Aurora Sighting?

Well, I was out the other night around 3am and I was just sitting back stargazing when I suddenly heard something that kind of sounded like a blow torch, but very faintly. I began just scanning the skies and I saw a blue flame cruising in the sky probably 5,000 feet or so high. It was moving incredibly fast and behind it were 2 planes, i'm assuming military jets, chasing it. The blue flame object seem to outline a large triangular shaped aircraft. Keep in mind the blue flamed aircraft had no flashing/blinking lights at all on it, completely black except for the flame shooting out the back of it. It also seemed VERY large, as the blue flame was as big as the two chase planes following it, if not larger. I'm guessing the plane was exztremely large, maybe the size of a small passenger liner?

The object then did a complete 180 turn in a VERY small area and was going the other way while the chase planes were slowly turning around to catch up with it.

Any idea what it could be? and why the planes were following it?

BTW I am near Eglin AFB in Florida.

[edit on 5-9-2005 by SirDomino]

Would appreciate any of your opinions.

There is a show on the Science Channel right now about the auroras. They had a guy on there that worked on an oil rig and was trained by the RAF to identify aircraft in less than a second. he said he saw one being refueled by a tanker jet, and he had no idea what it was. The science channel show also noted that there is an american AFB around the area where he saw the plane.

Flying at mach 6 you could cross america in an hour. This might explain the aircraft ive seen late at night flying overhead for the past couple years.. I thought they were really big low orbiting satellites. But then i would always think "why would a satellite have a light source?". Never really thought about it past that point.



[edit on 9-9-2005 by senseless04]

Hmm...... definatly a possible Aurora sighting. Did you hear any sonic boom? And do you have any idea what the other two jets looked like?

Originally posted by cyberdude78
Hmm...... definatly a possible Aurora sighting. Did you hear any sonic boom? And do you have any idea what the other two jets looked like?

NO, all I heard was the sound of a 'blowtorch' sorta and it was going VERY fast and was able to do a 180 degree turn in a VERY little area. There were no lights on the plane but I could make out a huge black triangle shape barely and there was a large blue flame coming out the back of the aircraft. THe two planes chasing it looked to be F-15s or F-16s and had flashing lights on them/etc. When the plane did that 180 degree turn so suddenly the planes chasing it had to turna s well and their turn was much wider and it almost seemed like the 'aurora' slowed down for a sec to let them catch up.

I didn' thear any sonic booms at all though. VERY weird.

Originally posted by SirDomino
NO, all I heard was the sound of a 'blowtorch' sorta and it was going VERY fast and was able to do a 180 degree turn in a VERY little area. There were no lights on the plane but I could make out a huge black triangle shape barely and there was a large blue flame coming out the back of the aircraft. THe two planes chasing it looked to be F-15s or F-16s and had flashing lights on them/etc. When the plane did that 180 degree turn so suddenly the planes chasing it had to turna s well and their turn was much wider and it almost seemed like the 'aurora' slowed down for a sec to let them catch up.
I didn' thear any sonic booms at all though. VERY weird.

If there were 2 planes chasing it then it probably wasnt going super sonic or even mach 1 for that matter. At Mach 6 (supposed aurora speed) you could travel from california to washington dc in less than an hour.

Maybe the fighters were escorting it to a less populated area at low speeds. After all you can't exactly break the sound barrier in a populated area and not have people notice. I think that maybe the fighters would simply escort to a different location, from there Aurura could begin flying at Mach 6 without worrying about people noticing the sonic boom.

ya i was gonna reply 2 days ago about this they were prolly escorting it due to the low alt it was flying at

Well, I live in Pensacola, Near Eglin AFB in Florida. I see and hear weird stuff sometimes from jet aircraft flying over to go to Eglin AFB and Pensacola NAS. I saw a UFO once after Hurricane Ivan. All of the streetlights were out and this sort of 'cloaked' basketball sized thing was completely silent and was going around 400 kts. I am a pilot, Im only 16 but have been flying since I was 9. LOL, I know about all of the american planes in the book. Flying is my specialty and so is secrecy. I love secret stuff. Im pretty sure it could have been a new aircraft. I heard and saw an F-22 flying to Eglin AFB also. I talked to a guy one time and he said that they usually send these aircraft around dinner time or after because people are getting home and are mostly busy at that time.

Was this the Aurora?

Based on your statement that it did a 180 degree turn in a very small area, I would say almost definitely no.

The reason is basic aerodynamics. The Aurora would be a strategic reconnaissance aircraft. This being the case, the aircraft would be designed for extreme high speed performance, which in general is not condusive to high turning rates. For instance, the SR-71 would need many MANY miles to make even the slightest turns. The Aurora would likely have slightly improved agility, but nothing even remotely aproaching that of a fighter aircraft. The fact that this aircraft you saw seemed to out perform fighter aircraft would indicate to me it was not the Aurora.

Furthermore, there are some other things you mentioned which further speaks against your sighting being that of the aurora.

You mentioned that these aircraft were flying at 5,000 feet. The Aurora would operate at altitudes of more then twenty times as high. The Aurora would be flying at 100,000 feet or more. Another thing you mentioned was that it had a solid blue flame coming out of the back of it. The Aurora most likely would use a pulse detonation engine (PDE). A PDE operates by combustine fuel periodically at very high pressure. A PDE would be represented by a pulsating light.

One more thing would be where you saw this aircraft flying. The Aurora would not be operating at such low levels in such a populated area. If there were test flights being done at low levels, these would be conducted in a VERY remote area.

Over all, I would bet just about anything this was not the Aurora. All of the things you mentioned not only don't support it being an Aurora, but actually argue against it being the Aurora. That is not to say that you did not see some aircraft, or that it was not advanced or even very advanced - it just doesn't add up to being the Aurora.

Based on the description- " heard something that kind of sounded like a blow torch- saw a blue flame cruising in the sky probably 5,000 feet or so high.-moving incredibly fast and behind it were 2 planes,-large triangular shaped aircraft-complete 180 turn in a VERY small area" -etc.--- It sounds like it is a F/A-22 Raptor. They do training and weapons testing at Eglin. Also, most classified aircraft testing is done at the Groom Lake facilities.

GREAT post by American Mad Man and I would tend to agree with his opinion on this one. He basically said it all.

Very possible, but my thinking is that the Aurora would have difficult with a very tight turn at even slow speed (relatively speaking). You may have seen some other hi-tech aircraft, normally out of nevada, but set down near eglin for mechanical issues.

It is very unlikely that was the Aurora. I do, however, know the aurora is still.. yes still, being tested. Here is a quote from a Aurora test pilot:

...It takes 4 states just to turn it ...

I was amazed to find out it is still in testing after so many years of silence on the subject.

The pilot didn't say anything more identifing then it's actual abilites as turn radius and speed and the fact that he just flew it. I can't remember how fast he flew from Tokyo to the U.S., but I think it was about 1.5 hours.

I also have a friend who is Raptor test pilot. Being a less secret project, and him being a good friend, with my prior military clearance, we would converse on some of the capabilities of the aircraft, which are quite amazing.

Anyways, about the Aurora, it could never stop on a dime and turn around. That was and never will be it's intent for service. It will either be a bomber or spy plane or both. It wouldn't need to be able to do that anyways... by the time the "enemy" detects it, it has little chance of being engaged by enemy ground units because it's incredible speed... whoooosh... bang... booooooom....

[edit on 6-11-2005 by rmatrem]

Originally posted by senseless04

If there were 2 planes chasing it then it probably wasnt going super sonic or even mach 1 for that matter. At Mach 6 (supposed aurora speed) you could travel from california to washington dc in less than an hour.

It would be quicker than an hour. probably more like half an hour.

SR71 set the coast to coast record from california to dc. back when it was retired. you'll have to check out google. if i recall right it did it in just under an hour to set the new record, so the aurora at mach 6 would do that in half the time

The main base in NW Florida for the Raptor is Tyndall. They're the ones doing the testing for it. Though it's not unheard of to have one or two set down at Eglin or Hurlburt. Tyndall is also an F-15 base too. Eglin, I think, runs the -16s and maybe a 15 or three.

It makes sense for this to be an f/a22.

It has a fairly triangular shape, due to it's stealth design, it is meant to outperform other fighters like f15, f16 even the super hornets which would explain the turn.

And due to the internal bays for all weapons, also due to it's stealth it is significantly larger than pretty much all previous fighters.

Apart from that, it makes no sense for an Aurora to be operating at such low altitude.
Due to the described turn, I would think the plane in question didn't have any mechanical problems.

Originally posted by Manincloak
It makes sense for this to be an f/a22.

It has a fairly triangular shape, due to it's stealth design, it is meant to outperform other fighters like f15, f16 even the super hornets which would explain the turn.

And due to the internal bays for all weapons, also due to it's stealth it is significantly larger than pretty much all previous fighters.

Apart from that, it makes no sense for an Aurora to be operating at such low altitude.
Due to the described turn, I would think the plane in question didn't have any mechanical problems.

Did the lifting bodies lead or give ideas to the Aurora programme?

www.air-and-space.com...
www.wpafb.af.mil...
grin.hq.nasa.gov...
ails.arc.nasa.gov...

What? You saw an Aurora? Then it must suck then, because the whole thing is for it not to be seen. So it most likely wasnt an aurora.

www.aemann.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...
www.dreamsoft.com...