A question about an UFAircraft I saw earlier

I have a question for hopefully some experts on low flying aircraft around here

I was on my way to pick my mom up from work earlier this evening and was in a hurry so I didn't get a decent chance to gauge height on this thing. I'm a former Army Scout so I like to think that I can gauge distance pretty well, normally I do have a point of reference though but based off of how big this thing appeared to be I can guesstimate to the best of my ability's the distance up.

As I was pulling out of my little housing development I noticed out of the corner of my eye a plane that seemed lower than normal. This was definitively a plane, it was dark out however the lighting array on it was definitely part of a winged craft, I live about ten minutes from dulles airport which is a pretty busy place so I know when I see a plane or some eponymous blob. Anyways I wound up stopping for about ten or fifteen seconds in order to look at this thing just because it was seemed so low to the ground assuming that it had say a twenty or thirty foot wingspan I would guess it was only about 8,000 - 10,000 feet up. It seemed like it wasn't moving, namely I didn't see any indication that it was moving it may well have been but from my point of view it seemed stationary.

So my question is this: Does anyone know of a aircraft that could fly at low altitudes without creating a noise effect and stay stationary for even ten seconds? I'm very curious I don't necessarily think it was anything bizarre but being near an airport and seeing all sorts of planes from day to day it stuck out enough that I wanted to ask if anyone knew.

thanks for the help

reply to post by Awolscout
I`ve actually had F-15s and F-16s in the landing pattern go over me, and me not hear them until they were past me. The noise can appear to not be there as a result of atmospheric conditions. As for the "hovering", was it coming right at you? Tere`s an optical illusion that can make them appear to be stationary. There are no known planes other than the AV-8B and V-22 that could hover like that.

Hmmmm..

Maybe what you saw was a Harrier Jet. They can fly at a generally low altitude, and stay in a stationary position.

reply to post by Jordan_The_Maori
They can`t for long though. For a Harrier to do a vertical landing, they require approximately 60 gallons of distilled water.

Wow, the OP is not too far from where I am located as well. I am actually directly under multiple FLT paths, and I have seen just about everything over the years (CAPs, Chinooks (Training, as well as on a RR Mission), USCG Helos, Police Choppers, WWII Flying Tigers, Stealth Bombers, Russian Jumbo Jets, etc.).

I can also attest to what "Zaphod58" stated in regards to the Fighters. When they come in low at just under the Speed of Sound, they can completely take you by surprise. I had one at Andrews scare the living daylights out of me doing that.

On the other hand, I have been standing on the pier right under an incoming C-130 Hercules on approach to NSN, and that thing shook the Earth with a rumble that I will never forget. You can never miss a Quad-Prop lol.

Hey "Awolscout", I think that I know EXACTLY what you are describing. One time I was actually taken by surprise with what appeared as a string of Christmas lights in the sky. They seemed motionless, and at first I thought they were from some new building which was under construction. It turned out however, that it was simply a combination of the aircraft in a landing pattern, combined with the angle of my vantage point. It does seem extremely weird the first time you witness it, especially when they have their Landing Lights engaged, which causes them to appear much closer than they actually are.

reply to post by TheAgentNineteen


That could be it I'm definitely close enough to be underneath a landing pattern. It's definitely trippy and I've seen it before but never at night so it kind of threw me off, I wouldn't be too surprised though if it was a smaller jet seeing as we have all those obnoxiously rich people around here, the kind that would own a smaller single engine plane.

thanks for the feedback if I see one again I'll try and watch it for a little longer to find out for sure whether or not it was just a jet in a landing pattern

you guys, the russians have a VTOL plane, the Yakovlev Yak-141

This engine is roumerd that it's so powerfull that the flightdeck is red hot after takeoff, and can't be used for some time.

Wiki-on-YAK-141
en.wikipedia.org...

I think the US has a couple of these from defeted pilots.
Might have been one of these?

My place of work is attached to an airfield so I see this alot when I'm out on smoke break. Where for a good couple minutes you're stuck wondering if it's a helo, a plane or UFO lol. Then the thing passes over you and realize it's just a 757 on approach.