SIGHTING: CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"At approximately 9:05pm january 25,2018. i went outside in the front yard to take the dog out before bed. i was looking toward an east, south easterly direction and observed an orangish light approaching from the east. i live in a heavily traveled aircraft area due to being near the charlotte douglas airport which lies about 15 miles southwest of my home. the airport is a multi runway international airport that is very busy and depending on flight patterns, arriving or departing planes can be seen throughout the day and night. i am very accustomed to seeing landing lights and varied size aircraft from single engine private planes through commercial boeing and airbus airliners. also stationed at charlotte douglas is a air national guard unit. c-130 and c-141 aircraft is not uncommon in the area. in addition, police helicopters patrol this area as well. apache, cobra, huey, and blackhawk helicopters refuel at clt also. concord airport lies to the north east and a small private airport to the south. i am a former police officer and a student pilot. what i observed was not an ordinary aircraft. although it did not perform any extraordinary maneuvers etc, it’s appearance was not in line with conventional planes or helicopters. the object was traveling from the east, made a turn and continued on a path from southeast to northwest. in the dark it is hard to tell about size and distance etc. from my position it looked to be at about 30-40 degrees above the horizon, and i estimate the size to be about the same as a private jet (30-50’). altitude i guess was about 1500 - 2000 ft at a distance of 2 miles or so. again, depending on perspective of the object, i would estimate speed to be around 150 to 200 kts. it’s appearance was a yellowish, gold to reddish orange bright glow. it appeared to have a foggy “field like” aura about it that flashed and pulsed, almost fire like. however, it had a solid appearance within the light. it had no strobes that i could see and no navigational lighting or beacon. the object continued on a northwesterly path until it simply disappeared. in the video attached you casn see the object pass behind trees, however i turned the camera off changed positions in my yard and continued watching an additional 15 -30 seconds after the video ended and the object simply flickered and disappeared. the whole event was about 2 minutes approximately. in my opinion it was too big to be a drone and the altitude was too high and the track too long. it was not a balloon or chinese lantern because it made a precise turn and the speed was far too fast and stable for something directed by air currents. it could have been an aircraft designed to hoax a ufo sighting, or it could be a non conventional military craft. alternatively, it could be something non terrestrial. i do know it was not a “normal” aircraft."