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May 5, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Of Fly-bys, after-burners, and things not of this world

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

(Note, to get the full experience of this post, press play then read below)

I’ve been investigating all day the reports of suspicious aerial activity in the skies above Santa Clarita on 05-04-2010 at approximately 20:50 – 21:00 hours.

Grab your magnifying glass and join me!

SCVTalk reader Julie started things off:

surprised you didn’t write about the fighter jets flying low over SCV twice last night — everyone was freaking out, didn’t know what it was, then we saw reports on Twitter of the same thing happening in Oregon and elsewhere in the country!

Indeed! I heard the jets too. And as our dear reader pointed out, so did several people on Twitter and other social network sites.

I’m really proud of you Santa Clarita. When the shit hits the fan and World War III starts, I know you won’t run for your nearest Mormon Relief Society bunker…not you! You’re a self-sufficient bunch who communicates, I know you’ll run to Twitter and inform the rest of us!

Here are two reports within minutes of each other. Twitter user joshandcroz was the second report as far as I can tell:

Image not recoveredrpt1.jpg

Several tweets and retweets followed shortly thereafter. This user was very descriptive just five minutes later:

But Twitter wasn’t good enough for some people. One guy took to the odd Yahoo Answers website. He described the same thing the others saw but added that the plane was in something called the “Santa Clarita Practice Area.” Then “Rich” replied with the best description of all:

Yup, I heard it too and saw an aircraft on full afterburners in a hard right turn then head south or south west. I lost it behind some houses. Neighbors also saw the aircraft and noticed the “flames” coming out of the back. No idea regarding the type of aircraft but I recall seeing the glow of two afterburners. Undoubtedly military. Also saw something that may have either been launched from the same aircraft or was being chased. It was fairly large and appeared to be at a very high altitude, perhaps near space or low earth orbiting. It was heading in a straight line in a south east direction. Bright orange in appearance, and didn’t appear to be an orbiting satellite.

The same aircraft came back around 20 minutes later and did a 360 degree turn right over downtown Santa Clarita. Same loud engines. It then proceeded east about 5 or 6 miles and turned north.

WTF? Does Rich have an active imagination or should we treat his eyewitness report as gospel? Was there a second, unidentified flying object in the air? A UFO perhaps?

And does anyone else find it disconcerting to know that there is something called the “Santa Clarita Practice Area?” Practice. For. What?

Our own Jim Farley confirms some of the things above, especially the afterburner reports

Since it was dark I could make out the type but could clearly see the flame from an afterburner from the second jet. (Or the same jet making a second pass). It happened around 9:00 pm.

So here’s what we know:

  • Resident spotted a “jet of some sort” at 8:50 or so
  • It circled the SCV for several minutes
  • At least one eyewitness saw the glow of two afterburners, meaning it was probably a two engined plane like an F-15, F-18, or F-5
  • It went away and came back 10 – 20 minutes later, then turned east
  • One eyewitness saw it chasing or launching something

I’ve lived in Santa Clarita for 17 years and have only seen fighter jets over our city a handful of times. I’ve never seen a fighter jet “turn and burn” through on afterburners though; I thought pilots only did that when 1)they’re taking off, 2)when they mean business and have to get the hell out of dodge and 3)combat, or 4) at airshows.

I was riding my bike home from COC at the time and didn’t see anything, but I knew it was military. It sounded like more than one jet to me; the noise a military jet makes is different in loudness and character compared to a commercial jet. I don’t know how anyone could miss it; it was extremely loud.

Unfortunately I’m not widely read in the Air Force community so I can’t offer you any answers. It’s possible the jet was just passing through on its way to Edwards. Or maybe it was an exercise. Maybe Al Queda up and got an Air Force and was prepping an attack on us, using the tower at Six Flags as a rally point. Perhaps the ChiComs were shooting down satellites again? Or perhaps the City of Santa Clarita was renting out airspace for filming? Did it have something to do with the smoke monster on Lost?

It could be anything really. Will we ever find out?

Image not recoveredrpt3.jpg

Ha! Yeah right

Comments (77)

  1. Scott ErvinMay 5, 2010 at 2:32 pm
    Jeff, you left out my twitter post which, in my opinion, was the most accurate, timely and precise: “wtf?”
  2. JimMay 5, 2010 at 2:41 pm
    I too saw the second object (high and orange) – reminded me of the satellite that burned up on re-entry several years ago. It was there, then slowly faded away.
  3. CastaicClayMay 5, 2010 at 2:50 pm
    Shooting down space junk?
  4. NeilMay 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm
    Correct me if I’m wrong, but the “Santa Clarita Practice Area” is adjacent to the “Hang Glider Practice Area” which is in Burbank (those hang gliders can sometimes be seen if you look east while at Camp 9 – nice bike ride up there by the way ). New civilian pilots which generally take off from Van Nuys Airport train overhead. Therefore, our area here is called the Santa Clarita Practice Area. Though I’m not sure why the Air Force chose SCV. I can’t think it was anything more than a training flight in our “Practice Area”.
  5. drive66May 5, 2010 at 3:22 pm
    SCV is where Van Nuys flight students go to practice flying.
  6. GangFangMay 5, 2010 at 3:39 pm
    I heard and saw the “afterburners” and orange object. Was definitely somewhat creepy. First thought was a typical practice drill, flight exerise, etc. But something about it was odd, and it was so damn QUIET afterwards. And not just compared to the jets. No chirping of insects kinda quiet.
  7. Scott ErvinMay 5, 2010 at 3:49 pm
    That’s because all the insects were going, “like wtf?”
  8. GangFangMay 5, 2010 at 7:02 pm
    Dogs too.
  9. KimijoyMay 6, 2010 at 8:32 pm
    My dogs were going nuts too, and my Corgi never gets upset at noises.
  10. William SchultzMay 5, 2010 at 4:50 pm
    We also saw and heard the afterburners, which so rudely interrupted NCIS on Tuesday night. We missed the first pass, but not the second. Rushing outside we caught the flames as the jet flew south and made a sharp turn toward the east with a sharp afterburner cut off. Lights blinking, it looked like Edwards was home.We missed the orange “whatever it was.”
  11. Jim FarleyMay 5, 2010 at 4:57 pm
    I have spent many hours flying Cessna’s out of Van Nuys with two friends who were licensed pilots and were letting me practice flying. Most of the time was over Simi and Santa Clarita valleys. If I’m not mistaken the flight charts do not allow for military flight for training purposes in this area. I think it was likely a rouge pilot who could be in trouble if caught.
  12. Sterling is the KingMay 5, 2010 at 8:51 pm
    You are right Jim. I was out and saw what you did. Afterburners perhaps but more a low rumble from low altitude flying. It growls a mighty wind at slower low altitudes. I never thought much about it but it is strange. I thought it was a low flying jet on a different low approach to Vys airport or something.
  13. ToddMay 5, 2010 at 5:02 pm
    Neil. The hangglider area isn’t quite in Burbank… its in the mountains above El Cariso golf course. I see them when I golf there all the time. The SCV Practice Area (called the Newhall Practice Area when I was learning some 18 years ago) is the area generally hidden by the mountains from the radar. AKA, since radar can’t see you, they don’t have control, so you’re on your own! Anyway, its not really a defined part of airspace, but generally the whole SCV and out the 14 falls in that area. West is the Santa Paula acrobatic area.
  14. jasonMay 5, 2010 at 5:28 pm
    We were at the Hart baseball complex. The plane was so load over the fields that the games stopped. Thought sadaam was coming until i remembered we already killed him.
  15. RyanMay 5, 2010 at 5:32 pm
    Oddly enough, my boyfriend was in Shadow Pines at the time and heard nothing.
  16. julieMay 5, 2010 at 7:24 pm
    Jeff- Wow you really went all out on the investigation – thanks. I have a feeling we’ll never know what it was… but it’s odd that the Oregon people also saw fighters chasing “something” in the sky… technically, since we don’t know what it was… it IS a UFO! Someone call George Noory! I just moved to SVC a few months ago, and it was just so damned peaceful… then air raid sirens and fighter jets in one week? Maybe I was better off in Hollywood and its boring ol’ murder and prostitution. (Nah.)
  17. spineflower2May 5, 2010 at 7:31 pm
    Four-aircraft flyby over Newhall Pass at about 6:30 this evening, heading north; close formation, but too far to ID aircraft.
  18. BrianMay 5, 2010 at 7:39 pm
    Illegal immigration trying something new? Catch me if you can!!
  19. ToddMay 5, 2010 at 8:01 pm
    I saw those too…. they were props I believe. Acutally, I see a group once a week that is 3 – 5 in formation come through the pass on my way home from Burbank.
  20. navigatorMay 6, 2010 at 11:35 am
    Those aircraft fly over quite often. I believe they are from the Condor Squadron (the ones that do the flyover for Memorial Day). Same type of WWII aircraft.
  21. KatieMay 5, 2010 at 8:21 pm
    I agree…WTF are military aircraft doing flying over sleepy SCV at 8:50pm on a week night? I called our local sheriff’s office who said that they didn’t have any idea what was going on any more than we did, but that “it” was from Edwards AFB. Hopefully it’s some new type of after dark, under cover operation to keep the ILLEGAL ALIENS (where ever they’re from) out of SCV. I love Arizona!
  22. ReaderMamaMay 5, 2010 at 9:12 pm
    Mr. RM says there are fighter jet “practice targets” out in San Francisquito Canyon, just beyond the shooting range, before you get to the area of the old dam. This may be the “practice” area referred to.
  23. RichMay 5, 2010 at 10:23 pm
    I’m the Rich who wrote the detailed description I witnessed last night. I don’t Tweet and was unaware of the SCVtalk.com website, hence the response to Yahoo Answers. What I saw had nothing to do with an “active imagination”. I am familiar with the air launch process of the Pegasus system and what few over Santa Clarita certainly didn’t sound like the L-1011 Stargazer. That’s the name of the aircraft which is outfitted to carry the Pegasus launch vehicle aloft. AFAIK, the Stargazer is not outfitted with afterburners. It’s got huge turbofan jet engines that make an entirely different sound. I watched one take off with a Pegasus rocket years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lockheed_TriStar_lauches_Pegasus_with_Space_Technology_5.jpg Anyway, launch process of a Pegasus is fairly straight forward. Aircraft arrives at desired altitude in the right direction. Pegasus released from aircraft. Aircraft turns hard left or right to get away from the launch vehicle’s rocket motor, which is about to ignite. With the plane a safe distance away, the rocket motor ignites and Pegasus heads upwards to deliver the payload into orbit. What I saw last night seemed to fit closely with an air launch of a rocket carried aloft except I didn’t get outside soon enough to catch more of the process. A military or experimental jet aircraft screams overhead and turns hard right with afterburners, trying to get out of the way of whatever may have been launched. The second glowing “orb” may very well have been the plume of a rocket motor as whatever was launched ascended. From our vantage point all we probably saw was the tail end of the rocket. I agree that there was absolutely no sound coming from the second, smaller object. It appeared to be moving both up very fast and away at the same time. Did anyone else notice the almost complete lack of civil aviation aircraft overhead for 15-20 minutes after the event? Had the airspace been cleared perhaps? Anyone familiar with airspace procedures and how that may have been accomplished? NOTAMS, temporary restriction on airspace, whatever? Do some research online and you will find several possibilities of what may have been sent aloft. Scientific or military experiment of hypersonic craft? An actual space shot of some kind? While what we all saw can be described, the details may remain out of the realm of public knowledge for quite some time, perhaps forever. I’m going to keep looking for possible answers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-34 Rich
  24. Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 6:24 am
    I know the Van Nuys tower is in control of SCV air space as far as planes landing there, perhaps in conjunction with the regional ATC in Palmdale. I don’t know if either tower would divulge what was going on. I have to believe they were aware of the situation. Great update Rich! Welcome to SCVtalk – careful it can get addictive.
  25. JeffMay 6, 2010 at 7:53 am
    It could also be something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ASAT_missile_launch.jpg
  26. USAFMay 6, 2010 at 6:30 am
    It was a weather baloon.
  27. ToddMay 6, 2010 at 7:27 am
    Lolz.
  28. lolMay 6, 2010 at 9:05 pm
    Balloon!
  29. CordellMay 6, 2010 at 8:09 am
    My son and I ran outside when we heard the sound. We live in Saugus, David Way at Copper Hill. The objects had just passed over our neighborhood. I didn’t have my glasses on so what I saw was out of focus. It looked and sounded to me to be a low flying jet with afterburners on making sharp turns. There was more that one object. The most unusual thing I saw was a bright orange star like object. The star like rays were most likely artifacts of my uncorrected vision. I saw at least three objects making rapid movements. My son later said that the main light appeared as large as a streetlamp. He also saw several objects. Very strange.
  30. KatieMay 6, 2010 at 8:14 am
    Seriously Rich please keep up with your quest for an answer. I for one would really like to know what “it” was all about. When the military is performing “practice maneuvers” it simply is NOT done over populated suburbs. The government owns millions of unpopulated acreage in Nevada for that. I am not one those conspiracy type of thinkers, but the Tuesday evening “fly by” was something other than practice.
  31. USAFMay 6, 2010 at 8:25 am
    But seriously, Rich and I are friends and he called me the other night when all this was going on. I live in Green Valley, North of the SCV and he wondered if I was hearing anything. I did recall hearing a military jet about 1-1.5 hours before he called. I distinctly recall it being a military jet and not the usual quiet Southwest 737′s that fly Southward down the East side of Bouquet Canyon. We will frequently have F/A-18′s (from China Lake?) “sneak” through GV at about 500′ AGL; below the radar. The Hornet is subsonic, but their exhaust is crackling, flirting with the sound barrier. It does get your attention. Bill
  32. ToddMay 6, 2010 at 8:39 am
    I’ve seen those same planes on many a drive through the canyons… They like playing in the canyons, for sure.
  33. JeffMay 6, 2010 at 8:31 am
    Ok I’ve emailed our Congressman’s press liaison asking for an inquiry. We’ll see what she says!
  34. susanMay 6, 2010 at 10:55 am
    It was crazy. I am so curious about what it was. I hope you get a response Jeff.
  35. Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 1:18 pm
    Here is a neat aviation chart. It shows the SCV in a ‘Class E’ airspace from 700′ to 18’000 feet. That means that pretty much anything can fly in it using ‘visual flight rules’. It still doesn’t answer the question if military flights are restricted, but it’s kind of neat to look at anyway. http://www.runwayfinder.com/?loc=VNY
  36. Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 5:33 pm
    The chart confirms what Neil says. The SCV and Simi areas have a warning that they are both “intensive training areas”. This has to be due to the large volume of flight students from the Van Nuys airport. Sometimes you can observe single engine plane pilots above doing their stall practice. The engine suddenly goes quiet followed a few moments later by it reving as the plane recovers. This still has nothing to do with the military doing execises in the area.
  37. JeffMay 6, 2010 at 2:14 pm
    Good news. Congressman McKeon’s office has opened an inquiry with DoD. Will take some time I’m told. I’ll update with more as I get it.
  38. Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 2:19 pm
    You go Jeff! This is a prime example of how this site provides so much more information than The Signal.
  39. Sarah SevillaMay 6, 2010 at 4:29 pm
    My husband and I heard the jet from inside our house (in the Northbridge area, we live near Grandview) but we didn’t go out to see it, we just ignored it, thinking it was some normal military transport – littly did we know. Then, we went out to walk our 2 dogs at 9pm. At 9:20pm, during our walk, we were walking around the pond at Bridgeport Shopping Center. We started heading East, walking down the sidewalk past the pond next to the parking lots. My husband saw an ENORMOUS string of Red, pulsing lights – unlike anything we have ever seen before. They looked attached, as if to one object. We have no idea what it was. It hovered above the area defined by the Bouquet Canyon shopping center, near Saugus. But we couldn’t tell just how high it was. Then, it drifted SxSE until it could no longer be seen. We were stunned, after 6 minutes we started walking back toward home past the new “Real Life Church”. We were right in front of the church parking lot, at the far east side of the shopping center, when we stopped because we saw yet ANOTHER string of red lights, all in a row, the size of at least a football field, hover and then begin to slowly move. The lights were oscillating rapidly – only tomato red in color. There was NO SOUND. We couldn’t tell if it was the leading edge of one large craft or multiple objects. When the string would move, like a long stick, all the lights stayed in perfect proportion to one another as if tethered, or perhaps they were all part of one structure. It was highly unnerving. We called out to people around us in the parking lot but they were too far away — it was late, there were only 8 or 9 other people in the lot going to their cars. If someone remembers PLEASE post here! If you were there or you saw either of these anomalous craft/objects — it was exactly between 9:15-9:45 that the sighting happened, because we walked back in the door to our house by 10pm, then I called the SCV sheriff’s dept, and the officer who answered said he was inundated with calls, “100s of calls about the jet” and “weird stuff” in the sky. I also called and left a message with VAFB, with their public affairs office. The local 1220am news called us back, and said they are gathering details of witness accounts, and said they called Edwards AFB who DENIED having any craft in the air Tuesday. The details of our own sighting are too long for this post, but we reported it to NUFORC (www.nuforc.org), and once I see it listed there I will post the link here for you to read for yourselves. People are telling us to report it the FAA and also MUFON. -Sarah
  40. ChrisMay 6, 2010 at 10:42 pm
    The string of red lights you saw could have been countermeasure flares deployed by the aircraft. Did it look like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5hunxT7MEU
  41. JimMay 6, 2010 at 7:34 pm
    Google “TR3B” Also refer to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypQwUZnDfns Note they mention a “comet”-like object flying out of it sideways. This would correlate with our orange-glowing object.
  42. KimijoyMay 6, 2010 at 8:52 pm
    I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but Deputy Glover’s funeral was also on Tuesday. We live near his family, and a group gathered there after the funeral. They were shooting off skyrocket fireworks just before the jet noises started. Perhaps there was also an uncleared flyby in his honor? If you live anywhere near Seco and Copperhill you probably heard the fireworks too. We were outside to see where the fireworks were coming from and then the jet noises started. Two distinct and separate instances of jet noise. However, we did not see anything other than the fireworks prior to and in between the two jet noises. But those jet noises were NOT from the fireworks.
  43. ChrisMay 6, 2010 at 9:00 pm
    This is the reply I got from Edwards AFB: “Chris – No, I don’t know about the incident you’re referring to. Most of the flights from here are test flights, since that’s our primary mission. Nearly all of those are conducted in the R-2508 Restricted Airspace Area. This is a 20,000-square mile primarily reserved for military flying that extends from the southern boundary of the base north to between Big Pine and Bishop, east nearly to the Nevada border, and west to between Lake Isabella and Bakersfield. Chances are quite good that it was either from another base or operated by another branch of the military. You’re probably thinking, “Great, but what can I do to figure this out?” If I were to call or write someone for help, I’m looking to solve a problem. I’ve got a couple of courses of action to suggest that should help. 1. The first place to check when it comes to aircraft incidents is with the FAA. That can a daunting task. The FAA isn’t easy to figure out. Which part of the FAA can help? The FAA organization to contact is the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) that has jurisdiction over your area. The FAA has divided the nation into Flight Standards Districts. Santa Clarita is in Van Nuys FSDO’s district. Their phone number is 818-904-6291. Remember, they’re primarily interested in flight safety, so if you feel what you saw an aircraft doing was unsafe, the FSDO is the place to start. 2. The FAA also has the nation divided up into larger areas called Regions. Regions will have many FSDOs within it. California is in the FAA’s Western Region. At each Regional headquarters there are military pilots acting as liaisons for their particular branch. The Western Region HQ is near Seattle, Washington,. I don’t know who the reps are for the other branches of the military, but the two Air Force reps are Lt Col Rich Farnsworth (Rich.S.Farnsworth@FAA.gov) and Lt Col George Covin (George.Covin@FAA.gov), who can be reached by calling 425-227-2947. They work close to the other military reps, so if the aircraft in question isn’t Air Force, they can contact the other reps to try to get the issue resolved. I hope this helps. Feel free to call if you’d like. //Dennis Dennis G. Shoffner, 95 ABW/PA Chief, Civic Outreach 305 E Popson Ave, Room 400 Edwards AFB, CA 93524 661-277-3517″ Tried contacting FAA FSDO but to reply yet. Anyone else wanna give it a shot?
  44. ChrisMay 6, 2010 at 9:06 pm
    Here’s the reply I got from Edwards AFB: “Chris – No, I don’t know about the incident you’re referring to. Most of the flights from here are test flights, since that’s our primary mission. Nearly all of those are conducted in the R-2508 Restricted Airspace Area. This is a 20,000-square mile primarily reserved for military flying that extends from the southern boundary of the base north to between Big Pine and Bishop, east nearly to the Nevada border, and west to between Lake Isabella and Bakersfield. Chances are quite good that it was either from another base or operated by another branch of the military. You’re probably thinking, “Great, but what can I do to figure this out?” If I were to call or write someone for help, I’m looking to solve a problem. I’ve got a couple of courses of action to suggest that should help. 1. The first place to check when it comes to aircraft incidents is with the FAA. That can a daunting task. The FAA isn’t easy to figure out. Which part of the FAA can help? The FAA organization to contact is the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) that has jurisdiction over your area. The FAA has divided the nation into Flight Standards Districts. Santa Clarita is in Van Nuys FSDO’s district. Their phone number is 818-904-6291. Remember, they’re primarily interested in flight safety, so if you feel what you saw an aircraft doing was unsafe, the FSDO is the place to start. 2. The FAA also has the nation divided up into larger areas called Regions. Regions will have many FSDOs within it. California is in the FAA’s Western Region. At each Regional headquarters there are military pilots acting as liaisons for their particular branch. The Western Region HQ is near Seattle, Washington,. I don’t know who the reps are for the other branches of the military, but the two Air Force reps are Lt Col Rich Farnsworth (Rich.S.Farnsworth@FAA.gov) and Lt Col George Covin (George.Covin@FAA.gov), who can be reached by calling 425-227-2947. They work close to the other military reps, so if the aircraft in question isn’t Air Force, they can contact the other reps to try to get the issue resolved. I hope this helps. Feel free to call if you’d like. //Dennis Dennis G. Shoffner, 95 ABW/PA Chief, Civic Outreach 305 E Popson Ave, Room 400 Edwards AFB, CA 93524 661-277-3517″ I tried contacting FAA FSDO but no reply yet. Anyone else wanna give it a shot?
  45. NormanMay 6, 2010 at 9:42 pm
    Anybody check with Plant 42/Palmdale Airport? I live not to far from there to the west. 8:41pm Tuesday night a plane very loud and very low flew past, heading out towards Bouquet Canyon. Probably the same plane that ended up over Santa Clarita not too long after that. Not everything that flys low and loud comes from Edwards.
  46. MauraMay 6, 2010 at 9:47 pm
    We could use some excitement around here. Popcorn, please.
  47. JimMay 7, 2010 at 10:09 am
    Object was seen as far as Pennsylvania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUumYJ4vkPQ and also in Tuscon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPDCyF4QaA
  48. ToddMay 7, 2010 at 10:34 am
    That PA vid, showing the occurance at the same time as here, tells me that whatever that particular thing was, was outside of the atmosphere. Might have very well been something to do with X-37B type testing that was done last month(in which case, we’ll never get an answer, because its super top secret classified). But supposedly the X-37B can be in orbit for 200+ days… and is planned to orbit at between 110 and 500 miles. So, perhaps the silent orange glow was the X-37B firing up to move from 200 to 500 mile orbit. http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av012/100422launch/
  49. JeffMay 7, 2010 at 10:36 am
    Excellent hypothesis Todd! I had forgotten about that object. And it’s possible the fighter jet was tracking this space craft with a camera.
  50. ToddMay 7, 2010 at 10:42 am
    Exactly. Since Edwards is home to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, its possible that whatever craft was tracking it was attached to NASA and not the AF, so Edwards could say “we had no AF craft in the area” and not be lying about it… Plausable deniability. Its FANtastic!
  51. JeffMay 7, 2010 at 10:53 am
    Going off your theory, look what I found. A Cincinatti TV station recorded a strange light at around 11pm Tuesday. That would be 9pm our time wouldn’t? This light shoots up quickly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crk_FTl1nIQ And yes regarding your plausible deniability claim! The .gov is good at that. I’ve seen several launches from Vandenberg in the skies over SCV. Extremely high altitude rockets really play tricks with depth perception and distance, all the more so in low light or night.
  52. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 11:21 am
    We saw MANY red lights, as if on the edge of something large. They were all in a row… at least 12, oscillating rapidly but not the way flares would. …And more than once. The first string at 9:15pm floated SouthEast and disappeared out of view, the second string, at 9:30pm appeared above the airspace over Bouquet Canyon Shopping Center, and it did the same thing. I searched youtube to try and find you something that resembled what we saw – this is VERY similar, exactly how the lights were behaving — except that we saw one line, fixed, not a boomerang. (note, this video has the witnesses cussing so beware if kids in the room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypQwUZnDfns&feature=PlayList&p=4B903DB630DAF8D0&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=16 )
  53. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 11:50 am
    Sarah…I saw that same thing here in Saugus a few years back. I’m pretty sure it was in Nov. ’07!
  54. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 11:23 am
    Does anyone know if they released Chinese lanterns at Dpty. Glover’s funeral?
  55. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 11:30 am
    Thank you so much for posting this, Jim, amazing–> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPDCyF4QaA This is EXACTLY WHAT WE SAW..only it was longer, the duration was several minutes, it was RED, and it was in a straight line! WHAT IS THIS???? What is going on? Is the same thing they saw in Oregon? So does this mean the same thing was happening in Oregon and Arizona possibly the same night?
  56. JeffMay 7, 2010 at 11:33 am
    Sarah: The only possible explanation is something in the atmosphere, possibly hundreds of miles up, visible to much of the country. And just last week, the US Air Force launched an experimental military shuttle that they’re being all coy about. As for the fighter jets: perhaps they were monitoring the experimental shuttle in low earth orbit.
  57. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 11:38 am
    Thanks, Jeff, that’s interesting to imagine. What do you think it could possibly be, related to such an experimental shuttle, that would LOOK like that? The blinking red lights, so many of them, HOVERING and then slowly drifting off? and then again, a second craft or cluster? It was like a boom, or long antenna..or maybe just a leading edge? Or something else I can’t visualize. What do we know about the phsyical structure and possible deployed attachments to that shuttle? The lights we saw were very big, they seemed so much lower, an illusion?
  58. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 11:46 am
    Do you know if there are any programs to shoot re-entering space debris out of the sky with lasers? the only thing I can even imagine would be space junk falling to earth that was first exploding and then the big bits hit with lasers to vaporize them? Are lasers red? Would 20 large pieces of debris being blasted with lasers glow red? Why would they be all in a line? as if tethered? Were the jets trying to identify space debris that could have collided with homes here and shoot it down? I’ve seen plans for lasers that can auto-detect and destroy space junk in space but not in the atmosphere — could such a thing be mounted on a high-altitude jet or satellite? We didn’t see any beams…only the pinpricks of light as in the AZ video!
  59. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 11:47 am
    I saw that same light formation over Saugus back in Nov, 07!
  60. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 12:16 pm
    Cordell, what in the world could it be!? I’m so glad you posted. It’s unnerving, eh? What did you see? So, if that was November, it’s not a one-time phenomenon — which means it would have to be craft or something related to recurring military tests or something — but not a one-off like a meteor shower or an accident with a piece of equipment? Unless the same thing happens all the time. But this thing was spooky. It was slow, and large, and shimmering. We got the feeling it was waiting for something, not floating aimlessly. That sounds crazy, I guess, but it was so startling. I would love to know what you saw. A poster above, Jim, posted this video from Tucson, which happened on the same night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPDCyF4QaA . The woman in AZ who shot that video, it turns out, shoots every night and also watches all the city cams for anomalous sightings. It seems she has recorded that same configuration before, as well.
  61. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 12:50 pm
    What I saw several years ago looked very much like the video shot by the women from San Diego. I live at the north end of town, Bouquet&David Way. I was washing my RV at about 9PM. I heard a low humming sound. I looked over the top of the RV to the West when a chevron formation of lights came slowly cruising right overhead. The formation of about 8 lights were a dull yellow color as I viewed it from the “front” while it approached. I jumped off the ladder and walked into the middle of the street as it drifted over. As the lights passed over slowly banking to the right (south east) I then could see that the “backside” of the lights, and they were flashing a bright laser red sequence from one end of the formation to the other. The formation slowly continued in the direction of Sand Canyon until I lost sight of it. I’m pretty sure this was in November 2007.
  62. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 12:54 pm
    What happend the other night I feel was quite similar, although I did not see the lights from the same perspective. I did get a good look at the afterburner flame coming from the plane as is approached the light formation, (possibly over Boquet & Seco?) We couldn’t see much after that.
  63. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 1:25 pm
    Cordell, WOW. That’s incredible. I understand that there might be some high altitude craft that the military is running, but this doesn’t sound anything like that to me. This makes me thing that what Danny and I saw was the back end of the craft you witnessed, because what you describe as the tail end is precisely what we saw. The lights we saw were behaving in the same way as you describe, and as in the vides from Tucson and San Diego. Maybe we did see a boomerang but only from the back? What is this thing? Is it military? That doesn’t make any sense to me — why would the military chase down (seemingly) it’s own craft or objects? I think we saw one, connected thing – they were too uniform to be random pieces of ash or flares just floating. How high up do you think the craft was that you saw? Assuming it was something we didn’t want in our airspace, why wasn’t the craft you saw, or the one we saw at the time we saw it, being hassled “off the property” so to speak. If our US military has the capability to detect these things, assuming they’re not ours, then why didn’t they hassle the one you saw, I wonder? If it is ours, what is it? And why is it flying directly over town? Some people say it could have been at such a high altitude as to appear in multiple places at once — what we saw, and I get from your description what you saw — seemed local, much lower. I can imagine you standing in the street, looking up at that thing, sounds like a scene from Close Encounters! Some people on youtube speculate that these things are holograms. Assuming that were possible, then why?
  64. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 1:51 pm
    The altitude of the lights I witnessed a few years back were the same this time. about 1000′ tops. I’v been an aviation buff all my live so I’m always looking up to view planes. Sound also has a tendency to give away is source distance. I’m also a concert sound mixer, so I know that sound tends to degrade over distance. To my senses this was no further that 1000 ft altitude. Probably lower. The after burner glow was the size of a (oval shaped) quarter held at arms length when I first saw it.
  65. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 1:26 pm
    Cordell, btw, what we saw was Grandview and Newhall Ranch Road, just down the street from your home and sighting. We live off Bennington.
  66. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 1:45 pm
    That makes sense to me. What we saw was heading right in that direction.
  67. Sarah SevillaMay 7, 2010 at 1:46 pm
    One possibility? Lighter-than-air secret military airships (dirigibles) powered by onboard nuclear or electric engines. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/black_triangle_020805.html Maybe they have some kind of cloaking device. I once read about military cloaking that involves 100s of cameras on top of the craft, that video the sky, projecting their footage to screens mounted on the underside of the craft, so that is looks transparent, or at least blends in. I have no idea.. but it’s weird. And it still begs the question — why would any such thing be flying low and slow right over the center of Santa Clarita?
  68. navigatorMay 7, 2010 at 1:52 pm
    This appearance was obviously a ploy by Jeff to increase readership of his blog!
  69. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 1:53 pm
    I don’t think the military would send one F-18 or whatever to swoop around a top secret aircraft only to make a u-turn 15 mins later and fly back out towards Edwards. We saw the plane go back in that direction.
  70. Melissa RossMay 7, 2010 at 2:20 pm
    Could it be a Meteor Shower Created by Halley’s Comet??
  71. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 2:58 pm
    No.
  72. Unidentified PilotMay 7, 2010 at 6:26 pm
    Wow, fly 2 planes in one night and everyone freaks out? First of all it was somewhat of a test that we were doing. EAFB is testing a new synthetic fuel for a project called “SkyLight12″ that’s the public name we are allowed to release under a said contract for engineering purposes and funding. The other night we ran clear across the Southern State of California 19 times at different altitudes to make sure that flying at high altitudes wouldn’t cause the fuel to freeze. SL12 is also environmentally safe and has a very minimal emission rating that makes it very hard to be tracked over enemy territory. If you would like to find out more about the public testings of this fuel you can send all inquiries to the Public Press Office for DARPA. They are not a fake name for those of that know of them and they have free information that’s made available to the public. http://www.darpa.mil/ Thanks, U.P.
  73. JimMay 7, 2010 at 7:51 pm
    Nice try.
  74. sarah sevillaMay 7, 2010 at 8:34 pm
    Jim, thanks for posting the two video links, they were very interesting and helpful.
  75. CordellMay 7, 2010 at 10:57 pm
    The military has tens of thousands (millions maybe) of square miles out in the desert in which to do test flights. There is no reason to test new fuels in low flying aircraft over populated cities. Or how about over the ocean? you could fly over a nearly perfectly flat ocean ten feet above the surface if you were feeling reckless. Oh, what about variance in barometric pressure, altitude, and weather?. Please, the US is an enormous country with plenty of safe unpopulated areas to fly.
  76. ChrisMay 8, 2010 at 8:26 pm
    The string of red lights could have been countermeasure flares deployed by the aircraft. Did it look like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5hunxT7MEU
  77. CordellMay 10, 2010 at 8:20 am
    I’ve been an aviation buff since I was a kid. I’ve seen countermeasure flares. These light formations move horizontally over long distances, sometimes at low altitudes. The light sources are constant intensity. The light are sequenced precisely. The lights are laser red like the bar code scanner at the supermarket. Flares do not make a steady low humming sound 40=50 hz. Seriously…they are NOT flares. Aircraft of some kind, most likely in my opinion.

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