Mysterious Floating Parachute Somersaulting

Hello,

Just a short 4 minute video I recorded with my Android, and uploaded to Youtube, which I want to share, to see if somebody can offer any insight into what this object in the sky is which I can't seem to identify.

youtu.be...

I was hanging out under a bridge by a creek and I thought I saw a parachuter falling...

After 4 minutes of filming it became apparent this object was not falling to the ground. And it appeared to be doing somersaults.

Some people were walking by, so I put down the phone camera, to see if they were interested in the mysterious object in the clear day sky. They didn't seem to care or notice. This was over a pretty dense residential city in NorCal at the start of spring.

By this point the object appeared to move a mile or a few miles to the south. It became barely visible to my naked eye.

I thought, what the hell, why don't I go to the top of the nearest hill where I can see all the city. It was about a 7 minute hike. I got to the top of the hill and the object was no longer visible. My head then got swarmed by an unbelievable amount of tiny black flies. I had to run down the hill to avoid the flies. There were so many flies, swatting at them was feeble.

I have not been swarmed by flies upon that hilltop like that before or since.

a reply to: InachMarbank

Sure looks like a wing type parachute, something is hanging below it also.
If it’s a parachutist, it looks like he is doing tight spirals on the way down but yeah it doesn’t look like it’s getting any closer to the ground.

a reply to: RazorV66

Did you notice, what appears to be a little dot hanging below it, is sometimes white, and sometimes black?

Clearly a skydiver. Come on what are we doing here? This is silly.

originally posted by: RazorV66
a reply to: InachMarbank

Sure looks like a wing type parachute, something is hanging below it also.
If it’s a parachutist, it looks like he is doing tight spirals on the way down but yeah it doesn’t look like it’s getting any closer to the ground.

Elliptical paragliders like that are capable of soaring—I.e., catching updrafts and staying aloft as long as the updrafts last.

originally posted by: InachMarbank
a reply to: RazorV66

Did you notice, what appears to be a little dot hanging below it, is sometimes white, and sometimes black?

Yes I saw it, that’s why I think it’s definitely a sky diver doing tight spirals all the way down, that’s what is making it look like it’s doing somersaults.
Wearing something reflective on his back or front.

Interesting, looks just like a paraglider to me, maybe he has caught a nice thermal or other updraft and is riding it to stay up as long as he can, that said.

UFO's could use all manner of techniques from disguising themselves as planes to even a parachutist though that would be an odd one.

Also there is no reason why some enterprising inventor may not have taken a few thermal detectors, placed them into a mechanism that can then see thermal and other atmospheric updrafts and use that for a kind of drone on a parachute to stay aloft for a very long time as long as that updraft remains viable.

My belief however is that this is just a parachutist keeping himself in an updraft, thermal perhaps.

Still an interesting one to debate.

www.passionparagliding.com...

a reply to: RMFX1
Spot on, but who is it and does that make it an unidentified flying person or ufp?.

a reply to: InachMarbank

Bill Gates tempting fate in the wake of his failed marriage that has
left him enough for one last dive?

Yes I'm all over that one!

The hang/para gliders in Albuquerque can stay up there all day. They dip, soar, spiral, and pretty much come down when and where they choose and they look just like that.

Looks like a motorized parafoil. Basically a larger wing parashute with an engine and propeller. Too far away to hear the engine.
They even come in radio control sizes.

Probably a stuntman, filmed by a crew.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
Looks like a motorized parafoil. Basically a larger wing parashute with an engine and propeller. Too far away to hear the engine.

They even come in radio control sizes.

Hmm... Could you be offering a plausible explanation? I'm not sure.

I found a cool video of a guy explaining techniques for doing spirals on a paramotor.

youtu.be...

From far away it does seem plausible to think the object could be doing spirals, not somersaults.

However, it does not seem possible that a paramotor like you have described here could do spirals without experiencing a major descent in altitude.

The object in my film never appears to be falling.

Also if a non-motored parachuter is spiraling, I think the parachuter will be falling dangerously fast... Not floating at the same altitude for 5 minutes straight

a reply to: InachMarbank

The parachutist is riding heat thermals.

originally posted by: REDMORGAN
The hang/para gliders in Albuquerque can stay up there all day. They dip, soar, spiral, and pretty much come down when and where they choose and they look just like that.

We can compare it to paragliders at Mt Diablo here.

youtu.be...

That would probably be the closest location to me where you would see paragliders. It is a 17 mile winding drive from where this was filmed. This was filmed in a mid sized city in a valley.

Perhaps just looking at the video, your explanation seems almost plausible to me... Up until the 4 minute mark of my video, when the concave side of the "parachute" is pointed down, the "parachuter" goes above the "parachute" and still doesn't fall.

And another point, I wouldn't think somebody would paraglide over a busy residential street with 3 lanes and lots of cars driving by at 50 mph. Must be one hell of a daredevil...

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
a reply to: InachMarbank

The parachutist is riding heat thermals.

What is a heat thermal?

originally posted by: InachMarbank

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
a reply to: InachMarbank

The parachutist is riding heat thermals.

What is a heat thermal?

Read this

originally posted by: InachMarbank

originally posted by: REDMORGAN
The hang/para gliders in Albuquerque can stay up there all day. They dip, soar, spiral, and pretty much come down when and where they choose and they look just like that.

We can compare it to paragliders at Mt Diablo here.

youtu.be...

That would probably be the closest location to me where you would see paragliders. It is a 17 mile winding drive from where this was filmed. This was filmed in a mid sized city in a valley.

Perhaps just looking at the video, your explanation seems almost plausible to me... Up until the 4 minute mark of my video, when the concave side of the "parachute" is pointed down, the "parachuter" goes above the "parachute" and still doesn't fall.

And another point, I wouldn't think somebody would paraglide over a busy residential street with 3 lanes and lots of cars driving by at 50 mph. Must be one hell of a daredevil...

It’s possible to do loops in a paraglider:

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: InachMarbank

Ever heard of convection currents in the air, hold you hand over a radiator if you have them in your house or watch the steam rise from a hot cup of coffee, that is heat rising, this in turn creates what is called an updraft and in the open air these occur when areas of the ground become heated, these rise in a column that while invisible can create lift that can be exploited and used to gain altitude for gliders, paragliders etc.

These Thermals come in two variety's, hot thermals rise and are valuable but on occasion there are also cold thermals which drop and can reduce a gliders altitude rapidly.

Then there are other sources of life such as wind currents that in some mountainous terrain or even near to build up areas can be diverted to blow upward as they blow over tall mountains or buildings', these two can produce lift but are not thermals.

Imagine the sun warm's an area of the ground and that heat causes the warmed air to rise, as it rises it tends to form a column of rising air on a still or calm day, this a thermal, a warm column of rising air that rises until it cool's.

Ever wonder why you often see a Heating Radiator next to a window, in winter (or just cold day's) the window becomes cold and air coming into contact with it is cooled, this falls down the window and would cause a drought in your room around your feet but the radiator offsets this and traps the cold falling air behind the warm rising air that it creates warming the cold air back up.

Hold a feather over a radiator while it the heating is on, watch the feather rise in the heat of the radiator (unless it's an unusually heavy feather or the radiator is just not very hot).

Same principle but the heat source is usually the sun warming areas of the ground or the sides of building's, different ground has different property's, black asphalt creates great thermals, grass on the other hand probably does not.

a reply to: InachMarbank

Looks like a parachute riding the thermal current

Eta: ^

originally posted by: Alien Abduct

originally posted by: InachMarbank

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
a reply to: InachMarbank

The parachutist is riding heat thermals.

What is a heat thermal?

Read this

Ah... But see when a paraglider turns his or her chute sideways, the chute doesn't catch the updraft, and the paraglider starts falling. That doesn't happen here. It stays at the same altitude for 5 minutes doing spirals or loops.