SIGHTING: ORRINGTON, MAINE (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"Re: triangle (solid) vehicle -- saturday, april 29, 2017 -- orrington, me -- 11:15 pm - 11:40 pm statement: i went outside one more time to let the dog out and have a cigarette. during this time i noticed a "twinkling star" to the south about 15* off the horizon. after watching for a few moments i could see it was actually moving up, as it was cropped by hanging power lines. at this time i went in to grab my nikon 10x50 magnification binoculars used frequently for star-gazing and plane-spotting. through the binoculars, it appeared to be a low-flying aircraft as it had steady red and green wingtip lights, a steady white light in the center, and an initially masked center red-strobe; giving "twinkle" appearance. it moved very, very slowly, compared to commercial aircraft seen at similar size and angle off horizon, traveling in a north/northeast flight path and moved by my position to the east. a cigarette takes about 6-7 minutes, of which i ended up smoking two, with time to spare. when it was its closest, it was about 40* degree off the ground, and 90* attitude relative to me. i could clearly see that it was a distinctly triangle shaped air-frame, with 3 solid white lights on each apex, and an irregularly strobing red light in its center. the green/red 'wingtip' lights were not visible from the rear of the craft, but could be seen briefly as being mounted in tandem with a solid white light aft of each tip. as it passed 90* to me, it appeared to be 3 solid white lights, with the center red strobe still visible, and without binoculars, looked like a bright star; red strobe not visible without binoculars. the vehicle for how close it was was dead silent; no hum or vibration. during this a commercial aircraft flew directly overhead (sw>ne) at cruise alt. (~40k ft) and was heard after it passed over. once passed, the front, center, front-facing red-green lights were not visible, but has a distinct diamond shape, from the rear; with 3 solid white lights visible (none on bottom corner of 'diamond'). the diamond shape was not visible without binoculars and appeared in the same place a vertical stabilizer would be. it was close enough to see the lights of the vehicle reflect of it's surface but no discerned structural features could be seen; general shape akin to an equilateral arrowhead; progressively thicker along the center line; fore to aft. notable comments: the 'diamond' shape was the most striking feature of craft. also noted mentally the light configuration was "a good trick" for potentially deceiving any onlookers as it moved so slowly so as to be almost stationary; and lighting made it appear like a normal aircraft or star, depending on orientation. also noted at the time was how it made literally no sound. pictures: the pictures attached were sketched immediately after, and updated the following day after using ios app: "spyglass" to get the relative headings and angle of ascent. the sketches are the cardinal direction and degrees above horizon. files: img_3747.Png : #1 - first seen 1/4 img_3754.Png : #2 - near 90* 2/4 img_3755.Png : #3 - at 90* (closest) 3/4 img_3762.Png : #4 - last seen 4/4 img_3797.Png : #5 - sketch overview img_3799.Png : #6 - sketch sequence 1/2 img_3801.Png : #7 - sketch sequence 2/2"