posted by QBSneak000
I have to agree, at 1000 ft and flying approximately say 200mph or more for a 737 size aircraft, its very unlikely that you would have been able to see that kind of detail regardless of how much light was coming from it unless you have super sight. Perhaps post a few of the drawings you and your friends made of this craft.

The entire thing is unlikely and yet it happened. I've been questioned about the level of detail before and all I can say it that I saw what I saw. If the two neighbor boys had not seen the same thing, I would assume that I was remembering it wrong, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I no longer have the sketches, so I cannot post them. I didn't think I would need them years later, as I believed that this was just an unusual aircraft, and not something more sinister.

Here is something I wrote several months after the event:

"I was setting off fireworks with my children and their friends on July 4, 2004. An airplane flew overhead at a low altitude...the plane had a large POD, or "control room" on the bottom and I saw people at what looked like computer or control stations in the room, which looked basically like the "pod/control room" thingy beneath the blimp.

So...I saw an a/c that looked perfectly normal...except that it had a huge Goodyear Blimp meets Star Trek room beneath it.

I watched it fly by and then said something extremely intelligent like.."Holy #!"...which is when one of the neighborhood boys said "Whoa..what was that?" and his brother said something indicating that he had also seen it.

I told them that we would not discuss it, but would instead go inside and draw what we had each seen (in order that no one's memory was influenced by the other)...we all drew the same thing. Plane. Pod. People in pod both sitting and walking around.

I've looked on the net and haven't been able to ID it...the "control room" was brightly lit and the thing was flying low in the flight path of IAH on July 4...so I am fairly sure this is not "top secret"...so what was it?"

I told them that we would not discuss it, but would instead go inside and draw what we had each seen (in order that no one's memory was influenced by the other)

Yeah, 'cos that is just what one would naturally do if one was to witness such an extraordinary sight in the company of your neighbours, isn't it.

If not a hoax, it has 'urban myth' written all over it. That line even sounds exactly like what you would see in a hypothetical problem, real people just don't act that way. Sorry dude but I'm an unbeliever.

Originally posted by waynos

I told them that we would not discuss it, but would instead go inside and draw what we had each seen (in order that no one's memory was influenced by the other)

Yeah, 'cos that is just what one would naturally do if one was to witness such an extraordinary sight in the company of your neighbours, isn't it.

Natural or not, that is what happened.

I did the same thing when the man wearing a top hat was jumping from tree to tree in my yard nearly two years later. We saw it, and I suggested we go inside and sketch what we had seen.

That's a topic for a different thread, though.

And before anyone tells me that the man in a top hat is a hoax, please google "shadow man" and "top hat" to get an idea of just how many people are seeing him/them.

HEY PEOPLE LAY OFF. What the hell ever happened to "Deny Ignorance"??

People, it's not that hard to see what someone 1,000ft away is wearing. If I can tell you what color you are wearing from the top of the sears tower (which I can) than it's not out of the question that this is a real story.

Miss_Murphy - I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Could you spot what type of propulsion the aircraft had? Prop or Jet? Was it straight wing or swept wing? Describe the shape. Did it have a tail or was it tailless?

Giving the OP the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like something from another time line, or steampunk. I would like to hear more about the top hat shadowman. I dreamed about Abe Lincoln endlessly climbing stairs but never reaching me. I was around 7 years old. Spooky.

Originally posted by BlackWidow23
Miss_Murphy - I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Could you spot what type of propulsion the aircraft had? Prop or Jet? Was it straight wing or swept wing? Describe the shape. Did it have a tail or was it tailless?

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me about this.

It had a tail. I don't recall whether it was straight or swept wing. Here's what I wrote about it several months after the event:



"1. ...it looked like a "normal" a/c...except for the gondola/pod/control room. Wing span roughly 80-90 ft. Length the same.

2. I did not notice the engines...but it was flying low and was very quiet, no signs of props.

3. The "pod" looked very similar to the gondola (I think that is what it is called) on a Blimp. Windows? Yes, large ones...which is why we were able to see the activity and persons inside. As for the normal a/c part, I don't know if it had windows or not. Was it suspended? It appeared to be part of, or immediately affixed to, the a/c...but a temporary attachment would make sense.

4. The a/c was white or light colored, it was traveling west to east over the Kingwood/Porter line. It was flying the same flight path as those landing at IAH...but much lower, roughly 1000'. It was between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. cst. It was a clear night.

5. The "pod" was large, people were walking around in it; and I remember thinking that it would be impossible to land...but then I recalled that certain military craft have taller landing gear...so I just assumed that that is how they land it, maybe.

6. It was very quiet...only myself and two teenage boys saw it out of a group of 15, and it was large and flying quite low nearly directly overhead. However, I would not state that there was NO sound, because I don't recall there being an absence of sound.

7. The speed of the a/c also did not make an impression on me. It went by quickly enough that a lot of people missed it; but slowly enough that we could see people at what looked like computer or control stations of some sort, in addition to the people walking around. Is "average speed" an acceptable answer?

I don't know...but something temporarily attached to the a/c is sounding like a plausible answer...unless you guys know of something else."

Hmm, I'm stumped on this one. I can't really figure out what the top aircraft was without some description of it's shape. I would assume it to be jet powered because props are very obviously noticeable.

Whatever it is, it sounds civilian. If it was military, it was a military aircraft that defied all of the general principals of military practice, I.E. not flying secret aircraft over civilian areas, not flying low at all, hiding secrets in glass gondolas...I believe it to be civilian.

I doubt that the gondola was glass, glass is very heavy and doesn't make sense on an aircraft. Perhaps it was lightweight plastic or plexiglass? Could be a touring aircraft or an aircraft specialized for events, such as parties or reunions, etc...

I wish I could help more but this is all I can come up with. If you have any more details, please post them.

Most military transports/tankers that are not purpose built for the role, are spin offs of a civilian design.

C/KC-135 family is taken off the prototype for the 707.
C/VC-137 is taken a 707.
C-32 is taken a 757.
VC-25 is taken a 747
Etc.

Nothing that size has a tall enough landing gear to carry a pod like that. If you look at the planes that DO carry those pods, they are using the same landing gear as the rest of those designs, and the pod barely clears the ground. This plane would have had to been twice as tall as a normal aircraft of that design AT LEAST, to have a pod you could walk around in. No aircraft that does have a pod has one nearly large enough to walk around in. They are very narrow, and as short as possible for ground clearance.

Right. So earlier it was:

Thanks for the response, but this wasn't simply a matter of "big windows".

And now it is:

Windows? Yes, large ones...

Try to get some consistency to your story for crying out loud! And before you come back with "But this is only one little thing, and my memory has faded", it is THE key part of the story. Going from a large glass room, to a room with "large windows" is pretty telling. And it tells me fabrication.

And out of a group of 15 people, only you and two boys saw it? Amazing. Because if I had seen it, I would have been making a few exclamations that would have at least caused a few people to look skyward as well. I agree with another poster, I think you've been playing a few too many steampunk RPGs.

When I said that it had large windows I was referring to the gondola, not the aircraft itself.

I don't remember if the aircraft itself had windows or not.

I'm not familiar with "steampunk", sorry.

No you weren't.

What made it strange was that there was an extremely large glass room affixed (?) below the aircraft.

Originally posted by Willard856
No you weren't.

What made it strange was that there was an extremely large glass room affixed (?) below the aircraft.

The gondola was the glass room. It was beneath the aircraft.

If you have a specific question I will answer it based on my memory or what I wrote after the event.



[edit on 5-4-2008 by Miss_Murphy]