Not sure what this was.

As the topic states I am not sure what this aircraft was? I was coming home from the grocery store and had just pulled up at the house. I got out and heard the sound of an aircraft approaching. The thing that made me stop and look up was the sound of the aircraft. It had what I would call a military sound too it. It def did not sound like your normal civ aircraft. So I looked around for a few seconds before spotting it. It was probaly about 5-6 thousand feet off the ground heading toward the north. When I saw it had just passed over my head. The strangest thing about this was that it had the appearance of a mirage. . There were a few differences though. Instead of the two engines at the back of the plane there was one on each wing in the middle. As far as I am aware there are not many kit planes like this one ( I could be wrong) Has anyone seen anything like this?

Can you be more specific with the design? Engines on the mid wing pretty common with Cessna twins and king airs having that configuration etc.

Like I said it looked like a mirage fighter with the canards and swept back wings. It sounded nothing like a cesna. Had a very distinct jet sound too it.

The closest plane i could think of was that jet made by Honda, but i doubt that it would be flying around your area, just thought I'd contribute as best as i can

Originally posted by w810i
Like I said it looked like a mirage fighter with the canards and swept back wings. It sounded nothing like a cesna. Had a very distinct jet sound too it.

www.richard-seaman.com...

img87.imageshack.us...

en.wikipedia.org...

Upon talking to my dad about it he suggested either a BD-10 or Starship. Which from my veiwpoint it was neither one of those aircraft or the Honda jet. It was a delta wing configuration with the canards in front of that.

This picture is what it looked like with two differences. There where no weapons racks on the wings and the two engines were not at the back of the fuselage. There was one on each wing situated in the middle of the wing. Other then those two variations thats what it looked like.

Sounds very much like a Saab Grippen with underwing fuel tanks to me.

After looking that up it does look a lot like. Only question is what an the hell would it be doing where I'm at??

Originally posted by w810i
After looking that up it does look a lot like. Only question is what an the hell would it be doing where I'm at??

Whereabouts are you exactly and when was the sighting?

I'm in montana. It was around 4:30-5 pm mountain time.
I might add that this is not something you see on an everyday or even odd day basis

[edit on 2-5-2007 by w810i]

Originally posted by w810i
I'm in montana. It was around 4:30-5 pm mountain time.
I might add that this is not something you see on an everyday or even odd day basis

[edit on 2-5-2007 by w810i]

The UKs Empire Test Schools JAS 39 Gripen is currently in the US on exchange, maybe thats what you saw.