NUFORC Sighting 16608

Occurred: 2001-02-22 17:19 Local
Reported: 2001-02-23 00:00 Pacific
Duration: :02-:03 min.
No of observers: 1

Location: Murdock/Port Charlotte, FL, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail, Aircraft nearby

Possible exotic new stealth aircraft witnessed.

TIME: 5:19 pm, U.S. east coast time, still daylight out, sun was above the treetops. LOCATION: Charlotte County (northern southwest Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico). EVENT: I was outside my home, returning from my mailbox and spotted a contrail in progress above my location. There were other contrails in the sky nearer the horizon, some criss-crossing. With the unaided eye, the size of the contrail was about half the width of a pencil at arm's length, with an elongated object about half the size of a pencil tip traveling in front of it. What was unusual was that the object was displaying a single reddish-orange glow or light along its length. I rushed and got a pair of binoculars and observed that the object appeared to be a conventional looking passenger or cargo jet, except for one big difference: its fuselage, at least the underside portion observable to me on the ground, was glowing or radiating a uniform bright reddish-orange color (not a point of light, but the entire length of the fuselage). The wings were normal in appearance, not glowing or lighted, and appeared, from the great distance, to be white, tan, or gray. Two contrails were forming a short distance behind the aircraft, which then combined into a single contrail (a normal occurrence). The aircraft was traveling southward along the Gulf Coast of Florida, yet slightly inland. The nearest international airport it could have flown out of is in Sarasota, and then north of that, in Tampa, where there is also a major headquarters-status U.S. Air Force base (the Gulf War was managed from there). Since the sun was still above the treetops and there was no evidence of any sunset activity in the sky (even if there was, the aircraft would have needed a mirrored fuselage to reflect the level of light seen), I lowered my binoculars and rushed inside the open side door to my garage to get a video camera I keep on a shelf and back outside. I timed it after the event and my eyes were off the aircraft only 8 seconds. When I looked back up in the sky, all I saw was the contrail cut off in its tracks where I had seen it last and no aircraft. I searched with my binoculars and couldn't locate any evidence of it, which should have still been visible. I wish now I had kept observing the jet with the binoculars for those 8 seconds. Was what I saw an exotic new U.S. stealth aircraft fitted with a skin of light panels that could allow it to blend into the sky upon activation, or is there a conventional explanation? I don't know. All I can do is report what I observed. I've witnessed one other definitely exotic stealth aircraft earlier in my life, totally different than this incident, but some things need and deserve continued secrecy.

Posted 2001-02-24

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