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- Hello everyone. The following event happened flying into Salt Lake
- City on Delta Airlines flight 1485 on Feb. 20 1995. I had meant to
- post this sooner, but I didn't get around to it.
-
- I want to premise my story by stating that what I saw was a UFO in the
- strictest sense (An Unidentified Flying Object). In other words,
- I have no fricking clue what it was that I saw. I am hoping that
- someone can shed some light on this for me, or that I may perhaps get
- a verification of this by others who were in the right place at the
- right time in Salt Lake City.
-
- I was flying from Omaha, NE to San Francisco, CA. Flight 1485 was
- the first leg of this flight, with a layover in Salt Lake City, UT.
- Flight 1485 arrives in Salt Lake at 8:45 p.m. So the time of this
- sighting was approximately 8:45 PM, Feb. 20. 1995. The location
- was within 2-7 miles of Salt Lake City airport (I don't know from
- which direction we made our final descent, although I suspect it
- was either from the North or East).
-
- Here is what happened:
-
- I was sitting in a window seat on the right side of the plane, towards
- the front (Looking out West or North upon descent?), so I had an
- unobstructed view of the ground during our final descent.
-
- As we descended, I was looking out the window at the city. We were
- flying over a mostly residential area. The view was very clear, and
- it was dark. I am uncertain of our altitude at this time, but I
- could clearly make out houses, streets, cars, etc..
-
- What appeared to be a low flying plane caught my attention and I
- followed it's movements. I noticed that this craft was extremely
- low, and decided it must be a helicopter because I could not see
- an airport in the direction it was heading (opposite the heading
- of the 727 I was in) and small planes do not fly several hundred
- feet above residential neighborhoods (an estimate) unless they are
- landing.
-
- The craft had a series of white lights in front, not blinking.
- So far, so good - nothing odd at all, a helicopter or small plane
- with lights in front flying low over residential areas. NOTE: most
- of this is in hindsight; At the time, I simply considered the thing
- a helicopter and followed it with my eyes.
-
- As I continued to watch, I noticed several VERY strange things.
- FIRST: This thing was probably more like 20-50 feet above the
- treeline of the residential area(S) that it was flying over - I
- thought it was higher because of it's parallax motion (difference in
- motion between something nearer to you and something farther) and
- my guessed speed of the 'helicopter', which brings me to SECOND:
- This thing was flying fast! - not unreasonably so, but probably in
- the 150-300 mph range (remember, this thing was flying low). But the
- most disturbing thing was THIRD: It passed over a lighted street
- intersection (I could see no cars on the streets in this area)
- and I had my first glimpse of it's silhouette - it was perfectly round.
-
- I had perhaps a second (or a close fraction, thereof) of a view of
- the craft flying over this lighted intersection, but it was ample
- time for the shape of the craft to register without doubt in my mind.
-
- At this point, I felt slightly panicky (up until I saw it's shape,
- I was simply assuming that this thing was a helicopter).
- I probably looked a bit odd, as I snapped my head at the window and
- exclaimed (perhaps a bit loudly) "What the fuck?"
-
- I continued to watch the craft (now almost obsessed with it, with
- my face pushed against the window), but the plane I was on was
- getting lower and the craft was getting farther away
- (continuing in a linear direction, very low and rather rapidly).
- Eventually, my view became obstructed by the wing of the 727 and
- my sighting ended.
-
- If I hadn't seen this thing's shape, I would have never given it a
- second thought. As it stands, I know beyond a reasonable doubt that
- this thing had a circular silhouette.
-
- In retrospect, I find it interesting that it was flying so low -
- definitely too low for it to be picked up on radar.
-
- Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
-
- -- Dan
-
-
-
-
- --
- Chris Rutkowski - rutkows@cc.umanitoba.ca
- University of Manitoba - Winnipeg, Canada
-
-