Saw something on a flight, want a little insight.

Hello. First of all i'm new here. I've lurked around for a while and tried to get a feel for how things are "done", so hopefully my first post doesn't end up being one of my last. If this in the wrong section or whatever, let me know.

That said, I wanted to get a little insight into something. I was flying home recently from New York to Houston. Shortly after take off(it had to have been because my window was still open and I always close it a few minutes after takeoff when everything on the ground gets small and boring) I happened to turn and look out the window and saw something i'd never really seen before. About 160 feet away(guessing really, the distance seemed to be about equal to the width of a football field, which i just googled) was a round white "ball", maybe a little bigger than a basketball. It was only there for a split second so I didn't get a terrific look at it, but there wasn't that much detail to begin with. It was travelling in a direction opposite the direction we were flying, and it was either going very fast, or it seemed to be, it could have just been an illusion since we were traveling very fast the opposite direction. I don't recall it having a "seam" around the middle, indicating it was made up of 2 halves, or any other tiny details.

I'm willing to accept a boring, mundane explination, but I can't really think of one off the top of my head. At first I thought it might have been a balloon of sorts but are there any regulations on how close 2 aircraft can get? If it was something like that, I can't imagine the pilots would be allowed to be to close to it. I aso didn't really notice anything hanging from it and it seemed to be traveling too fast to be a "passive" aircraft, just floating with the air currents. But on the other hand, the more fantastic idea that it was in fact a UFO, it seems hard to believe there are any beings that can be that small and travel around in a tiny ball, and that they'd be able to fit all that interstellar travel technology into it.

I have seen that alot of the members around here have a good head on their shoulders so i'm hoping you can bring me back down to Earth and get my head out of the clouds(all puns intended). If you want anymore details, I try my best to provide them. Like I said, it was only in my view(from the time it entered and exited my window viewing space) for a second.

Possibilities:

Cloud to Cloud ball lightning?

Reflection on the window? (since these are double-paned, it's possible it had the illusion of being outside, when maybe it was just somebody flicking on a light, etc.)

Always good to rule out mundane things first...

Are you saying you saw a basket-ball sized object from 160 feet away? The prospect of seeing that at 37,000 feet at 500mph is pretty unlikely. I'm not one to put posters down (I've been through that already), so here's what it can't be:

An airplane. ATC keeps them within a pretty decent distance, especially when flying at opposite distances

A Bird. No explantion there

Here's what I'm thinking:

Balloon

Or a piece of ice breaking off the airplane (It would appear to be small due to it's size)

Who knows, maybe it's a UFO?

I've seen these objects before too, usually right after take-off. And I know exactly what they are: helicopters

Because of your speed, the angle you are viewing it from, and the distance, you might not see the blades on top or even the tail. All you'll see is the body, which can appear to be an orb or ball.

I'm pretty sure it was outside the window. I don't know that we had quite reached that altitude yet, we were still fairly "close" to the ground.

The helicopter theory sounds like it could be the most reasonable explination. I can see mistaking it for something like this:

Hmm, so you weren;t at cruising altitude, so that means you must've have been traveling quite slowly. The helicopter idea seems plausible, but they aren't usually allowed within the flightpaths of airlines. 160 feet seems pretty close. Maybe it's just a helium "Party Balloon" that some kid let go of?

That's what I was thinking, about the distances. And no, I don't know that I was really near cruising altitude. It was maybe a minute or so after taken off, that's about the time I close the window. Things get small on the ground and there's no detail to look at. It could have very well been a balloon of sorts, but it just seemed so spherical, you know, for the split second I saw it. Balloons tend to be kind of oval shaped.

Whatever, i'm starting to accept that it was nothing special. I'll have my sighting one day though

It was probably a glowing basketball, lost by Kobe

Yeah, like the other guy said, I think you might have seen a helicopter. I fly all the time (unfortunately) and see those all the time from one of the local airports I take off from here. They can look just like what you describe when viewed while climbing after taking off.

Other than that, the real possibility is reflection in your window, which are actually pretty convincing if your not used to seeing them all the time. Those double panes really mess with your mind. Plus, you have been lurking here by your own admission, so you were already attaching a secret desire to see something conspiratorial by nature, allowing you to further dwell on something that might otherwise not catch your attention or appear mundane. No big deal, we all do it from time to time.

Glad to have you aboard, don't waster your time lurking, post for crying out loud. If your worried about not contributing to the quality of the board discussions in this section...well, have you read some of them? Embarrassing really. I highly doubt your going to add to the problem of Ufology by upholding some of the more idiotic threads here and contributing the the negative stereotype that it has rightfully earned (which is confirmed on an hourly basis around these parts by some of the more out-there and obviously ignorant and questionable threads...the ones that folks come out of the woodwork to support because they ignorantly believe that if they wish hard enough, and enough of them ignorantly believe and subscribe to the same thing then it must be true, LOL)

[edit on 6-6-2008 by IgnoreTheFacts]

Reason Man.....Hopefully I can field this, though we'll see.

New York, to Houston. Were you on Continental out of EWR? Or LGA? Or another carrier, out of JFK?

What seat were you in....A or F? (You said you closed the window blind, so you weren't in the middle or aisle).

What date, what time of day?

What was the weather at the time? I mean, 'severe clear', or overcast....cloudy and raining? All info will help tremendously.

To summarize: Please, if you can, tell me your seat, your airline, your departure airport and the date of the flight.

Wow, you actually doubt this guy? I didn't think someone could go so low as to doubt that someone saw a white speck in the sky. It's not like he's fighting to say that it's a UFO.

[edit on 6-6-2008 by hpsfl]

I'll bet it was that lil air pressurization hole between the panes .. after 3 cocktails I thought that was a UFO too! Finally after dragging the flight attendent into my lap to look ... I forgot what it was I wanted to show her ...

Originally posted by hpsfl
Wow, you actually doubt this guy? I didn't think someone could go so low as to doubt that someone saw a white speck in the sky. It's not like he's fighting to say that it's a UFO.

Are you referring to Weedwhacker's questions?
I think the questions are because Weedwhacker has a very specific idea of the explanation but wants to know the details before commenting.