Mystery UFO nearly causes mid-air collision

[S2F]

Lot of great stuff in this thread. Kudos to you each for the contributions. Very cool!

Hey booN, it's good to see you about. I'm just entertaining possibilities until the FAA investigation releases something a little more substantial. This case is interesting, to say the least and it's good to have some possible (probable ) terrestrial explanations to bandy about.

[DONTEATUS]

Whos ya Gonna believe ? THe FAA, THe Man ? THe C.I.A. the DEA ?

[S2F]

Didnt the Pilot report a Aircraft of sorts ?

The pilot is heard telling air traffic control: "A remote controlled aircraft, or what? Something just went by the other way ... About 20 to 30 seconds ago. It was like a large remote-controlled aircraft."

*from original link

Yeah, although depending on the length of the sighting I suppose it could have been a bird mistaken for an RC plane. The horizontal profile of an RC plane and a bird are quite similar.

*ETA, I don't want to run the risk of making the pilot sound like an idiot however a split-second glimpse of something flying by makes the possibility of a mistake understandable in my opinion.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Slave2Fate

[S2F]

If it was one of those high altitude balloons with a camera attached, the footage at that moment would be pretty spectacular!

I would love to see it if that was the case, especially if it was close enough to catch the WTF?!?! look on the pilot's face.

[csspwns]

probably an unmanned vehicle tat malfunctioned

[DONTEATUS]

Stretch you grey matter just a bit ! It could be anything ! My sighting was at 3500 msl 125knts on a 360 mag heading Mid day unlimited visibility ,Not a Cloud in the sky.

What came into my air space and then around me then off as fast as it came was no Drone. No man made machine,No swamp gas,nor anything that can be described ! other than Other worldly !

Looked like Liquid mercury, but ridged. IT had deffinition to its shape ,It gave no disruption to my aircraft, nor radio,As soon as it left I got on the radio,and asked about any traffic in my imediate area. Nothing ! NADA !

I kept my mouth shutt until many,Many years later other than my closest friends. So THere are mystery objects in our world !

[S2F]

Stretch you grey matter just a bit ! It could be anything ! My sighting was at 3500 msl 125knts on a 360 mag heading Mid day unlimited visibility ,Not a Cloud in the sky.

What came into my air space and then around me then off as fast as it came was no Drone. No man made machine,No swamp gas,nor anything that can be described ! other than Other worldly !

Looked like Liquid mercury, but ridged. IT had deffinition to its shape ,It gave no disruption to my aircraft, nor radio,As soon as it left I got on the radio,and asked about any traffic in my imediate area. Nothing ! NADA !

I kept my mouth shutt until many,Many years later other than my closest friends. So THere are mystery objects in our world !

I agree wholeheartedly that there are mysteries still left to unravel concerning UFO's, otherwise they wouldn't be 'U'.

In this case though we have a basic description from the pilot as well as a possible matching culprit. I don't see any indication (yet) that we need to look any further than a mundane explanation for this one. The FAA investigation may shed more light on this incident though, so we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

[ColoradoParanormal]

I do not think law enforcement would chance crashing a airliner though....They can not be dumb enough to think if a collision happened, the FCC would not find the wreckage of a drone, and trace the parts back.....The lawsuit and guilt alone should be enough to deter a dumb decision like that......But again, who knows....

Thanks Boony......This is actually fun to investigate.....It is real, if you know what I mean.

I wouldn't put it across the local law enforcement here for causing this. When I was cross training the Sheriff's department and other agencies here in Colorado the sheer stupidity and lack of education was astonishing lol. So, I'm still thinking it may be a drone. My other hypothesis was possibly a high powered rocket launched by one of the many colleges here OR simply an avid amateur. However, upon investigating the FAA website I realized they would have been notified this rocket was going to be launched and a waiver had to be given to the racketeer. I posted that information previously here.

lol it's funny, when I first posted this article It received absolutely no responses. . . I was dumbfounded as I thought for sure, a credible, REAL event with a strong eyewitness would be sure to receive attention. It didn't until now. I'm happy! lol

I agree wholeheartedly that there are mysteries still left to unravel concerning UFO's, otherwise they wouldn't be 'U'.

In this case though we have a basic description from the pilot as well as a possible matching culprit. I don't see any indication (yet) that we need to look any further than a mundane explanation for this one. The FAA investigation may shed more light on this incident though, so we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

Yes, I'm very curious to see what the FAA comes up with as well.

[Zarifa]

Does anyone remember foo fighters? How soon we forget.

[ColoradoParanormal]

Does anyone remember foo fighters? How soon we forget.

Hey Zarifa, out of curiosity what were you referring to by "Does anyone remember foo fighters?" I'm well versed, as I'm sure most others here are, about the Foo Fighters of WWII. However, Foo Fighters were simply a term used by Allied forces for what we today call U.F.O.'s. The Germans called foo fighters "Feuerbal." Each fighting force believed it was an advanced top secret weapon deployed by their enemies.

I suppose my question and topic in need of clarity is; What exactly did you mean by your aforementioned statement? We have covered the UFO subject in this topic and the most plausible explanation is either a Drone, R.C. or other man made amateur craft. We will have to wait for the FAA to provide the results of their investigation to further explore this event.

[psyche101]

Whos ya Gonna believe ? THe FAA, THe Man ? THe C.I.A. the DEA ?

MIB!!!

[Englishgent]

Wanna buy mine?

Check out this site, it is the premier place if you want to get into " fpv " and such.....

http://diydrones.com/

One example of the many things that can be done :

Convert any RC airplane into a fully-autonomous UAV!

Just add the APM 2 autopilot to any RC aircraft and it becomes a fully-programmable flying robot with a powerful ground station and Mission Planner.

Features include:

• Return to Launch with a flick of your RC toggle switch or a mouse click in the graphical Ground Station
  
• Unlimited 3D GPS waypoints
  
• Built-in camera control
  
• Fully-scriptable missions
  
• One-click software load, and easy point-and-click configuration in the powerful Mission Planner. NO programming required!
  
• Replay recorded missions and analyze all the data with a graphing interface
  
• Supports two-way telemetry with Xbee wireless modules.
  
• Point-and-click waypoint entry or real-time mission commands while the UAV is in the air
  
• Fly with a joystick or gamepad via your PC--no need for RC control!
  
• Built-in failsafe will bring your aircraft home in the case of radio loss
  

What happens if the engine fails?

[DONTEATUS]

What happens if the engine fails?

Its hits the earth ,Sometimes really hard ! Like the Roswell Drone did !

[Sakari]

What happens if the engine fails?

If it is a multiplex easystar like mine, it can glide quite far....Just hope no trees or water......Than use the LMA ( lost model alarm ) to find it....They can be made now that will send the GPS coordinates.

Mine has no camera....wish it did...

[Varelse]

Apart from the afore-mentioned more advanced RC craft that can definitely go that high, plus helium-filled balloons*, do not dismiss birds either.. The current record is over 30,000 feet! and other birds have been sighted at over 20,000 feet, eg migratory swans. Vultures and some other non-migratory birds are also known to get up to 10,000 feet at times. It's not common, but it is certainly a possibility.

If it was one of those high altitude balloons with a camera attached, the footage at that moment would be pretty spectacular!

Beat me to it. I was thinking of Colorado's huge hawks and eagles.

But is it 8000 feet above the ground or 8,000 feet above sea level? Because in many parts of CO 8,000 feet above sea level is still below ground.

[DONTEATUS]

So what part of "Pilot reports a aircraft,like machine" Not Balloon`s, Not Bird, Not Swamp Gas ! So Im thinking it was just a blur ,smudge,smear on his windows right ?

NOT !

Or in his exact words " A Large R/C aircraft or something"

Edited May 23, 2012 by DONTEATUS

[S2F]

Beat me to it. I was thinking of Colorado's huge hawks and eagles.

But is it 8000 feet above the ground or 8,000 feet above sea level? Because in many parts of CO 8,000 feet above sea level is still below ground.

This was in Denver so ground level was already 5280ft.

[nephilim12]

Most probably was a UAV ( drone in common parlance ).

Think about this, you're piloting a passenger aircraft and maintaining course for your destination at a certain required speed and route. Your visibility even under clear skies is limited to what your mobility can afford you depending on the type of seat, size of the cockpit windows, where your attention is fixed at any particular moment in time, and the last thing on my mind under such a situation would be an aircraft zipping by dangerously close to a mid-air collision.

Now under the adrenaline charged circumstances, the last thing on my mind would be to try and identify the type of aircraft that zipped by, and most commercial airline pilots are not trained for identification purposes, which would have been impossible given the mid-air speed, specially when approaching from opposite sides.

There are certain situations which would have helped the pilot identify the craft, but obviously this wasnt one of the.

Now speaking of drones, they come in different shapes and sizes according to their function, configuration and uses intended. Some, used for recon, are just the size of a hummingbird.

Others, specifically those used by the military for achieving tactical superioirity, are larger in size and built for taking on a larger payload.

So this incident is typical of a UAV, which is stated by the pilot himself.

What made him say it's a remote controlled aircraft ? Maybe, just maybe, in those split seconds, he could notice the conspicuous absence of a cockpit.

That's just about it. It's not the first time, and certainly not the last time such mid-air near misses have occurred given the increase in volume of private commercial airlines, cargo transport, military aircraft, research teams, etc etc., all occupying flying space at any given point of time simultaneously.

[ChrLzs]

...is it 8000 feet above the ground or 8,000 feet above sea level? Because in many parts of CO 8,000 feet above sea level is still below ground.

This was in Denver so ground level was already 5280ft. This was in Denver so ground level was already 5280ft.

The initial report says he was at 8000ft above sea level. And aircraft altimeters do NOT report altitude above ground - they show altitude above Mean Sea Level (MSL). Think about it - there would be chaos if everyone set their altimeters to different base levels..

So if that report is correct, he was only about 3000 feet above the town. Easily in range of large birds, RC, you name it.

Maybe it was a kite..