SIGHTING: HAYWARDS HEATH (UK/ENGLAND)

Witness Testimony

"UFO Sighting I was driving north-eastwards towards Lindfield (UK) on the B2028 at about 2330 UTC on 20th December 2008, when I noticed what appeared, at first sight, to be a shooting star moving quite rapidly from left to right in the clear night sky and at an elevation such that I had to duck my head to keep it in view in the windscreen. I thought nothing more about it until, having parked my car in my garage in Lindfield and walking across the back garden towards the house, I looked up and saw, almost directly above me, an orange glowing object (much the same as I had seen a few minutes previously) moving fairly rapidly roughly on a course of 080deg(T). At first I thought it was an aircraft except that the orange glow was more like a spent firework, there was no sound and no navigation lights. My next thought was that it was the ISS or a satellite. The ISS was ruled out by its appearance and the lateness of the hour and its angular movement appeared to be too fast for a satellite as well as being too large and the wrong colour. I was still trying to decide what the object was when another one appeared, exactly on the same course as the second (and, as far as I can tell, the first). On this occasion I went out of my garden gate into the adjacent road in order to keep the object in sight for longer. The night sky was completely clear and cloudless and there was complete silence. The object continued on a dead straight course towards the east and gradually faded from view as it became more distant. I waited for several minutes but did not see any further unusual airborne activity. I am 63 years of age, in good physical health and on the occasion of the sightings, totally sober. I have been employed as a pilot since the age of 18, first as a fast-jet pilot in the RAF and later as a captain with a British airline. I estimate that the height of the objects was between 1000ft and 5000ft mainly because my first sighting in the car would not have been possible had they been very much higher or lower (assuming they were on the same course). They could have been conventional aircraft except that they were totally silent and also displaying no anti-collision or navigation lights, just a dull orange glow. The speed is very difficult to judge without knowing the height and size but if they had been at 3000ft they would have been travelling at around 250-350 kts."