Plane that hovers

A couple nights ago, me and another witnessed something strange. It was a aircraft that hovered in one spot, then as we approached it it took off flying at the speed of a jet fighter. It was stand still to fast, in about 2 seconds. Now to my knowledge there is no other aircraft in general use that can pull off something like this. The closest thing we could come up with is a new type of aircraft being tested. I have looked around and cannot find any aircraft matching what we saw. It was not a helicopter because it had a wingspan, that is what made us go Huh.
Hope someone can shed some light onto this. As it has been bothering us for some time now.

EDIT: It didn't make any sound.

[edit on 26-1-2006 by Harvestfreak]

The AV-8B Harrier, or the F-35 JSF. We need more information though. Where are you? Where did you see it? The sound thing can be explained by wind, or conditions at the time. I've seen times when a Harrier was the noisest thing I've ever heard, and others you could barely hear it.

AV-8B
F-35

Planes would (even a 747 airliner) would appear to hover (wings would
be ripped off first though) if it was flying in winds that were as fast as it
was going. Happens to smaller planes all the time.

The plane is going 80 knots, they fly into wind that is going 80 knots, guess
what happens, same amount of lift gets created, and plane sits still because
it is moving foward equal to the wind speed.

Also, if you dont understand and want a simple explanation: go to the beach
and watch the magic of hovering pelicans and seaguls.....lol

I have seen this happen also. I was in Portland Oregon at the time. Same exact scenario as the one posted here.
I never found out what it was.

Almost definately an AV-8B flown by the Marines. IIRC they have an Marine Air Group up there flying Harriers.

Nope I don't think it was any of those harriers, and at the time there was no wind at all. This was in the North Phoenix Valley. Over some houses.
It just hovered in the same spot for like 10 mins until we walked up to it, then it flew off at a fast pace, from the get up and go. There was no light from behind as it flew off. All I can say is that I am still clueless as to what it could be.
I tried calling the local airport, to see if there were any planes in the area at the time, they said none that they could see on radar.

If you can draw a picture of what you saw - with as much details as possible - then post it, this may help to identify the craft in question.

Harriers make one hell of a racket. If it was noisless, then it WASN'T a Harrier.

Please explain what this aircraft looked like I.E. the general appereance I.E. any vertical stabilizers, how many engines, general idea of the size/wingspan etc.

Originally posted by groingrinder
Harriers make one hell of a racket. If it was noisless, then it WASN'T a Harrier.

Actually under the right conditions, they can be pretty quiet. I've been in a building under the short final approach to the runway, and didn't hear anything until the third or fourth Harrier went right past the building.

I know of an aircraft which seems to fit your description but first describe the aircraft in great detail -better still draw it. You tell us all about it before we give you any info which may .... distort.... your memory.


Maybe the Martians have landed?

I read few years back about a new method of travel (this was in a respected national newspaper in the UK), as it was a few years ago my recollection of it is sketchy, but it works by using the earths magnetic or gravitational field and theoretically rediculously fast speeds could be achieved with very quick acceleration ( i think it said it would be possible to get from London to california in something like 30 mins) maybe this is some sort of research into this technology. apologies i dont have much more info i will do some research to try and find some more about it.

Ok here is a Paintshop picture, it was about 8pm at night no moon. I will try to get a drawing by the other witness of what he saw.


Yellow lights are the wings, the red lights are the front and the white light is the tail?

That is the best from what I saw.

[edit on 26-1-2006 by Harvestfreak]

Portland has a Marine Reserve center,a Coast Guard unit, Air National Guard, and Army National Guard. The MRC and CG unit are both about a 1/2 mile from me right now on an industrial island. The only military planes stationed here are at the Air National Guard Base, which has KC-135R's and F-15's, and the Army National Guard has some Blackhawks around.

Ok, the description is so vague (you only saw lights????) that I won't give you any hypothetical aircraft that it could have been.

I not only saw lights, but I saw the outline of the craft, don't ask me to draw it, because I can't remember the exact details. All I know is that it hovered, had a wingspan, and moved really fast. If it did not have a wingspan, it was probably a heli, but since it had a wingspan. I have no idea what it was. To tell you where it was and how far away, take a quater, hold it at arms length at about 75o at 11 o'clock, and turn off the lights, that is how far it was to me. I know I am giving vague description, but it was not like it was during the day and 5 ft in front of me.

Tommio,
By chance are you refering to Electro-Magnetic propulsion?

Because that would have to do with the Earth's magnetic field, seemingly defies gravity (it does'nt really), and is a possible next generation propulsion method.

Originally posted by Tommio
I read few years back about a new method of travel (this was in a respected national newspaper in the UK), as it was a few years ago my recollection of it is sketchy, but it works by using the earths magnetic or gravitational field and theoretically rediculously fast speeds could be achieved with very quick acceleration ( i think it said it would be possible to get from London to california in something like 30 mins) maybe this is some sort of research into this technology. apologies i dont have much more info i will do some research to try and find some more about it.

That's a strange propulsion system, hate to see what it looks like when it fails.

Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by Harvestfreak
I not only saw lights, but I saw the outline of the craft, don't ask me to draw it, because I can't remember the exact details. All I know is that it hovered, had a wingspan, and moved really fast. If it did not have a wingspan, it was probably a heli, but since it had a wingspan. I have no idea what it was. To tell you where it was and how far away, take a quater, hold it at arms length at about 75o at 11 o'clock, and turn off the lights, that is how far it was to me. I know I am giving vague description, but it was not like it was during the day and 5 ft in front of me.

Ok, name us an aircraft that doesn't have a wingspan. We'll need a better description. Was the wing long and thin, delta, diamond, swept backwards, etc??????? Did it have a tailplane,....

It was too dark to see the shape of the wings. Yes it did have a tailwing. Because a plane needs a tailwing to fly. The more I am thinking about this, is now I think I should've never posted this, because I have vague information for people to go on. All I know is that it was a plane, that hovered, had a wingspan about the lenght of the body.

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Was like that.