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#1
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I saw a UFO
Unidentified by me, anyway. Last Sunday a group of friends from work went down to Skydive Arizona in Eloy, AZ to make tandem jumps. Although I took my first jump last time the group went down there, and boy is it a hoot, I didn't jump this time. I did however round up a couple of friends to fly down with me from DVT in the Tiger to socialize, take some pictures, and grab a $100 green-chili-mushroom-cheeseburger. Late in the morning as I was standing in the grass landing area looking up into the sky I saw a large hawk soaring along overhead, probably a couple of hundred feet in the air. Then I noticed what looked to be a little white airplane flying in a triangular circuit. To my eye the airplane appeared to be one fourth or one fifth of the size of the bird. The airplane had an incredibly fast - almost instantaneous - turn rate. It would fly along in one direction for a few seconds, then practically instantly be flying along in another direction, maybe 120 degrees off, for a few seconds, then turn again. The motion reminded me of a bat or other bird eating insects or something, except that even though the thing was small (or maybe very high up), I could clearly see the classic airplane shape of a fuselage, a wing, and horizontal stabilizer. My best guess is that I saw some kind of UAV. The only man-made thing I've ever seen with that type of fast-turning flight characteristic is maybe a small remote-controlled model airplane. The thing was either very small and very close to me, or large and way up. It appeared smaller to me than the Twin Otter jump planes did as they passed slowly overhead at 13000 with a stream of jumpers that appeared as little dots coming out the back. I could hear the jump planes from 13000. I couldn't hear the UFO. If it was a UAV I certainly hope it was above 18000, because I might be sharing that airspace in the tiger and certainly the jump planes and jumpers were. I obtained DUATS briefings both late the previous evening before sleeping and early in the morning before heading to the airport, and I sure didn't see any relevant NOTAMs. Anyone have any idea what it was I saw? -R p.s. Getting into and out of Eloy, even with all the jump traffic, was a snap. The runways are 2-20 and all traffic is requested to approach from the west (the DZ is on the east side). Light wind procedure is to land on 20 (right traffic) and depart 2 (left traffic). There were two jump planes carrying 15 or 20 jumpers each operating round-robin all day, but they were polite about coordinating other arriving and departing traffic on CTAF. I timed their climb to the drop at about 22 minutes, so there's plenty of time between departures to come into the area, fly the traffic pattern, and get to the ramp. Watching a new wave of parachute landings every 10 or 15 minutes is a blast, and the restaurant/bar was very accommodating. I highly recommended Eloy for a $100 burger trip. |
#2
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"Rob" wrote in message oups.com... Unidentified by me, anyway. .... The only man-made thing I've ever seen with that type of fast-turning flight characteristic is maybe a small remote-controlled model airplane. Which is exactly what it was, most likely. |
#3
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Eloy is a great place, although be aware that the runway is starting to get
a little rough in some places. I was there last year when the German army was skydiving. They dropped in groups and it was impressive. "Rob" wrote in message oups.com... Unidentified by me, anyway. Last Sunday a group of friends from work went down to Skydive Arizona in Eloy, AZ to make tandem jumps. Although I took my first jump last time the group went down there, and boy is it a hoot, I didn't jump this time. I did however round up a couple of friends to fly down with me from DVT in the Tiger to socialize, take some pictures, and grab a $100 green-chili-mushroom-cheeseburger. Late in the morning as I was standing in the grass landing area looking up into the sky I saw a large hawk soaring along overhead, probably a couple of hundred feet in the air. Then I noticed what looked to be a little white airplane flying in a triangular circuit. To my eye the airplane appeared to be one fourth or one fifth of the size of the bird. The airplane had an incredibly fast - almost instantaneous - turn rate. It would fly along in one direction for a few seconds, then practically instantly be flying along in another direction, maybe 120 degrees off, for a few seconds, then turn again. The motion reminded me of a bat or other bird eating insects or something, except that even though the thing was small (or maybe very high up), I could clearly see the classic airplane shape of a fuselage, a wing, and horizontal stabilizer. My best guess is that I saw some kind of UAV. The only man-made thing I've ever seen with that type of fast-turning flight characteristic is maybe a small remote-controlled model airplane. The thing was either very small and very close to me, or large and way up. It appeared smaller to me than the Twin Otter jump planes did as they passed slowly overhead at 13000 with a stream of jumpers that appeared as little dots coming out the back. I could hear the jump planes from 13000. I couldn't hear the UFO. If it was a UAV I certainly hope it was above 18000, because I might be sharing that airspace in the tiger and certainly the jump planes and jumpers were. I obtained DUATS briefings both late the previous evening before sleeping and early in the morning before heading to the airport, and I sure didn't see any relevant NOTAMs. Anyone have any idea what it was I saw? -R p.s. Getting into and out of Eloy, even with all the jump traffic, was a snap. The runways are 2-20 and all traffic is requested to approach from the west (the DZ is on the east side). Light wind procedure is to land on 20 (right traffic) and depart 2 (left traffic). There were two jump planes carrying 15 or 20 jumpers each operating round-robin all day, but they were polite about coordinating other arriving and departing traffic on CTAF. I timed their climb to the drop at about 22 minutes, so there's plenty of time between departures to come into the area, fly the traffic pattern, and get to the ramp. Watching a new wave of parachute landings every 10 or 15 minutes is a blast, and the restaurant/bar was very accommodating. I highly recommended Eloy for a $100 burger trip. |
#4
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"Rob" wrote in message oups.com... Unidentified by me, anyway. You know I've looked up a lot, been in a lot of planes (commerical and GA), backyard astronomy, out in the desert late at night driving etc. and I have yet to see anything that makes me believe in ET UFO's or the like. I just haven't seen anything. -------------------------------------------------- DW |
#5
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Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." - B. Watterson |
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