SIGHTING: APPLE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"Sunday 6-5-2016. While flying my private aircraft, shortly after takeoff and still in the traffic pattern I encountered an unidentified object at approx 1000 ft AGL. Object was going in opposite direction and passed within 300 ft off my left wing. It was a metallic orb that reflected the light brilliantly, and was approx the size of a basketball. At this point I banked hard left to chase it, placing my aircraft at its 6:00 position. Almost immediately the object did a hard left turn accelerating to a position opposite my left wing, and within 150 ft. I banked hard left again and became engaged in a two turn "Dogfight" with the object as we both tried to get on each others tail. After the second turn the object broke away in a southern direction. I lost sight after that. This is the second encounter with an identical object while in the air. The last encounter was in 1978."