UFO over Washington?

[zoru]

evidently some unidentified object was spotted on a Washington controllers' screen,travelling at some rate of knots...they scrambled a couple of F16's to take a look etc...an eye witness reportedly saw a blue light trundling along at warp factor 5 plus...leaving the USAF looking like they had hit the reverse button.

Anyone stateside got any details?

Thanks.

[Airbubba]

F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region



By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, July 27, 2002; Page B02


For Renny Rogers, it was strange enough that military jets were flying low over his home in Waldorf in the middle of the night. It was what he thinks he saw when he headed outside to look early yesterday that floored him.

"It was this object, this light-blue object, traveling at a phenomenal rate of speed," Rogers said. "This Air Force jet was right behind it, chasing it, but the object was just leaving him in the dust. I told my neighbor, 'I think those jets are chasing a UFO.' "

Military officials confirm that two F-16 jets from Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled early yesterday after radar detected an unknown aircraft in area airspace. But they scoff at the idea that the jets were chasing a strange and speedy, blue unidentified flying object.

"We had a track of interest, so we sent up some aircraft," said Maj. Douglas Martin, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, which has responsibility for defending U.S. airspace. "Everything was fine in the sky, so they returned home."

At the same time, military officials say they do not know just what the jets were chasing, because whatever it was disappeared. "There are any number of scenarios, but we don't know what it was," said Maj. Barry Venable, another spokesman for NORAD.

Radar detected a low, slow-flying aircraft about 1 a.m. yesterday, according to a military official. Controllers were unable to establish radio communication with the unidentified aircraft, and NORAD was notified. When the F-16s carrying air-to-air missiles were launched from Andrews, the unidentified aircraft's track faded from the radar, the military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pilots with the D.C. Air National Guard's 113th Air Wing, which flew the F-16s from Andrews, reported nothing out of the ordinary, NORAD officials said.

"It was a routine launch," said Lt. Col. Steve Chase, a senior officer with the wing, which keeps pilots and armed jets on 24-hour alert at Andrews to respond to incidents as part of an air defense system protecting Washington after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Rogers remains convinced that what he saw was not routine. "It looked like a shooting star with no trailing mist," he said. "I've never seen anything like it."

[Brenoch]

Ya Ya.. Mulder spends the night on my sofa...

[Brenoch]

Could this be moved to jet-blast anytime soon??

[HugMonster]

But they scoff at the idea that the jets were chasing a strange and speedy, blue unidentified flying object.It was flying, right? It was an object? And they did not identify it? Therefore it was an Unidentified Flying Object. It was a UFO. QED.

Or maybe they're quibbling about the colour... :D

[ShyTorque]

Perhaps it was the Scramjet.

Heard on BBC this morning they think it was a successful flight but they haven't found it yet.....:D

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

There are plenty of non-believers........ until the day they actually get mixed up with one of these things, then they rapidly change sides.....

[knilaus]

just what do you mean when alluding to "Warp Factor 5"???

Been watching Deep Space 9 again, have we? :D

[MasterGreen]

I read that as a literary device to indicate high speed. A bit like smucking fast, but more eloquent.

MG

[under_exposed]

Warp factor has been adopted as an offical measurement of speed, Warp factor 5 is 125 times the speed of light so impressive for the F16's to see them.

[zoru]

Airbubba

thanks for the details.

you probably have also seen the report on 21 july by peter carlson of the W post with details of something similar almost exactly 50 yrs ago...7 pale violet blips that time but witnessed by pilots,controllers,and other sane (?) earthlings.

any way you could post that one too?i tried but some tech problems.

personally i dont have any strong view either way on ufo's,having never seen one,however i think that it would be foolish to assume that its all tosh.

if those guys decide to get serious one day.....

cheers. ;)

[A-V-8R]

I have it on good authority that it was identified as just another one of George W. Bush Brain Farts....

[747FOCAL]

:D

[ramsrc]

HEATHROW DIRECTOR

Sounds like you are speaking from experience there.

[M.Mouse]

I saw something 25 years ago that I have never been able to explain and a couple of years back a pal of mine was flying over the UK at night and both he and his co-pilot and numerous other aircraft in the vicinity also saw something inexplicable.

I don't say there isn't a rational explanation for these things but it is very unnerving when it happens to you.

[Smoketoomuch]

The RAF Bentwaters incident always struck me as one of the most intriguing. Sadly I have never experienced any such 'encounters'. Wouldn't mind though - as long as it didn't involve any of that 'anal-probe' stuff they seem so keen on. <shudder>

[Notso Fantastic]

I have also seen something high in the sky over Portsmouth at night. 3 lights rotating around each other at medium/high altitude, seen by hundreds that night (in about 1968). We were also a bit bemused on a VC10 flight deck heading towards Sydney to be overtaken at 37,000' by a white flashing light high above us very early in the morning over central Australia. There are a lot of mysteries about these sightings- I keep an open mind! Haven't yet been beamed-up by a race of female aliens to keep their genetic pool healthy, but I live in hope. They can stick their rectal probes anywhere but in me though!

[moggie]

My theory is:

Ball Lightning

and that has NOTHING to do with Monica Lewinsky!

[What-ho Squiffy!]

For those who think it is only geeks and morons reckon there is something behind these flying thingies, check this out...

Disclosure Project (http://www.disclosureproject.org/)

It's interesting to watch the entire press conference (Press Club in Washington) to see the sworn testimonials from a wide range of people.

Apologies if this has been linked before.

[Smokie]

Saw a rather large "BLACK DIAMOND SHAPE " being chased by two "American F4s" at low level,( 300-500') mid to late 90s, going at a vast rate of knots as I was driving south bound down the M40, Banbury / Upper Heyford way.( it had just been closed down)

Nothing strange there you may think ! but all the RAF F4 Squadrons had been disbanded by then and all the USAF Squadrons had returned to the states. The only Remaining F4s in Europe were apparently operated by the Turkish Airforce at that time.
Thought at first it may have been an F117 but it was far too big, possibly a B2 but wrong shape and it was far too fast !

Any takers ? :confused:

[moggie]

and of course you keep your "black" projects secret by flying low level over the most densely populated area in Europe......................

[Self Loading Freight]

Moggie--

Sometimes, things don't go as planned and you end up somewhere you didn't want to be, or you get lost (as an SR-71 driver said, you've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3). Sometimes, you want to see whether your new stealth gloop stands up to your pals' systems, so you go and intrude for a bit and watch what comes up to have a look. Other times, oh, I dunno -- the kids steal the keys and borrow the car for the weekend?

When I worked just outside Cambridge, we saw the odd aircraft floating about which was either not supposed to be in the UK or just wasn't supposed to be, full stop. You have to try these things out!

R