I Saw a Triangle in South Florida, page 1

Originally posted by MachXX
An MD-80 at 10,000 ft would not have large circular lights as reported by the witness. They would be nothing but faint pinpoints of lights. As you can see from the drawing in the opening post, the diameter of the lights make up a noticeable proportion of the triangle's area - they are actually circular and not simply pinpoints.

Actually the drawing looks exactly like an MD-80/DC-9, which is why that is what I say it appears to be. Aircraft are required to turn on their landing lights whenever they proceed below 10K feet, and believe me they are not faint pinpoints of light at that point. The wingtip lights on an MD-80 are at least as bright, if not brighter, then Venus on a clear night, they are separated by the entire length of the wing so they appear separate over long distances, and are bright enough to be visible for at least 50 miles, if not longer distances, depending on the visibility conditions at the time.

I suggest learning something about aircraft before you try and educate me on the subject.

Originally posted by MachXX
This is wholly consistent with other sightings of flying black triangles over the years

Yes, and many of those are misidentified aircraft as well. Problem is that there are a lot of folks out there who want to see an UFO, and they are not very objective in their sightings. Now I am not saying that about the OP in particular, but rather of UFOlogists in general. It has happened multiple times on this site, since I have been here. In this instance the OP even admits that he was able to see some kind of rotating beacon on the aircraft as well.

Originally posted by MachXX
The notion that these UFOs are MD80 are crazy.

I am not saying that every single one is an MD-80, but a lot of them are.

Here is some poor guy who saw an MD-80, and he is trying his hardest to justify that it was in fact a black triangle aircraft, pretty sad really: MD-80 vs Black triangle. The main problem in his thesis is that they don’t always have all those little side lights on, and often they are not working. Those lights are not part of the Nav Light system, they are there to light up ramp access points and logos, and not required by the FAA for the aircraft to be flying. Some of these lights are only turned on a certain distance from the airport, such as logo lights, which is determined by the pilot based on his company’s procedures.

A prime example is that some airlines will turn on their tail logo lights when landing, some will turn them on during taxi to the gate, and some don’t turn them on at all. Since 911, where people are no longer allowed to greet their family members at the gate, there is little reason to even use the logo lights when pulling in anymore as there is no one at the gate to see them, and they cost money to maintain. Sometimes they can be used so the marshalling agents know which flight is which to get them parked at the correct gate, but that is only needed if there are several flights arriving in rapid succession. It would not surprise me in the least to find out that many airlines don’t even use them anymore.

But it didn’t make any noise…
Noise is not an accurate indicator of whether something is an aircraft or not. Noise is a funny thing with aircraft, it is dependant on a number of factors including:
A) Distance.
B) Atmospheric Conditions.
C) Relative Angle between the Observer and the Aircraft.
D) Engine Type.
E) Engine Condition (Especially Cowling Patches).
F) Engine Sound Baffling.

The loudest engines are the older ones, doubly so if they have a cowling patch which makes a loud ripping, or ringing noise as the blades pass over it. Now with noise being a bigger factor with folks and their property values, engines are getting much quieter. Also engines tend to make the most noise when you are facing the back end of them, they can be extremely quiet from the sides or the front. Then the atmosphere makes it even trickier as it has a great effect on the noise produced. The same aircraft can fly in the same area with all the same conditions, and the noise be vastly different based solely on the temperature, humidity, wind direction, and so on. On a cold dry night an engine is going to be much noisier then when its humid or warm out. Perhaps I can get someone like Essan in here to explain that aspect of it better. As far as I have been told, there can also be thermal layers in the atmosphere which can trap sound to a degree, much like they do with submarines in the oceans.