SIGHTING: TAOS, NM

Witness Testimony

"A light dropped vertically, hesitated, then travelled horizontally at 5000 mph.I was driving South towards Taos, NM on 512 just South of Questa, NM. Civil twilight had faded.I was going up a moderate hill and had an unobstructed view of the sky. A light appeared dead ahead at an apparent altitude of 12,000 AGL and 15 miles distant. The intensity of the light was about the same as an aircraft landing light at the same range.The light dropped vertically by several thousand feet then hesitated for 1 second. The light then descended to the West at roughly 5,000 miles per hour at a 30-degree angle. The light did not leave a trail of any kind.The light disappeared at an altitude of 4000 feet after a traveling horizontally across 45 degrees of my field of view. When I crested the hill, it looked like the light had been over the Northern outskirts of Taos. There were at least 2 aircraft in the far vicinity - one light plane at 5,000 AGL and one airliner at 20,000. "