NUFORC Sighting 109205

Occurred: 2014-05-02 22:40 Local
Reported: 2014-05-05 12:55 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Iron Gate, VA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

3 fiery orange lights in formation maneuvering through the night skyline.

At approximately 2240 local Eastern Time, My wife and I witnessed unidentified objects in flight from the front yard of my home in Iron Gate VA. I am an Air Traffic Control Specialist with the Federal Aviation Administration at the Roanoke Regional Airport and also a veteran who served in the US Navy.

I saw three bright fiery orange lights from the northwest direction of my home; the objects appeared to be equal in size and traveling together in a triangular formation.

The surface wind was mostly calm possibly variable less than three knots, and sky conditions were clear.

The objects were approximately 3 to 4 times the size of the brightest star in view. Each light appeared to belong to a specific object and they seemed to move independently from one another, but in the same fashion remaining in a close proximity to one another in which reminded me of military aircraft in a formation flight. The light from each object was a constant; it didn’t pulse or st! robe of any sort. It didn’t change in color or appearance.

The objects didn’t seem to make any sound. The town was mostly quiet and I did not hear any aircraft engines, or rotary noises.

The objects appeared to be moving southeast direction when I first saw them and were approaching the town of Iron Gate. The objects appeared to have lateral and vertical control like an aircraft. The spacing between each object varied and they appeared to not travel in a straight line.

As the objects approached the west side of Iron Gate they turned toward the southwest one at a time and seemed to climb in altitude above the mountainous terrain west of the town.

As to the speed of the objects, the only relation I can use is that of aircraft in the vicinity of an airport being tracked by air traffic radar.

I speculate the objects at the time I witnessed appeared to be traveling less than +/- 150 knots. As the objects turned southwest, I lost visual contact due to terrain.

Posted 2014-05-08