NUFORC Sighting 151932

Occurred: 2019-08-09 17:20 Local
Reported: 2019-12-28 20:34 Pacific
Duration: 45 seconds

Location: Tulsa, OK, USA

Shape: Triangle

Triangular object at high altitude SW of Tulsa in evening sun. Made quick 90* turns. stopped then accelerated out of sight to west

Its been a couple days of thought and analysis since Friday, August 9, at 5:20 pm. It was sunny and 100+ degrees as I finished readying the inflatable pool to entertain my soon to arrive grandchildren the next morning. At the far end of my driveway where I was filling the pool, an opening between the trees and rooftops provided a small window of observation to the Southwest as the sun was setting.

I cast my gaze to that area and wasn’t surprised to see motion in the cloudless sky. The river a half mile away attracts many predator type birds, hawks, eagles, vultures who circle the area looking for a meal. At first that is what I thought I saw even though there were no other birds in the sky and no sounds in the air.

Each thing I describe is worth noting. Friday at 5 pm everyone downtown has left for the burbs. They aren’t watching the skies, they aren’t pausing to watch wildlife. The heat wave we’ve been experiencing is too extreme for the birds to be active lest they expire. As I adjusted my new sunglasses I watched him....it. Too far away, too high in the air to be a bird. At that distance a bird, even an Eagle, would have looked smaller.

So, I took the sunglasses off to get a different look. It was gone. Put them back on...it reappeared. Okay, I mused, these are polarized. Must make a difference. But it isn’t a bird. As if to confirm that, it began a slow, easy turn and then stopped in mid-air. I am used to seeing birds search for wind currents and appear to be still when working a heat draft or a headwind. I find that entertaining. What I am not used to seeing is birds making a quick, tight, “S” curve, a hard right, stop again and then accelerate out of sight to the West.

I considered that we have a National Guard base nearby and when those guys do acrobatics and high speed take offs, it is impressive but at that height their silhouette and small size make them hard to even see. They don’t make clean 90 degree turns either. And the sound they leave behind during acceleration to get to that altitude is recognizable. This vehicle was at the height that multi engine bombers fly at, higher than most commercial planes and unlikely to be doing the maneuvers I observed. It didn’t seem to be one of the Guard fighters.

Posted 2020-02-07