SIGHTING: GREAT FALLS, MT
Witness Testimony
"Craft with large yellow/reddish color light observed over Great Falls MT on July 4th, 2010To whom it may concern, I am a middle aged police officer and my wife works for an investment firm. In my career I have seen many strange things, but this observation clearly tops them all as far as being unexplained. On July 4, 2010, at approximately 2145 to 2155 hours, I was sitting near the bank of the Missouri River on the 300 Block of River Drive North in Great Falls Mt. I was sitting with my family waiting for the city fireworks display that was set to start at approximately 2200 hours. We were sitting on the east side of the river facing westbound where the fireworks display was going to be launched.As we were waiting for the show I noticed an aircraft flying eastbound over the city (Est. elevation 10,000 feet high). Normally this would not be note worthy because we were sitting under the flight path of airplanes landing and taking off from the Great Falls International Airport. This particular craft caught my attention because it appeared to flying too high to have just taken off from the runway. Normally, I have noticed flights that don’t land at the airport fly on the outskirts of the city. Also, I noticed an extremely large glowing yellow/reddish color light underneath the aircraft. The light took up the whole diameter of the craft. The light appeared to be the approximate size of a Boeing 747. I observed no red or green tail or wing lights on the craft. There was no apparent spotlight shining in front of the craft. I also could not hear the craft’s engine. It should be noted it was extremely windy and this could have had an effect on the sound waves reachi! ng my location. The craft also appeared to be flying slower than a jet craft would have at that altitude that was not planning on landing.At this time, I pointed the craft out to my wife. At the same time we both said we have never seen an airplane or helicopter that looked like that. We debated over whether a satellite would have the same characteristics. During this time there were approximately 15 people that were sitting near us on the riverbank. Several of them were watching the craft also. Some of their conversations were similar in nature to ours (Unknown names of the other witnesses).I continued to watch the craft as it continued eastbound until I lost site of it as it headed east past the city. Great Falls has Malmstrom Air Force Base, Homeland Security Base, and the Montana Air National Guard. My job has allowed me some access to these bases on occasion. To my knowledge, none of the aircraft they fly looks like this. After hearing about similar related sightings of this nature on July 4th on Coast to Coast, I felt compelled to pass on my observations. I hope this information will help, I just wish there could be an explanation for what we observed."
