Have planes always blinking lights at night??

reply to post by Devilnitro28


Tonight I saw a light which looked like a star crossing the sky...it was just before sunset and the stars were just making their appearence...orion was to my centre left. I saw what looked like a star moving across the sky..it looked just like a star so I looked to my left to compare it..when I looked back but the object had dissapeared. I too live in Germany and live in the flight path of Frankfurt airport. I see many planes daily and was wondering if some planes did not have blinking lights but one continuous one as this did. I searched the internet and found this website that seems to have accounts of similar occurrences as mine...this is not the first time I have seen such an object. The light is continuous just like a star..but moves across the sky then either just fades out or just immediately vanishes. I have not seen one "shoot off" in to space as others have stated.

I am so pleased to have found your letter...I feel reassured to have found someone else that has seen what seems to be the same thing that I have seen.

reply to post by Redmartian

What you saw could have been a satellite or the Space Station. The space station is sometimes the brightest object in the sky. Most satellites pass through the sky at about the "apparent speed" (the speed as it appears to an observer on the ground) of a plane. We can see these satellites because they reflect sunlight. It can be sunny high up in orbit, even when it is dark on the ground.

One interesting type of satellite are the "Iridium" satellites, which can be very reflective. Iridium satellites are know to "flare up" (reflect a lot more sunlight) for 30 seconds or so, and be very bright for that time, before its reflected sunlight fades away into almost nothing. These are called "Iridium Flares".

Here's a good website that can tell you about satellite sightings in your specific area...
Heavens-above.com
...I don't know where exactly in Germany you live, but it seems from this website that the Space Station was not visible in Germany last night. However, there were Iridium Flares last night, depending on what location in Germany that you plug into this website.

As for whether all planes blink or not, all planes do have blinking navigation lights, but there are some lights on a plane that are turned on when a plane is on approach to an airport that are very bright (either white, or sometimes more amber color) and do not blink. These landing lights are so bright, that they "drown out" the blinking lights to the point that the blinking lights cannot be seen. You don't need to live right by an airport to see landing lights. These lights are turned on sometimes 50 miles or more from the airport.

I may be wrong, won't be the first time but I think that the lights on planes mimic the lights on boats. Green = right side= starboard. Red = left side = port.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Thanks for your reply, yes a satellite does make sense although I am not 100% sure. It was flying much slower than a plane and in a different direction to the planes that I normally see, which are normally towards me, this was flying 90 degrees to the planes. It was the speed and direction that initially caught my eye together with the lack of blinking lights. I am aware sometime planes flying towards me seem motionless and are a continuous light until it turns slightly, the light I saw was completely different. It was slow with an orange hue moving accross the sky and not towards me. All this would suggest a satellite apart from the fact that it seemed lower than many very high long haul planes that I see. Very odd indeed.

P.s. I'm about 15km from Frankfurt airport. I can see the planes taking off about 45 deg to my left when stood on my balcony. They take off heading away from me and then often bank round and head towards me. So I am very familiar with the sight and sounds of airbourn aircraft.

Anyway you are probably right...satellite it is.

Yes so I just seen some quote on quote stars in the sky that were moving pretty slow and they were very dim and then would get a little brighter. I have no idea what this is but I'm thinking either the government is keeping stuff from us or is a Ufo. But whatever it is if it is something the government knows and doesn't want us to know what or who this is. I'm so glad other people have seen this too. I am in North Carolina by the way.

The red beacon rotates when ya start engines....hard to see...white strobes on the liners...night lites ya can have alterneting blinkers but most are just steady ....turn em off in clouds due to vertigo on the pilot....and landing lites are big like the night lites but shine from the fuselage downwardly and ya might see them revolving on a 727 into stow position....center wants the lights on when on a terminal arrival route....for see and be seen

originally posted by: AmeliaM
Yes so I just seen some quote on quote stars in the sky that were moving pretty slow and they were very dim and then would get a little brighter. I have no idea what this is but I'm thinking either the government is keeping stuff from us or is a Ufo. But whatever it is if it is something the government knows and doesn't want us to know what or who this is. I'm so glad other people have seen this too. I am in North Carolina by the way.

Humans have put satellites in orbit.


What you are describing sounds like you are seeing a satellite passing overhead just like what this old thread is about.