I flew by a “UFO” once in a light plane, Cessna 172 out over Maryland’s eastern shore at about 2,000’ AGL.
Silver, oval/football-shaped, I flew back, then around it a few times and realized it was a LARGE mylar helium balloon probably from some kid’s birthday party or a grand opening of a store somewhere and it had hit its equilibrium altitude where it was going to just sit there all day and drift with the prevailing high-pressure cell.
I saw it again coming back from the Atlantic coast and it had moved a few miles but was still at about the same altitude.
Interesting but how big was it compared to your Cessna?
My wife and I were flying back from the ocean years ago and she spotted a car that had run off a logging road in the coastal range. We made multiple passes trying to see if we could spot someone who was hurt. The closer we got to it, the less time we had to figure out what was going on.
I do have an ultralight airplane that flies so slowly that you can get good video and pictures of stationary objects, but people have no idea how difficult it can be to get good video from an airplane, especially from a phone. If you had passengers with you, one of them would likely have tried to get video of the balloon you went by and it likely would not have turned out as good as the UFO video the thread is based on.
Found one on the ground once in East Texas. It was from El Paso with ‘Feliz qincenera’ written on it.
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man that wasn’t there.
I saw him yet again today;
Oh how I wish he’d stay away!