Two planes flying close?

I'm not sure what I just saw, or if this is the right place for it. I live in Green Bay, WI, and at about 7:50 pm local time, my wife and I went out to switch the cars around in the driveway. By habit, I looked up to the sky. What I saw, is what looked like a passenger jet flying at about half it's normal cruising altitude, with what looked like a smaller jet/plane flying right in front of it. The nearest airport is Austin Struabel International, and there's no way either of these aircraft took off from there, as it's close enough that we can hear jets take off.

My first though was that the rear aircraft was at about fifteen thousand feet, and that maybe the lead craft was at thirty thousand feet, but I have never seen two aircraft fly the exact same route, that close in time. The rear aircraft was an obvious jet aircraft, lights and shape, as well as the jetstreams could be made out in the dark. The lead craft however, was harder to see, and while lights could be made out, I could not tell what type of craft it was. The way the lead craft was positioned, it made the rear craft look as if it had a grossly extended nose. Essentially, take from the front of the wings and stretch the fuselage out to about two to three times the length. These flew almost directly overhead, and as they passed, I did not see a difference in flight path. I did notice, however, that the rear craft seemed to be gaining on the lead craft.

I won't be able to reply again until tomorrow, possibly in the morning before work, but if not, then after work in the afternoon. My question is, did I really see something as innocent as two aircraft at different altitudes on the same trajectory, or was I seeing something else?

EDIT: The reason I put this in this forum was that I was thinking maybe this was an escort. Maybe the lead craft being a military jet, and the rear being the escorted?

[edit on 4-12-2008 by Mekanic]

Refueling maybe? I don't know. were they close enough for that to be a possibility? I've seen that in the past before. It's been years and years ago in my childhood since I've seen what I thought was a a refueling though, so I can't be 100% positive. Just my thoughts!

They keep a vertical separation of at least 2,000 ft going in the same direction under vfr. So one could have been over the other, especially since the lead plane was hard to id.

Below 18,000 ft ...

Eastbound, any odd thousand foot altitude +500 feet (e.g. 3,500, 5,500, or 7,500)

Westbound, any even thousand foot altitude +500 feet (e.g 4,500, 6,500, or 8,500).

IFR is under radar control but I don't know the vertical separation that they use.

reply to post by wookiee


Thanks. I thought they couldn't fly the same trajectory even if they were at different altitudes, but I guess I was wrong.