Help Identifying & Brainstorming About a Aircraft(s) Operating Today

Hey everyone. I was recently out looking at the sky due to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, the Moon, all being visible in the sky, and are quite the sight tonight.


While I was looking at them I noticed a very bright object in the sky roughly the same apparent size as one of the planets I was looking for. Unfortunately I was driving so it took me a while to get organized, and get a better view, but ultimately I determined it was an aircraft(s) of sorts.


Here is an example of what the plane looked like. I contemplated that it was an escort of sorts, but the lights at the front were flashing at almost the same time, and they didn't appear to change distance between each other/other lights. I determined that there was most likely one object, or one object as a result of being connected (re-fuel in the air, a "tugboat" plane.


The black doted line is a guess of what the frame would look like, so to give reference for the lights. After this plane passed I saw another similar one flying low, and loud, and the beams of the headlights were visible being reflected off fog/clouds. I was able to see outline of this plane very clearly. In comparison I wasn't able to see a frame for plane in question.

The two strobes coming off what I believe to be the wing tips were a super-bright white, which looks blue. In the middle of the plane, behind the wings, were two very bright lights that remained lit, and were not strobes. These lights had a yellow hue to them, and despite being so bright I couldn't see any reflection off the bottom of the plane.

I'm very interested if anyone has any ideas of what this plane could be? It was very strange, and I haven't ever seen something like that before.

Other questions:
Is there a tool I can use for tracking past air traffic in an area? If so I can go back and look at what was supposed to be up there at the time. I'm in Massachusetts for those interested.

Is there enough room to attach say a hummer to the back of a plane, and still land in a conventional landing, without hitting it against the ground? I'd be interested to see if it's possible something was attached to it. After thinking about it, I'm reminded of a dragonfly idea, or the Falcon from Halo:

[url=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/_ _cb20100331192435


Thanks for the help. Sorry if I wasn't very clear, and that I don't have any videos, or pictures. Most likely it's nothing, but I'm interested in what could be lit up like that regardless of if it is ATS or just TS

Originally posted by Xieon
Other questions:
Is there a tool I can use for tracking past air traffic in an area? If so I can go back and look at what was supposed to be up there at the time. I'm in Massachusetts for those interested.

Yep - www.flightradar24.com... - it has provision for seeing what was being recorded up to about 10 days in the past IIRC = select the "Live" tab at top right and choose your time frame.

Of course it is not comprehensive as it only records a/c that are broadcasting ADSB, and only if there's a subscribing receiver nearby - but there's still a pretty good chance.

I saw an airplane this morning that I suspected to be an X-plane and haven't found anything on it all day long.

If you took two lower case t and joined them at the bottom (top t upside up and bottom t upside down) - that's what it was shaped like. Very long skinny fuselage, metallic military-looking.

It looked like two equally long pairs of wings and no tail.

It was flying very low (under the cloud cover).

It's a jet of some sort because it was silent until it got over my house and then ENORMOUSLY loud all of the sudden. That's when I ran out to see it.

It's not in the Jane's Aircraft Recognition Guide (2002)

I found MY aircraft! I still have my drawing too. I had searched aircraft and some drones for weeks and gave up. I saw a picture of an MQ-9 Reaper on the net today and yelled, "That's it!" My spouse came to see because he had helped search too. So, my mystery is solved ... maybe the OP will find his or her plane too.