NUFORC Sighting 83096

Occurred: 2011-08-03 23:00 Local
Reported: 2011-08-12 13:34 Pacific
Duration: 10 Sec
No of observers: 6

Location: Key Largo, FL, USA

Shape: Chevron
Characteristics: Lights on object

Large Chevron UFO flying over Key Largo FL from the SW to NE -

Dear Mr. Davenport, I submitted my Sighting Description late last night and I am sorry, I made many grammatical errors. I went through my paper and have corrected them all.

Hello My name is ((name deleted)) and I observed for approximately 10 seconds, in great clarity, in extremely close proximity, a very, very large chevron shaped unidentified flying object that flew completely from one horizon towards my position, virtually directly over my head, to the opposite horizon until I could no longer see it, on August 3rd, 2011 in Key Largo Florida at approximately 11pm at night.

My Background: I was born in May of 1964 and raised in the Metro Detroit area. I graduated from Western Michigan University in 1990. I left the Metro Detroit area and moved to Kansas City in September of 1996, and then finally re-located to Cape Coral, Florida in September of 2000 where I reside today. My occupation was in the restaurant/hospitality industry for most of my life and left that behind when I became self-employed in March of 2004 as a Realtor in SW Florida.

As a young man growing up during the Apollo era, I have always had an interest in aviation, space flight, the planets, the moon and the stars. I became so interested in astronomy at a young age that my parents gave me a telescope for Christmas when I was 9 years old. I still have a 900mm telescope today, although it doesn't get used all that often anymore. At any rate, I have observed the Moon and its mesmerizing countless craters countless times. I have visited Mars, Jupiter, Saturn with my telescope as well and their observable moons and gazed at the Horse Head Nebula, many stars and variety of other celestial objects.

Needless to say, I enjoy starring out into space and contemplating all of the greatest questions that confound mankind. I am always amazed that I am not seeing a picture of the present stars, but rather looking at a picture of the past stars, and of course its endless beauty. In addition, through the years I have read books on astronomy, aviation and expanded my knowledge through college academic's in calculus, physics and astronomy.

I am an aviation buff as previously mentioned, I have attended many aviation shows over the years and I can say that I am probably more familiar with civilian and military aircraft than the average Joe on the street. My son has been to 10 shows with me, and he is now 12 years of age. I have seen just about every type of current military aircraft that civilians are allowed to see, on the ground up close, as well as performing maneuvers for the crowd over the tarmac.

To finish the context of my background that is important for you to understand regarding how and why I was privileged enough to witness this event, I must tell you a story of my past. One evening about 16 or 17 years ago I was laying in the grass at a rest area with my then wife, outside the city of Detroit, to avoid the city lights. We were there, late night picnicking to observe a meteor shower that we had discovered was happening, from a radio news broadcast we had heard a couple of days earlier. We watched many shooting stars that evening, and noticed a bunch of small moving stars. We realized those slow moving stars were not stars at all, they were satellites. Unexpectedly, I had found a new hobby that night, starring at the sky, in one direction for long periods of time, then finding and watching satellites cross the sky. I thought that was so cool, to see something so small, so far away, flying at 17, 500 miles per hour! It just brought me a little closer to outer space! So, over the years while camping or at the beach, on the darkest of nights when the stars were at their brightest, my son and I have laid on the ground and looked for satellites together many times. This night, last Wednesday, August the 3rd 2011 was not our first time satellite gazing.

The Event: My son Julian and I went to Key Largo, Florida on Tuesday August 2nd, 2011 for a two and a half day get-a-way, to celebrate the end of his summer vacation. 7th grade was starting that follow Monday, so we had planned on doing some snorkeling and fishing.

Basically just goofing around and relaxing really. So, on Tuesday morning we left for the ((name deleted)) Inn located at 97xxx Hwy, MM 97.8 Bayside, Key Largo, FL 33037 Phone: (305) ((deleted))FAX: (305) ((deleted)). We arrived in the early afternoon, check into the hotel and met up with some old friends. Then we proceeded to have a fun evening talking, walking on the small dock and beach at the hotel and eventually went out to dinner that evening.

On Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011, we got up in the morning and went to the beach again. I ended up doing most of the real snorkeling and attempted to do some spear fishing. ((name deleted)) spent most of that morning and afternoon tooling around the real shallow waters close to the beach with just his goggles on. Later in the afternoon I met a lady, a guest of the hotel, who was drinking a beer in the hotel beach waters relaxing. She talked about this and that, and went on and on, but the two things I remembered from our short conversation was that she was from northern Florida, and the night before, Tuesday (when we were out to dinner) she and her husband had been shark fishing off of the little dock at the hotel, and they had done pretty well catching a few nice sized sharks. Well, I knew at that moment that Julian and I would be doing some shark fishing that night. It sounded fun, it was convenient and - well - I wanted to catch a shark too! That night at about 10:15pm, Julian and I headed to the dock with 2 fishing rods fitted with metal leaders, a fishing tackle box, 4 cans of dog food for shark chum and a box of thawed squid for bait. When we arrived at the Dock there were other people their.

The lady from northern part of Florida (she was already fishing) and her son, a new female guest of Latino origin, and another child I believed to be her son. So in total, there were 3 adults and 3 children. It was a beautiful evening almost completely clear with a sporadic cloud now and again, but virtually clear. The two ladies were chit chatting away about this and that, the 2 other boys were playing behind me. I wasn't really paying close attention to any of them at this time, as ((name deleted)) and I were setting our gear down and getting ready to fish. Julian and I prepared our fishing rods. I went ahead and opened the cans of dog food and threw the food into the water to bring the sharks closer to the shore. I then baited both fishing rods, each with one full squid and I cast the baits out into the Gulf of Mexico. At that point, I asked Julian if he wanted to look for satellites and he said sure. So, Julian and I laid down on the dock to begin looking, starring into the heavans... NOTE: The docks shape is square and approximately 40' X 40' and its orientation is such that if you were sitting at the end of the dock, on the edge, with your feet in the water, looking straight out, you would be facing just about dead NW. This is where I had cast our fishing rods out into the water. So when we laid down on our backs, our feet were facing dead NW, with our heads pointed just about due SE.

Starring up at the zenith of the sky only after a few minutes, we spotted a tiny red dot, a satellite emitting this faint light, like a faint star, but crossing the night sky. As we watched it cross the sky, suddenly one of our fishing rods exploded with the fishing line running out of the real at a very fast rate! We both jumped up to our feet, I pulled the rod out of it's holder and handed it to my son. The 2 other boys came running up to us to watch, and the 2 ladies were there already chit chatting away, now standing next to us watching the fishing battle. Julian was wrestling with a fiend from the deep and he was loving it. I had to take the rod from him a few times to ensure the fish wouldn't wrap himself around a buoy and dock a couple of times, but ((name)) did most of the work and pulled up to the dock a 4.5 foot Lemon shark. We tried to land the shark as the lady from northern Florida said she wanted to keep it, but while I was trying to take the hook out of it's mouth and not get bitten at the same time, the shark shook it's head and jumped off the hook. It fell into the gulf waters and swam off. I asked my son to grab another squid from the box, and I re-baited the fishing rod and cast the bait back out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The shark having swam off and the excitement over for the moment, ((name deleted)) began to hangout with the 2 other boys on the dock behind me playing and talking. The were walking around the dock, then off the dock to the beach and back again to the dock etc. The ladies still standing 5 feet away from me off to my right, went back into their conversation chit chatting away... I laid down on the dock, back into my satellite hunting position. My feet again pointing about due NW and my head about due SE. The lady from northern Florida still fishing as well. I starred straight up into the sky looking for movement in the stars, looking for another satellite to show my son.

As the ladies were talking, the Latino lady mentioned something about God and the stars and heavan and then mentioned something about the North Star, at that juncture I interjected in their conversation and I pointed out to them, how you could find the North Star by looking at the two stars on the end of the cup of the Big Dipper. I told them to find the Big Dipper, and then the 2 stars at the end of the cup and showed them how they pointed like an arrow to the North Star... They didn't seem impressed, So I laid back down on the dock looking straight up, looking and looking for another satellite to show Julian and his new friends...

This went on for about 30 minutes with no luck spotting another satellite.

I then caught movement out of the corner of my left eyes' peripheral vision. Still lying flat on my back, I simply turned my head to the left (looking just about due SW) and to my amazement I clearly saw a large, and I mean large, flat black object approaching me, us, quickly. If I had to judge the objects altitude at the moment I first saw it, it was about 15 degrees above the horizon (or about a fist and a half at arms length). The objects physical width was about a fists width across. It was approaching fast, that's why I noticed it. It blocked out the star light as it was moving. Although I had been looking straight up all of this time, my eyes were wide open and in-tune to the ambient light, so it was easy to see. I leaped to my feet (my entire body has goose bumps as I am writing this - remembering) - I leaped to my feet, pointed directly at it and started yelling "look, look, look, look, look, look, look, at that!!! look, look, look, look, look, look, look, at that!!!" I was yelling, keeping my finger pointed straight at the craft as it approached, so that everybody who had not been looking up, could focus on it, could find what it was I was seeing approaching us in the sky.

It was moving quickly, straight, straight towards us, heading to be almost perfectly above us.... I wasn't paying attention to anyone else so I really don't know what everybody elses locations were around me... all I could do was stare as it approached very quickly, and I am yelling to everyone, I see it has lights underneath it. Not a lot of lights, maybe 5 or 6, white lights not too big, kind of small actually, not flashing, but on - constant and white, they kind of look like the stars, running along the center line of what I see, as it approaches - clear as if it were in day light - to be a chevron craft, huge, as it passes above me - it's size, its wing span (for lack of a better definition) was... if you held your hands up to the sky and spread them apart 3 feet apart. The wings are perfectly symmetrical, the width from the leading edge to the lee ward edge was a fists width, the ends were square or 45 degree angles, they were not rounded like a boomerang. It looks like a perfect chevron, with lights running across the center line of the craft equidistant from each other.

It's was huge - it's the size of a cruise ship in Key West. The real creepy part - it doesn't make a sound - I can't even hear wind running over the body of it. I'm thinking "it's not silent, it's more than silent - nothing - no sound - Just me yelling as it's passing over head - almost as if it were suppressing the sound - as it passes above us I start say "Do you see that? What is it? Oh my God what is that.....Do you see that!" It's moving away - never slowing, never buffeting, no lights blinking - no sound - it's past me moving away - NO EXHAUST... It has no exhaust, no sound... I'm yelling - "look there", pointing at it, never taking my eyes off of it, as I hear the boys come running up. It's approaching a cloud to the NE... I'm yelling at the boys to look hard before it disappears "look, look...it's going above that cloud, look at the other side of the cloud maybe you will see it when it comes out the other side...." and it was gone.

It never slowed - it never turned - it passed almost directly above us, just so it's right wing tip was at the sky's zenith above me and it's left wing tip directly away from me to the NW. It was flying on a course following the island from the SW to the NE.

After the experience, the Latino lady left quickly, I never saw her again a long with the boy that was with her. The other boy, the northern Florida lady's son couldn't stop talking about it, what he saw, over and over again. I was dumb founded. I just shook my head head and could not understand what I had just seen. The feeling reminds me of when I was told my older brother had died. I didn't go into shock like frozen or start crying, I just was amazed, dazed. I ask everyone did you see that?... and everyone said yes, but there answers washed over me - I went into shock by going about my business.... I checked the fishing lines, lit a cigarette and laid down on the dock, looking at the sky. I ask Julian if he had seen it and he said he yes he had...

I started thinking "was it a B-2 bomber? Could a B-2 bomber be flying that low? Why would a B-2 bomber being flying that low?? I know B-2's are REALLY quiet, but could one fly that low and be SILENT?? No, it wasn't a B-2, when it flew over head it was a chevron shape, didn't have the "bat" look with the B-2's "W" shaped tail end. There were no red and green navigation lights, just the white lights across the center line or the entire mid line of the chevron shape...my mind was spinning... I went to our hotel room, made a rum and coke and went back out to the dock. 15 - 20 minutes had passed. I laid back down on the dock, looking at the sky, by the fishing rods smoking a cigarette. I asked the northern Florida lady, "did you see that thing?" that's all I could say...

I couldn't even have an intelligent conversation about it, I had to have been in shock now that I look back. I didn't even have the sense to ask for the northern Florida ladies phone number. Why? I'm an intelligent person?? Around midnight Julian and I packed it up and went back to our hotel room and we went to sleep. The next morning we had to drive back to Cape Coral. I had some work to do with a client on Friday, and I wanted to make sure Julian was all set for Monday morning school. On the ride home I called and told one of my best friends and told him what happened and what I had seen. He fully believed me, but after I hung up with him, I thought I best be careful who I talk to about this...

Friday, I had to talk to someone and get some answers, so I called the Monroe Sheriffs department, and I told them the basic story. I asked if anyone had reported seeing an unusual object in the sky around 11pm last Wednesday night flying up the coastline of Key Largo. The lady officer I spoke with actually took the time to ask around and check if any reports had been filed (I didn't expect to get that much consideration with the story I had just given her) and she said no, but perhaps I should call Homestead Air Force Base and see if the were conducting some sort of operations. So I did.

I called Homestead Air Force Base and kind of gave the gentleman on the phone the short version like "I think I saw something like a B-2 bomber flying low over Key Largo last Wednesday night..." He said quite plainly and politely that Homestead did not have any B-2's stationed there. I asked him "would a B-2 be flying that low over the Island in any event?" He said that he really didn't know. So, I called the Key West Naval Air Station to see if they had tracked anything on radar that night. I ended up getting a message machine in their "public relations" department. I left a message asking for someone to contact me, and that I had few important questions to ask, but no one returned my call... So I told 3 more people over the coarse of the last 5 days. My cousin, and 2 people at work. I then decided I need to call somebody who knows more about this stuff.

I contacted MUFON, and their investigator is out of town. Ann Castle, emailed me and said she would try to be in touch with me next Monday. That's when I got back on line and found THE NATIONAL UFO REPORTING CENTER. I recognized Mr. Davenport's name from previous TV shows and articles I have read and decided to leave a message explaining what happened last week. and there it is...

One of the things I keep thinking about over and over was how the object moved and looked as if it were a computer enhanced image, almost like it was an image projected onto the sky because it was so perfect. It was like watching a space ship in a movie theater, moving perfectly soundless, never fluttering, never buffeting, moving quickly - steadily, straight, soundless, moving almost god like. OR, I guess you could say it looked like a ship in space, how once they are moving in a direction, they continue in that direction unless acted on by another force. That's kind of the way it make me feel every time I reveiw the film in my head.

Seemed like nothing was pushing or pulling it, it was just momentum. Maybe that's why there wasn't any sound? Airplanes and jets tend to dip a wing, make the air move, make some sort of sound... Every time I think of it, I get the goose bumps because although it was completely absorbing, fantasinating and I feel privileged to have been in the right place at the right time - it was still really very eerie...

One conclusion I have come to: If I was not looking up, I would have never had known it was there. No sound what so ever. It would have passed right over all of our heads as we looked out on the water and never had a clue. Amazing. I have watched every aviation program, every UFO program, every Big Foot Program etc...that has ever been broadcast on TV since I was a child.

I have always wanted to see a UFO. I have looked at the skies looking for a UFO's for years and years. I never thought I would really see one. I cetainly never thought to be caught purely by surprize and have one fly so close to me, over head, and to be so immense. I truely am privileged. It was the most awesome sight I have ever seen next to seeing my son being born! In conclusion, all I can think is that I hope it's one of ours, because if it is - we have some bad-ass flying machines up there! If it isn't one of ours, one can only speculate to the possibilities and implications... Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Best regards, ((name deleted))

Posted 2011-08-21