Part of a Fleet of Ufos? Over England caught on video.

In my opinion, the op video shows typical Sky Lanterns. For anyone unfamiliar with these, I'll add a few comments. Because these toys are likely to be mistaken for something inexplicable, I decided to examine their behaviour first hand. I bought some.

The first point to bear in mind is that they are no longer restricted to the 'Chinese' community. Sky lanterns are becoming popular across Europe and probably the USA to celebrate events such as weddings, carnivals, etc. They are sold in thousands on eBay. You can buy them in packs of 500 if you can afford it! Forget about the Far East connection, Sky Lanterns are here and they're here to stay.

Buying Sky Lanterns

The second thing to remember is that they are lighter than air machines. So once aloft, they are effectively weightless and drift within the air currents. If there's a brisk wind at a certain height, these paper balls will move at the same speed. And that can be fast, very fast. And they can accelerate from a snail's pace to rocket-like speed instantly - just like many reported UFOs. There are no aerodynamics to consider. They move as part of the air mass. It's simply down to wind speed and direction.

Many of the videos showing these objects show a flickering glow. This is the flaming wick of course, which provides the heat and lift. Contrary to popular misconception, this flame is rather more than a 'candle'. It is in fact a pretty fierce flaming roll of waxed paper, several inches across. When fully burning, the flame is at least 2 feet in height and pretty scary! Hot molten wax drips from this contraption all the time, so there's some hazard to the launcher as well as the neighborhood. Never launch these in a built up area. You really need open countryside. Here's some snaps of our launching phase (12 October 2008).




After ignition, you have to hold the lantern at arms length until the paper envelope has enough hot air to become weightless. When you release the lantern, it may rise pretty fast, or it may drift sideways, depending on air conditions. Releasing too early can be hazardous because the lateral speed may exceed the lift and make nearby buildings, trees, etc. vulnerable to fire. That's very scary indeed!

Sky Lanterns will burn for around 20 minutes on full throttle, during which time they can rise to a considerable height. They're most commonly seen at a few hundred feet altitude, but under favourable conditions can reach thousands of feet. They may be released by several people at a time, so may rise up in small groups. Released in close proximity to each other, they can behave as a single entity. After all, each one is subject to identical forces, so they move as if connected. This explains why a group of three may appear to be a triangular 'craft'. Released by only one or two people, they tend to move in a long string, following the prevailing air stream. When the fuel begins to run out, they lose altitude and then drop out of the sky.

The course followed is determined entirely by the local atmosphere. If there are air streams moving in different directions at different heights, the lanterns may suddenly alter course very rapidly indeed. They move as would a feather in the wind. Their large size is no barrier to their seemingly impossible behaviour.

So, that's my take on sky lanterns. You're likely to see more and more videos like this. Until the population as a whole is familiar with them, misinterpretted UFO sightings are likely to increase. Serious watchers much therefore be very vigilant if they are not to be taken in by a load of hot air!

WG3







[edit on 2-2-2009 by waveguide3]

reply to post by Raider of Truth
You saw a damaged one on a hill in Spain? Do you still have the pics, never mind the quality? This is really interesting, how do you get the idea it was damaged? Too many questions on this one. Did you or anybody else manage to get real close to it?

reply to post by ufoorbhunter


I got as close as possible without specialist equipment the hill was too steep to climb. Problem was the trees blocked view of it the only way to see it was on the top floor of the hotel where we stayed. and the camera we had was disposable but i'll dig around for them.

The reason i knew it was damaged as when i looked through the binoculars the exhaust ports were blown off and the canopy looked like something had ripped through it there were also some kind of crates next to the legs of the craft. I didnt see anyone around the craft..no wildlife nothing just that behind the trees.

At night there was a gentle "wrrr-wrr-wrr" noise and red and orange lights lit low around the actual craft everynight between 2am-3am it was eerie but beautiful..i had such a good feeling about it i was literally obsessed by it!

reply to post by Raider of Truth

Oh, it was a ship? Sorry I thought you'd found a crashed ufo orb. Still fascinating though.

Originally posted by waveguide3
.......typical Sky Lanterns. For anyone unfamiliar with these, I'll add a few comments. Because these toys are likely to be mistaken for something inexplicable, I decided to examine their behaviour first hand. I bought some..........

good explanations. But you know it may be something "ugly" since they take a part of the mistery and moves it to trivial facts . Nethertheless, the chinese lanterns will wonder and mislead us in the future...look for example to Venus how continues to hyptotize us in shightings .

[edit on 2/2/09 by depthoffield]

I'm scratching my head, WHY would you title your thread.....part of a fleet of UFO's then in your OP say I think it's Chinese Lanterns.

If you thought this why would you even make the thread and waste space????

I just wanted to say that "Chinese Lantern" is a politically incorrect terminology for these devices. "Sky Lantern" is a more correct term.

I am pointing this out due to people saying such things like "there are no chinese people here, so why are there chinese lanterns?"

These lanterns are also used by people of the Northern Thailand region, who are not Chinese.

You may have some Thai people in your community sending them away up into the sky which is a common practice for special occasions and celebrations.

reply to post by observe50


I thought it was a good video and could not prove it is sky lanterns although I think that they may be,however people need to make their own minds up and some people think that they are ufos.

reply to post by Raider of Truth


errr yeah right

it was so amazing that no one with a zoom lens bothered to take a pic of it , no one with any sort of climbing ability attempted to scale the hill , and it was there night after night glowing and making a hum

i dont mean to be rude ................... no i actually do mean to be rude

was the hotel hosting the international lazy retards conference ?

Originally posted by RFBurns
Airplanes or helicopters. Video is too shaky and out of focus and zooms in and out too much, but these appear to be normal aircraft to me.



Cheers!!!!

def not aircraft. haha.

More like chinese lanterns it looks like.

Hi all.
Can't be bothered signing in, but I've seen two of these things in the last six months.
I live in Wales UK, and stay up late most nights.
One morning, about 4:30 just before going to bed, I went to lock the doors, and I saw in the sky a light that was too big and fast for a plane.
It also had a pinky orange colour, and semmed to be very high in the sky.
The second one, was around christmas or new year, and that was at night.
This one was about the same size, but had more of a yellowy firey kind of look to it, and did flicker so I thought Chinese lantern, until it seemed to go behind a cloud, then reappear again, and I thought 'Must be one very large Chinese lantern'.
These objects didn't shoot around at the speeds mentioned above though, they just seemed to be going from A to B, wherever that may be.
I should point out though, that an airforce base is about 30 miles from where I live so who knows............?

the Göteborg video looks like a couple of signal flares to me.