NUFORC Sighting 42251

Occurred: 2005-02-17 13:30 Local
Reported: 2005-02-24 20:24 Pacific
Duration: 2min 25sec
No of observers: 1

Location: Nashville, TN, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Pilot sees a Circular object hover and then goes to speed in one second, goes half mile and hovers again.

I was standing outside behind my house watching the hawks fly around when I noticed a jet fly over. Being a Commercial Pilot I am always drawn to watch them fly over.

As I was watching the jet a object to the jets left caught my eye. By the way I have 20/15 in one eye and 20/20 in the other. This object was circular in shape and appeared to be at least 500 ft to 2000 ft AGL depending on its size, which was hard to to determine. If it was 500ft it was around the size of a washing machine, if it was 2000 ft it was around the size of a truck or van. It was a color between orange and gold in color.

This single object was hovering above the hill behind my house. It would move side to side, no more than three or four times its width to each side.

I thought, Ok, I am seeing a hawk at a high altitude flying around in a tight circle but it wasn't a circle it was side to side. I thought to myself a hawk isn't round or gold nore can it fly side to side so what is that? About that time T-0 to T+20 sec. at T-20 it stopped and was completely still and remained frozen hovering there from T-20 until T-40 in between that time I rubbed my eyes to make sure there wasn't something in them. There wasn't because I noticed it was still there frozen in the sky. It seemed to glisten once.

I had a tree and a hill as a reference point as I am aware of the fact that without them objects can appear to move. Anyway from around T-40 to T-60sec it started moving back and forth again. Then from T-60 to T-80 it stopped and was frozen hovering there again in the same spot as the previous times.

Sometime around T-80 it accelerated from velocity V-0mph to its full observed speed of what I later estimate conservatively 180mph within one second V-180mph. So T-80 to T-81 and V-0 to V-180. OK?

I watched it move and pass behind the tall tree behind the house that doesn't have any leaves so I could still see it and it went at the same speed and altitude over to another hill that is over a half a mile away and stop/hover. When it stopped it seemed to slow from V-180 to V-0 at a slower rate than it accelerated not by much though but it was a noticeable difference, my guess is 2 or 3 seconds V 180 to V-0. It flew from point A to point B in less than ten seconds which are the basis for my speed estimates. T-80 through T-90.

If the object was higher than I estimate, then the distance and speed would be much more than I estimated. Anyway it stopped over the second hill and hovered there for another 20 seconds T-90 to T-110. Then it moved back and forth again ,T-110 to T-130sec, and stopped frozen hovering there for about ten seconds T-130 to T-140.

Around this time it flew pretty much dew south from point B with the same type of velocity as before V-0 to V whatever speed ( fast ! )in one second and went out of my sight over the horizon of hills to the south which took around 5 seconds so T-140 to T-145sec.

The next day I called KBNA ATC and talked to the controler on duty the day before. He was interested in my sighting but said that he hadn't noticed anything strange on radar that day.

I have flown privately and commercially for twenty years and am aware of all known aircraft and this was not one of them.

I have a BS degree in Aerospace and with a minor in Psychology. I am 37 years old. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Posted 2005-05-11

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