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60163tornado
Location : n.west
Spotter Watch Member : no
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Subject: What did we see? 2009-03-12, 14:14 |
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On Tuesday the 10th, in the early afternoon one of my visitors who happens to be an Airline Pilot
was scanning the sky above Warton when he saw a large contrail spanning the sky with a light
coloured aircraft a few degrees to the east and heading in a southeasterly direction at normal
airliner height. following the same track were what we thought at first were high flying birds but
on closer inspection they appeared to be on a solid track and not whirling about as birds do we
counted at least 14 objects we could not tell what they were or what height they were flying at
it could be that they were either very high in the sky or they were very small which gave the
impression of being high. What I want to know is were they a group of hang gliders transitting
the Warton overhead or something else. I do not want any funny/stupid remarks. This thread will
be removed in seven days.
Last edited by 60163tornado on 2009-04-01, 01:32; edited 2 times in total
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Mark H
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-12, 16:22 |
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any piccys.....chinese lanterns again, some barstewards always lettin em off, lol!!
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Eagle 1
Location : Contrailling
Spotter Watch Member : No
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-17, 13:32 |
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Hi Frank, I've been mulling over what we saw & I can safely say that in over 20 years flying all over the world, 15 of them in airliners I have never, ever seen anything like those objects.
I honestly have no idea what we saw.
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60163tornado
Location : n.west
Spotter Watch Member : no
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-18, 03:54 |
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- Eagle 1 wrote:
- Hi Frank,
I've been mulling over what we saw & I can safely say that in over 20 years flying all over the world, 15 of them in airliners I have never, ever seen anything like those objects.
I honestly have no idea what we saw. I was wondering Sir, if you could describe in aeronautical and meteorlogical terms the state of the sky and the position of the contrail in relation to these mysterious objects.
Should we report the sighting to Nick Pope or even Miss Randles.
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Eagle 1
Location : Contrailling
Spotter Watch Member : No
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-18, 08:50 |
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Hi Frank, I would rather poke out my eyeballs with blunt cocktail sticks than entertain those two!!!
Met conditions were 'Colour State Blue' with clear skies & only a couple of contrails. The contrail belt I would estimate starting at around FL280-300 & a westerly airflow up at altitude.
I was watching a contrailing airliner transiting north-south along airway UA1 when my eyes caught a 'metallic' reflection on the edge of an old contrail. I asked Frank if I could borrow his bino's & he duly obliged. Using 'bobble' references in the old contrail, I tracked northerly until I saw the object & re-focused.
I saw something metallic of a basic cuboid shape with panels or 'wings' sticking out of the side. It resembled a satellite. After watching for about 20-30 seconds I noticed that there were more objects close by. I passed the bino's to Frank & asked him to tell me what he thought they were because I sure as heck didn't know.
Frank watched them for a while until they faded away.
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GOOSE
Moderator
Location : UK
Spotter Watch Member : No
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-18, 13:06 |
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Seen similar watching a flight of F-16's refuel from a KC-135 OTT Fife. Multiple objects trailing the USAF aircraft. "My" objects however, appeared spherical and highly reflective? ;)
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Eagle 1
Location : Contrailling
Spotter Watch Member : No
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-18, 18:57 |
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Thanks Goose, Even though there was only light traffic on a usually busy airway, they didn't seem to be following anything. I didn't think they were moving, Frank thought they were moving slowly but I think the contrail may have been blown easterly by the westerly jetstreams.
Jump in here anytime you want, Frank. You watched them for longer than I did.
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60163tornado
Location : n.west
Spotter Watch Member : no
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-19, 13:33 |
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- GOOSE wrote:
- Seen similar watching a flight of F-16's refuel from a KC-135 OTT Fife. Multiple objects trailing the USAF aircraft. "My" objects however, appeared spherical and highly reflective? ;)
Perhaps we could get Tonks to answer a query about tanking I often wondered when occasionially I have seen a Tanker with chicks being refuelled I have noticed objects at the rear of the chicks could it be fuel being vented out which had a high incidence of water/moisture causing instant particles of ice which glisten in the sunlight.
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60163tornado
Location : n.west
Spotter Watch Member : no
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Subject: Taxiing on Tues/Wed 31.3.09 2009-03-31, 01:47 |
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I had 4 E-Mails suggesting that this sort of infomation should not be placed on this or any other forum. The suggestion that the object should be under wraps by 12 noon was a clue. It was just an, "April Fool" If you want to fool somebody there always has to be an element of truth, to make the joke more realistic. (PS hope nobody made a long journey to see one of our UAS vehicles.
Last edited by 60163tornado on 2009-04-01, 01:43; edited 3 times in total
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Tonks
Location : A secret airbase in Oxfordshire
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Subject: Re: What did we see? 2009-03-31, 03:47 |
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- Quote :
- I have seen a Tanker with chicks being refuelled I have noticed objects at the rear of the chicks
could it be fuel being vented out which had a high incidence of water/moisture causing instant
particles of ice which glisten in the sunlight. Many aircraft will vent a small amount of fuel as the put the probe out before they go astern or vent a small amount as they top up to full. At higher levels you may also get the same sort of vapour trail that you see from an airline if the conditions are correct.
Not sure what you saw Eagle, but there is a refueling track off the coast by Warton which is regularly used...
Tonks 8)
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