Can anyoneone help identifing a strange object I just saw in the sky please?

No pic I'm afraind so a bit of a long shot but it really has me puzzled so I will explain it the best I can.

Broad daylight in a quiet residential area.I saw something hovering above me, at first I thought it was a bird of prey as it was kind of hanging in the air but is was not a bird. It was about 80 feet up, tottally black and I would guess it was about 6 feet across. It looked kind of like the stealth bomber in shape.

It hovered for a while and then started moving off, it moved very unusually, not like a bird or a plane and not like kite. The movement was very fluid and there was no sound it moved away from me at around 10 to 15 miles and hour and I followed it as it was actually in the direction I was walking. Eventually it got away from me.

I thought it may have been a drone or model airplane but I googled both looking for something similar and found nothing.

I am totally baffled as to what it could be so any suggestion would be welcome(but not aliens!)

originally posted by: nonspecific
No pic I'm afraind so a bit of a long shot but it really has me puzzled so I will explain it the best I can.

Broad daylight in a quiet residential area.I saw something hovering above me, at first I thought it was a bird of prey as it was kind of hanging in the air but is was not a bird. It was about 80 feet up, tottally black and I would guess it was about 6 feet across. It looked kind of like the stealth bomber in shape.

It hovered for a while and then started moving off, it moved very unusually, not like a bird or a plane and not like kite. The movement was very fluid and there was no sound it moved away from me at around 10 to 15 miles and hour and I followed it as it was actually in the direction I was walking. Eventually it got away from me.

I thought it may have been a drone or model airplane but I googled both looking for something similar and found nothing.

It was most likely what you said, a model plane/copter.



Plenty of people cut up foam and make their own (including some of them bigger than the one below) so your google search for some mass produced one may have come up short.



Some of these are very advanced with their own autopilot and stabilization.



The kite like flight characteristics sound like it was in fact something like this but perhaps with a small ducted fan rather than propeller.

From a distance it's hard to hear a ducted fan.



Why didn't you take a picture of it? You have a phone right?

Thanks for the reply, I do have a phone, I have one of those ones that allows you to make telephone calls but not take pictures watch tv or make toast!

I really wish I did right now.

It looked a little like the one the guy with the beard was holding but there was no sound of an engine, The route it took meant no one could have been flying it unless remotley and as I said it did not seem to fly in the same way you would expect a model plane to do, far too fluid if that makes sense?

I live near lots of air bases but I can't imagine why they would have something so weird in plain site in the area it was in.

originally posted by: nonspecific
Thanks for the reply, I do have a phone, I have one of those ones that allows you to make telephone calls but not take pictures

How old is it? Just about every phone today has a camera. You have to go out of your way to find one without one.

It looked a little like the one the guy with the beard was holding but there was no sound of an engine, The route it took meant no one could have been flying it unless remotley and as I said it did not seem to fly in the same way you would expect a model plane to do, far too fluid if that makes sense?

As I said, many of these are highly sophisticated and smaller ducted fans can't be heard beyond a certain distance.

I live near lots of air bases but I can't imagine why they would have something so weird in plain site in the area it was in.

See, if it were me this would have been the first explanation for what I saw but you seem to want it to be more mysterious. Drones may seem weird to you but they are terrestrial in nature and they aren't all secret either.

Perhaps this?


Wikipedia: X-47


Where do you live?

It's most likely you saw a model plane or drone.

About 6 months old, I kept breaking smart phones by dropping them or sitting on them ect, I never really used the features anyway but as I said I really wish I had been able to video it, it's driving me crazy trying to find out what it could have been.

a reply to: JadeStar

a reply to: JadeStar

Even if you have a camera phone by the time you get it out, and focus on the object, it's gone. Or it's a blurry photo. Smartphones may be smart but they're not magical.

I have an iPhone and half the time the camera takes forever to appear on the screen. So by the time the moment is over, the magical camera is just appearing on screen. I'm sure iPhone 4 is less magical than the current ones but if it can't load up in time to take a pic of a bear, I'm out of luck when I actually do see a UFO or something.

It was in view for about 5 minutes so I could have got some decent footage but I agree they are not exactly ideal for taking decent videos and pictures.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

Some remote control tech is getting pretty impressive. I would say to keep looking out for it. They probably fly around the same area often if it is that.

I have no want for it to be mysterious? I said I thought it might have been a drone but given that it was so low in the sky in an area that would have no real reason for a drone makes me think otherwise.

There was no sign of criminal activity it was no where near any sports arena.

As I said there are several air bases nearby but I have no idea why they would choose to fly a drone 80 feet in the air above a residential area, I was under the impression that they where supposed to be covert.

Given technology these days it's possible it was bieng flown by some one using a smartphone!




a reply to: JadeStar

That was my plan exactly, If it was a remote controll plane it must have been flown remotley bacause it travelled at least a mile.

a reply to: Schwallyjdog

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: JadeStar

Even if you have a camera phone by the time you get it out, and focus on the object, it's gone. Or it's a blurry photo. Smartphones may be smart but they're not magical.

I have an iPhone and half the time the camera takes forever to appear on the screen. So by the time the moment is over, the magical camera is just appearing on screen. I'm sure iPhone 4 is less magical than the current ones but if it can't load up in time to take a pic of a bear, I'm out of luck when I actually do see a UFO or something.

My iPhone 6 takes less than a second to bring the camera up. Most current phones do.

We're told that people see objects that hover at least for a minute and sometimes for more than an hour. Surely that's enough time to document what you see?

originally posted by: nonspecific
It was in view for about 5 minutes so I could have got some decent footage but I agree they are not exactly ideal for taking decent videos and pictures.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

It still beats another story.

In order to help identify what someone saw a pictures worth a 1000 words. Even one that isn't ideal.

a reply to: JadeStar

As I said I'm sure iPhone 4 is less magical than the current ones.

originally posted by: nonspecific
I have no want for it to be mysterious? I said I thought it might have been a drone but given that it was so low in the sky in an area that would have no real reason for a drone makes me think otherwise.

There was no sign of criminal activity it was no where near any sports arena.

As I said there are several air bases nearby but I have no idea why they would choose to fly a drone 80 feet in the air above a residential area, I was under the impression that they where supposed to be covert.

Given technology these days it's possible it was bieng flown by some one using a smartphone!




a reply to: JadeStar

If it was really only 80 feet in the air (how did you judge this by the way?) then it most likely was a model aircraft. They are common, people can fly them anywhere, it's not a crime. people even print them from 3-D printers and fly them with smart phones as you say.

a reply to: nonspecific

That was my plan exactly, If it was a remote controll plane it must have been flown remotley bacause it travelled at least a mile.

A friend of mine was showing me his latest quad (he builds them) last week. It has two cameras; one forward looking, one down. He has video goggles that he can use or he can direct the stream to a video monitor. It has a range of several miles. It carries a GPS receiver. He can press the "home" switch and it will return to him automatically. It is very cool, and yet a bit disturbing.

That was my line of thinking not aliens! not the goverment or miliatary spying but someone local with a really cool toy but a little scary as you say, I would not like to get hit by one.

a reply to: Phage

a reply to: nonspecific

As a hang glider pilot, I have some concerns about that as well.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: nonspecific

That was my plan exactly, If it was a remote controll plane it must have been flown remotley bacause it travelled at least a mile.

A friend of mine was showing me his latest quad (he builds them) last week. It has two cameras; one forward looking, one down. He has video goggles that he can use or he can direct the stream to a video monitor. It has a range of several miles. It carries a GPS receiver. He can press the "home" switch and it will return to him automatically. It is very cool, and yet a bit disturbing.

Exactly. These are now becoming common to the point where they are debating whether there should be new laws governing them.

Basically anyone who wants a semi-autonomous drone today only needs to open their wallet. They don't even have to be great pilots since things like ArduPilot will pilot them via GPS and ground/sky/sun IR sensors.