Posted on 01/29/2009 6:59:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of what appears to be an aircraft sitting on the ground in the middle of nowhere in the Simpson Desert.
An Alice Springs man discovered the "plane" yesterday, which he estimates to be about 128km southeast of the outback town.
The man, who preferred not to be named, said he had been making a routine check of the region using internet-based satellite images available on Google Earth.
Alice Springs Airport general manager Don McDonald said it was not uncommon for images of planes to be found on Google Earth and that the image may be of a plane in flight.
Aviation authorities last night could not rule out that the aircraft might be military in origin.
But a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it had received no reports of an incident in the region.
The Bureau's aviation safety director Julian Walsh said: "There is nothing missing or overdue in that area."
Mr McDonald said many planes have their image captured by the satellite's roving eye as it moves over the globe.
In addition, some of the images can be many months old.
"There's lots of airplanes operating in the skies above Alice Springs," Mr McDonald said.
"I'm aware that Google Earth's photogrammetry does capture these images from time to time."
"However there were significant differences between the Simpson Desert image and images of other planes that had been captured mid-flight," said the man responsible for yesterday's discovery.
He said that images of planes in flight normally leave what experts call an artefact, a second ghost image caused by the satellite's camera taking a number of photos in quick succession.
This can cause a bluish ghost image of the plane, usually to be found somewhere close to the first image.
"There is no such evidence of an artefact, or a shadow of the plane," the man said.
A close examination of the image also failed to find an obvious shadow of the aircraft anywhere on the ground - which would indicate the plane was in the air - despite the picture having been taken in bright daylight.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre Australia examined the images late yesterday and a spokeswoman said it was hard to tell whether the craft was on the ground or in the air.
But she said the image was being treated as one of a plane in flight.
"It's quite clearly an aircraft ... all of our inquiries have led us to believe there is no indication there has been no rescue incident in the area."
But she said: "We're still looking at it. Were not dismissing the information provided."
ping
heck with the image of the plane, whats that big white circle around it.
Instead of talking, why can’t someone from a .gov and/or .mil agency just fly over there and take a look?
The ring left by a really big can of Fosters.
Probably those pesky teenagers with a bag of chalk.
I’m sure it’s a Plane in flight, if there was a plane anywhere near Alice Springs the US Government and the Australian Government would know who it was and what it was doing there.
that would be to logical
We were shown a new home that chalk body drawings on the floored attic.
unless it was carrying WMD’s, then they would never find it
Australian crop circles.
So why didn’t they provide coordinates so we can see this for ourselves in GE? (yes, I see the photos but I want to use GE myself)
Heck, I want to meet the expert pilot who put that sucker down intact in the middle of that big white circle!
Yes.
Looks like a swept wing craft.
"Coastah"
.
.
.
. "Beeyah"
"Foster's. Australian for beer."
Steve Fossett?
That does look like it could fit the profile.
If I remember correctly, there was a NSA sight near Alice Springs. This is not as Outback and isolated as a lot think.
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