NUFORC Sighting 138395

Occurred: 2018-01-15 00:00 Local
Reported: 2018-01-15 10:08 Pacific
Duration: <5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Metairie, LA, USA

Shape: Unknown

Loud aircraft heard incredibly close above home.

This morning around midnight, I awoke a few minutes before I heard an incredibly loud aircraft pass over my home. I live in what's considered "Old Metairie", Louisiana, near the Causeway and there's quite a bit of noise outside--day and night. With the highway being so close there's constantly the drone of cars and 18-wheelers passing, not to mention I also live about 15 minutes from the airport so I'm used to hearing planes as well.

Last night was different though. I woke up a couple minutes before it happened in a short coughing fit (it's flu season and I'm getting over it now) and laid in bed in silence with my dog before I heard what, at first, I thought was a helicopter approaching. I say it sounded like a helicopter because it was almost a pulsating whirring instead of a steady building of noise like an airplane. But my heart started to race because it seemed like it wasn't passing at all and instead was getting closer and louder until I certainly thought, at the volume it was at, there's no way it couldn't be right above the neighborhood.

I couldn't bring myself to look outside and see; for fear of seeing anything other than a plane or helicopter, and instead I laid there holding my breath waiting for the noise to subside. After about two minutes or so it did but not without me trying to justify in my head what would have taken it so long as any other aircraft takes only seconds to pass no matter how close it sounds. I'd like to add that I also grew up on a military base so I'd consider my ears incredibly accustomed to the noise of training exercises and transport at all times of the day, but I couldn't shake the feeling last night that it was something I had never heard here before.

Posted 2018-01-15