NUFORC Sighting 14342

Occurred: 2000-05-15 23:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2000-09-30 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 3-4 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Cleveland (approaching), OH, USA

Shape: Teardrop
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Aircraft nearby

Near miss - a UFO shot out from under our MD-80 and made a ninety degree turn off our right wing.

My wife and I were on a TWA MD-80 from Phoenix, through St Louis to Cleveland, Ohio in May of this year (2000). As we were approaching Cleveland from the west, it was night (nearly midnight), but there must have been a full moon as we could clearly see the clouds below and around us. I don't think we had really begun our decent yet. We were sitting on the right side of the plane and were both looking out the window at the clouds, when suddenly something crossed our path. The MD-80 didn't even wiggle, so I don't know if they saw it. It came from our left and shot out from below and forward of our plane, going off to the right. I would say it was about 50 yards off our wing and forward of us. It lifted it's right side, then it smoothly lowered the right and lifted it's left side, and then shot past us going in the opposite direction of our plane. This whole maneuver took about 3 second to accomplish. It was almost in slow motion, but it accelerated past us very quickly. We saw the following: 1. No obvious wings 2. It was rounded across the front 3. It was more or less flat (not like paper) but it definitely had a low profile. 4. There were no vertical stabilizers or fins. 5. The tail appeared to be sort of flat not rounded like the front. 6. It was sort of oblong (not round like a saucer). 7. There were no obvious individual lights, but the whole craft glowed with a brilliant white light. 8. There were no engines visible. 9. We saw nothing that would suggest an exhaust or jet nozzle. 10. We could hear nothing, but then we were in an MD-80 going 500mph at the time. 11. We saw nothing that looked like numbering or letters of any kind. This was all amazing enough to see, but what was really amazing I did not realize until it was over and I had a chance to think about it some. This thing crossed our path and completed nearly a ninety degree turn to the right which in itself was amazing enough, but the really amazing part was that during the approximately three seconds it's took to make that turn, the MD-80 we were in (which by the way was traveling about 500 mph at the time) did not speed past this thing. It made this maneuver almost suspended in that position. We saw it commence that maneuver in the same position out the window that we saw it complete it. It was like we had not moved forward at all. I know we did, but can't imagine why this craft was visible to us for so long in the same position. I suppose perhaps it was larger than it appeared and perhaps farther away which might explain it's lengthy stay in that position, but I don't think so. When it was over, we looked at the others in the plane to see if anyone else had seen it and I doubt anyone else was even awake. Nobody said anything about it, so we felt it was best not to mention it then. We didn't want others to laugh, but the longer we thought about it, the more we wanted to speak up. We did tell our relatives in Ohio when we arrived, but I don't think they really believed us. I personally have always believed that the universe is too large and deliberately constructed to belong to only us. I have always thought if we were the ultimate in intelligent life, the universe was really in trouble, so UFOs were never out of the question for me. I had never seen one before and may not have now, but I always had an open mind. My wife on the other hand is oriental and is not at all open to science fiction, or anything else like that. She believes now though. I served in the USAF for 8 years during the VietName war and I am now a software quality engineer for a large high tech corporation. My wife works in a semiconductor manufacturing plant as a process technician.

Posted 2000-12-02

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