NUFORC Sighting 78610

Occurred: 2010-06-01 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2010-10-28 21:30 Pacific
Duration: 5-10 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Bradenton, FL, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

2 fast-moving lights which spun around each other, then separated and rejoined

A friend and I were sitting on the tailgate of my truck in her driveway at about 11:00 pm on or around June 1st, 2010. We were watching a police helicopter fly circles over the neighborhood.

As the helicopter was approaching us, we saw two fast-moving lights cross in front of the helicopter's path, moving from our right to our left. The lights were about as bright as an average star, and were positioned closely beside each other, like the wingtip lights of an aircraft. They were solid, unblinking, steadily-moving lights. There was no sound coming from them, at least none that could be heard over the approaching helicopter, although the lights appeared to be much closer to us than it was.

We continued to watch them move rapidly across the sky. I was thinking perhaps they were the wingtip lights of a glider or something, they didn't look like anything I'd seen before. When the lights were directly above us, they spun around each other once quickly, like the wingtips of an airplane doing a barrel roll.

Then they did something I'll never forget: The two lights appeared to "unlock" from each other, increasing the distance between them briefly, then they rejoined and appeared to "lock" together again. Immediately following this maneuver, they made a sharp upward turn and disappeared from sight. The total time elapsed between our first sighting until the upward turn was less than 10 seconds.

I have no idea what we saw that night, but I'm confident that it was no ordinary aircraft. It was hard to judge the altitude of the lights, but I'm pretty sure they were low enough that we should have heard some engine noise, even over the helicopter, as it was still far away from us. The only way I can explain the lights expanding and coming back together is if they were on the wingtips of a variable-wing aircraft like an F-14 Tomcat... However if this were so, I'm sure we would've heard the engines, and I just can't see any conventional plane being able to move as sharply and precisely as these lights did.

Posted 2010-11-21