New craft seen above Palmdale. Any ideas?, page 1


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reply posted on 17-6-2010 @ 04:10 PM by Aim64C
Having watched a number of mock high-altitude dogfights from the ground, I can say that you can't tell where the sound is coming from - the sounds will change in frequency and their origin shift through the skies.

Though I can't say that has ever been accompanied by hovering aircraft. They can appear to hover for a few moments during maneuvers (and due to various illusions) - but I'm not really capable of seeing what you all saw from your description... so I can't really compare it to my experiences very well.

As for the object in your picture, there...

It would, at first, appear to be some kind of flying-wing design... but, at only a few pixels, it's likely a compression artifact.

There appears to be a blur trailing off of the object in both pictures - which would suggest motion blur, or some form of exhaust.

Motion blur would suggest your idea of hovering and my own are substantially different - an that form of exhaust would be consistent with a maneuvering aircraft, likely with supersonic exhaust (which creates the deep, thunderous roar that seems to dart across the sky).

Not to sound dismissive or to discredit your own observations - but it would seem that the aircraft were likely F-15s. It's possible they were F-18s or F-16s, but it's a statistical likelihood that they were F-15s given the mission and standard drills of the F-15s in proximity to populated areas, as well as the number of them in operation near those areas.

It seems you are implying they are something out of the ordinary - but, I know from personal experience how alien the maneuvers of aircraft can look from the ground to someone who is not very familiar with it, as well as the sounds and other things that go along with standard aircraft.

So, without having seen it myself, or having a clearer depiction of something out of the ordinary - I have to go with my own experiences and presume what I consider normal is not what others would expect to be normal of standard aircraft.


reply posted on 17-6-2010 @ 09:45 PM by Aim64C
reply to post by Scotlandshope



Looking at it again, this is also quite plausible. I had, at first, ruled it out as a compression artifact of sorts.


reply posted on 18-6-2010 @ 12:06 AM by thebozeian
reply to post by LSWONE


Errr... is Palmdale California not the home of Lockheed's Skunkworks?

I think AIM64C's initial note that it looked like a UAV is correct. I believe it may be either an RQ-170 Sentinel (aka "The beast of Kandahar), a new build P-175 Polecat, a new unknown UAV development airframe, or possibly another manufacturer's design such as a Boeing derivative of the X-45B/C/N (it may even be an early flight of Boeing's Phantom Ray concept that will be based on the X-45C family, although officially at least first flight isn't planned till December of this year). The first frame also bears a close resemblance to NG's X-47 that won the USN's UCAS-D competition over Boeings X-45N.

The sound you heard was almost certainly chase aircraft and not the aircraft itself from your description. It may also have been an experiment to use a "mother-ship" such as an F-22/F-15 to control multiple UAV's, although I would expect for safety's sake this would not be carried out over such a populated area.

LEE.


[edit on 18-6-2010 by thebozeian]


reply posted on 24-6-2010 @ 09:02 PM by thebozeian
reply to post by LSWONE

Yeah having seen the stabilized video I am much more convinced that it is a UAV of some sort. One thing I did note though that seemed a little odd was the way it moved, it seemed to roll around quite a bit and some of its circling turns were very tight. In fact the motion it displayed seemed more like a small radio controlled aircraft than a UAV. Then again I haven't had an opportunity to see UAV's in flight so that is an open question.

Anyone else out there got any ideas, wonder what Intelgurl would make of this?

LEE.
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