NUFORC Sighting 07776

Occurred: 1999-05-14 09:18 Local
Reported: 1999-05-16 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2-5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: America West flt 2620 (Phoenix-Oakland, NV-CA), CA, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

During a commercial airlines flight, I saw an angular, black aircraft on our altitude, watched it a few minutes, when suddenly it disappeared.

We were approaching the Sierra Nevada range, travelling from Phoenix to Oakland on AmericaWest flight 2620. It was about 9:18 AM, May 14 (Friday). We had just passed over Lake Mead; I had the left window seat. I saw Bullhead City, where I often vacationed. I did not see Las Vegas, so it must have been on the right of our plane. We were probably travelling almost directly along the California/Nevada border. Judging from my atlas, the aircraft I saw was probably in the vicinity of Death Valley (valley), in California, somewhere in an area bounded by Cima, Shoshone, Ballarat and Barstow. We had just passed directly over another commercial jetliner, much below our altitude. I looked up to see a black, jagged, roughly-rectangular aircraft slowly rise to our same altitude, going very slow, counter to our direction, gradually stopping relative movement and seeming to stay even with our flight. It appeared about half the size of the other aircraft (737's) we passed, which all shone brightly light in the clear sun. This craft made a densely-black silhouette; no wings or fins were apparent. It did not diminish in size as it would have if it were travelling away from us. It was west of us, at roughly ten o'clock out the window. I watched it for a few minutes. I looked away for approximately 1 to 2 seconds, and looked back. It had totally disappeared from the cloudless sky. I have been a bird watcher for years, so know how to scan for flying things. We were at full altitude, above the haze line. I estimate it was 2 to 10 miles from us. I did not know about Area 51 until after the flight, when I spoke with the pilot. He said we were in that area at the time I described, and that many unusual sightings had been reported there. However, he did not acknowledge seeing any aircraft at our altitude (which surely must have come to their attention).

Posted 1999-05-24

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