NUFORC Sighting 176569

Occurred: 2023-07-02 01:19 Local
Reported: 2023-07-03 12:29 Pacific
Duration: 2 mins
No of observers: 2

Location: Coalinga, CA, USA
Location details: We were driving through I-5 north

Shape: Other
Explanation: Aircraft - Probable
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

We were driving through I5 when a craft appeared on drivers side then flew past windshield then on the left side with 3 bright lights.

My son and I were driving on I5 south. We were currently on Coalinga that time. We came from Arizona and was driving to Tacoma WA. While I was driving I saw lights that suddenly appeared on my left. It looked like strobe lights but very faint. I thought they were fireworks at first. I then saw a very faint outline of what I could only assume was a craft. It looked like something invisible but you can still see the shimmer and the outline so you know something is there. Then all of a sudden it materialized and 3 very bright lights came on. The lights were so bright they looked like spotlights you can see from afar. Then as suddenly as it appeared, the light turned off and the craft flew directly in front of my windshield then went to the passenger side. Please note that I was driving at 90mph during that time. I woke my son up and he started recording it when it was on his side. When it flew past my windshield I saw that it was a grayish brown in color and from what I saw did not look like metal. It was some kind of textured material. I would say it looked like some kind of "skin". I might sound crazy but it looked like the skin of a dragon. Also for some reason, it looked like it was flying at a 45 degree angle. Like a plane with the nose up. I may be seeing things but that's how it looked to me. For background, I am a nurse and I work for the health department. I do believe we are not alone but I am also very skeptical when someone says they saw a ufo. My son works as a service advisor and has the same outlook as me. So when I tried telling my friends and family about it, it felt like I was making it up. It was a very frustrating feeling. And made me wonder to myself if I was seeing things.

So when my son finally started recording, the craft was on our left side. It was flying very low and had so sound or any exhaust that I can see. It turned a bit towards us and the three bright lights came on again. To me it looked like the lights were at the end of long tubes if that makes sense. After the lights turned on, it slightly turned and just disappeared. My son told me that he saw the underside and it looked invisible. Like when something is being cloaked but you can still a distortion or a shimmer around it. There was no sound and the way it was moving looks like it had no trouble going in any direction at all. There were other cars on the highway but they far from us. But other cars must have seen the very bright lights that came on twice.

From the video it looks like an aircraft of some sort. But from our perspective, it looked very different. I am reporting this in case someone else saw it so I wouldn't think I was seeing things. As for my feelings during that time, it did not feel threatening or dangerous. It felt curious to me.

Both my son and I just wanted to get home quickly and were not even thinking anything remotely about ufo's. So it wasn't that we wanted to see something that wasn't there. If it was a ufo then it was really cool we saw it. If it was an aircraft or drone of some sort, it was still cool to see the advanced technology of drones today.

NUFORC Note:

There is a Naval air base in the vicinity. Likely training exercise.

Posted 2023-07-10