F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region

Washington Post ^ | Saturday, July 27, 2002 | Steve Vogel

[Pro Consul]

"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.

[maquiladora]

Would energized plasma have a radar signature?

I admit, this is a weird one. The last big UFO thing I recall was the Pheonix lights back in 1997 or 98 I think it was. But I think that turned out to be an array of flares or something.

[Gunrunner2]

Yup. . .that's the one. . .*sigh. . .I miss it. . .back when men were men and women were stewardesses. . .
Great, now I'm all misty-eyed, darn it!

[Marie]

They weren't shapes, per se. They were bright beams of light (15 to 20 ft across) that lit up the ground, played around a bit, then went out. They were all seen between the hours of 3 and 5 AM in TX, AK and I can't remember the third state. There was an account of a policeman chasing one of the lights and video footage taken from a security camera. In all reports there was no sound or obvious source for the lights. This lasted about a week, then stopped. (To the best of my knowledge.)

Now, can you tell me what aircraft is about 45-50 ft long, triangle-shaped and has three bright lights on the bottom that can cruise at 10 mph at an altitude of 40 ft and makes no sound? (seen at Fort Stewart by a neighbor two and a half years ago)

[GBA]

"At any rate, I'd take the F-15 to be the quickest, overall."

I'd always heard that the F-4 had the fastest dash speed.

[berkeleybeej]

It wasn't just one eyewitness. It was many and the incident was reported on WTOP.

[TheLooseThread]

If, if, if, if, if (I'm agnostic about it) there are UFOs, then it would make sense that we start detecting more of them since we are watching our air space closer nowadays.

[Hellmouth]

I don't know, just speculating that it might be something anomalous/unknown. Remember the hubbub about the sprites?
Perhaps it's a low atmosphere version of a sprite. It might be a missile - but don't missiles either go boom or crash to the ground and leave debris? So, that would seem to rule out the missile hypothesis.

[Gunrunner2]

I always heard nothing beat the 105 for that--low level anyways. My heart is at low level because of my A-10 time. . .one of the slowest, but not ugliest (US Army has that with their ELINT platforms).

The F-4 was a fast one, that is for certain and for sure, but I think a stripped F-15 (no paint and no points) is about as quick as anyone can imagine. Friend of mine flies Depot maintance on those things and the stories he tells when he takes a stripped one out for a spin are really amazing.

[berned]

Basically, I think the radar returns were anomalies and the blue light was an illusion

Both happening SIMULTANEOUSLY??? On radar screens at NORAD and SIMULTANEOUSLY to onlookers on the ground in DC?

[Scully]

Scully is everywhere... :)

[BradyLS]

Looks like the old B-70! (Or is it?)

[maquiladora]

Now, can you tell me what aircraft is about 45-50 ft long, triangle-shaped and has three bright lights on the bottom that can cruise at 10 mph at an altitude of 40 ft and makes no sound?

No, I can't tell you what it is. But I can tell you I saw something very similar myself way back around 1990 or 1989.

Broad daylight, late afternoon, summer and straight above me I saw a perfect, sharp, sleak black triangular object. No lights, no loud sound. It was moving very slowly and seemed to be only a couple of hundred feet up.

That was back in the days when the only UFO's I heard about her flying discs or something. I hadn't a clue what it was at the time, only about 5 years later I heard about this 'Aurora' thing.

But I dunno, I'll never forget it, whatever it was.

I don't believe in aliens visiting the earth, so I'm guessing it had an earthly origin, but after that...who knows.

[Gunrunner2]

My Post (#59) has the best explanation.

The radar return could have been a temperature inversion or even a bunch of bats. I'M NOT KIDDING. Our radars can pick up that sort of thing.

Bats, birds, whatever. . .we have a radar mode we can select that will screen out targets below certain speeds.

I used to lock up cars on the highway, just for fun. Of course, NEVER when carrying live ordanance.

[RoughDobermann]

Can anyone tell me what type of aircraft can outrun an F-16?

Something tells me that this UFO was NOT a Hog... :-)

[Scully]

Washington DC is the last place they'll find it.

Awww, Mulder...you promised Skinner you wouldn't tell! (Which is why Mulder and I are bunking in NM.)

[BradyLS]

So what were they chasing then?

They think it's enough that we little people know that the bad, ol' bogeyman was chased away.

[Hellmouth]

It wasn't just one eyewitness. It was many and the incident was reported on WTOP. Okay, there's more than one witness. I should have perused the article better. Hmm, that changes things. It would be interesting to know if all the witnesses saw aproximately the same thing.

[Gunrunner2]

>>Basically, I think the radar returns were anomalies and the blue light was an illusion

Both happening SIMULTANEOUSLY??? On radar screens at NORAD and SIMULTANEOUSLY to onlookers on the ground in DC? <<

Yes. And by the way, the witnesses only saw a blue light which can easily be explained by pointing out that the strip-alert F-16's lauch in trail with full AB (A BLUE LIGHT). These fighters would keep their AB blowing until they reached their selected speed. That said, the radar anomoly AND the blue light are two separate things.

[angkor]

why is it ok to have a link to the original article?

Even the Washington Post understands its Web site would be completely useless without hyperlinks to and from other sites outside of its narrow and insular little universe.