NUFORC Sighting 12058

Occurred: 2000-02-12 17:00 Local
Reported: 2000-02-19 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10-15 minutes

Location: Buffalo/Amherst, NY, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Circular jet black object remained motionless in the sky for 10 minutes then smoothly moved away out of sight.

I began looking at the sky due to a great deal of plane exhaust trails, there were a few that were very dark, nearly black, many of these trails also ran parallel to eachother. As I came into a clearer view of the sky I saw a round black object remaining motionless. Initially I thought this was simply a child's balloon that had been lost. This was near a supermarket so this does happen sometimes. However, this thing (judging by its distance and height) was far too large to be a balloon, also its stillness was strange enough to capture my attention. After about ten minutes planes began to appear, one with the black exhaust trail. Within a minute of the planes' appearance the object began moving away in an arc, and was gone within a minute or so. I thought I may have seen some movement on the sides of the thing, not unlike the movements of a bird's wings (this is perhaps the strangest part of the whole affair). My initial thought was weather balloon, yet this was in a very populated area and no where near the airport or weather stations. Also, the absence of lights on the object, to me, disqualified it as a plane. I had been pulled over in the parking lot of a supermarket, when I came out there were planes all over the sky, six all at about the relatively same altitude and running parallel. Does this sound like a military excercise?

Posted 2000-02-23