NUFORC Sighting 2090

Occurred: 1997-03-05 18:10 Local
Reported: 1997-03-22 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Shape: Oval

Summary : 2 small (about 1 ft. long & 200 ft. away at closest) dark objects circling each other then sped south,followed min. later by 2 more.

Clear sky, not windy, facing west from roof of three story building during smoke break,saw two dark, slightly oblong objects (but evenly unlike a ballon that has one roundedside and one narrow side) caught my eye as they manuevered about each other about 200or more feet away. The movements were smooth and not jerky or bobbing (like balloonswould do) then sped off to the south faster than any wind might propell them. I waswishing I had a pair of binoculars as they grew smaller above a building to the south.When I first saw them circling each other it appeared almost as if they were linked bya tether since they moved in tandem, but then when their path became straight they seemedto be at a greater distance appart than if this were the case. Strangely, a dark heli-copter was circling the area directly above the closest approach of the objects at the time.It performed a pretty tight loop that seemed to focus on the area and was quite low as well.I looked up at it only two or three times and didn't notice any markings. It didn't strikeme as a traffic helicopter and was in the wrong location if it were so if they were doingtheir job. After the sighting I pondered whether what I saw were ballons, but this possibilityjust didn't seem to fit. I didn't notice any wind that could account for it and the windusually comes from the west off the coast. These objects flew from north to south. Asmentioned in the abreviated report, the first two objects were followed by two more on thesame path, but without any circling maneuvers.

Posted 1998-03-07