MUFON 26694

Five reddish orange dim/faint lights, round in shape fly over and make unusual maneuvers. UFO incident, 11/18/10, Winfield, KS, approx. 8 to 8:15P.M. Had gone outside to check the night sky in an effort to perhaps catch a few meteors of the Leonids meteor shower. Had stood myself in a good dark area on the patio so as to have a better view of the sky while enjoying a fresh cup of hot coffee. I was facing due West and had a clear sky, no clouds of any type and an almost full moon, 93% Waxing Gibbous, directly behind me in the eastern sky. I was leisurely scanning the dark night sky in hopes of seeing a few meteors as well as enjoying the view of Vega and several other prominent stars and constellations. Cygnus looked very good as well as Deneb and Albireo. I swung my eyes to the north and happened to notice something that at first looked very out of place. But the longer I looked at it I focused more closely and realized I had something in sight that most certainly WAS NOT anything within what we could classify as the 1Norm1. On first initial sighting it registered as a small light plane such as a Cessna but then I noticed that the light configuration and brightness did not fit. Even more so, there were a total of five round lights, reddish orange in color yet rather dim in intensity. Insofar as size they were all the same size and appeared to me as being about half as large as the star Sirius yet only one third to one fourth as bright. All individual lights were in a direct N-S line with each other, as well as evenly spaced from front to rear and moving at a very steady pace due south. I estimated, by sight only, that they were at approximately between three and five thousand feet altitude. The rate of movement from initially noticing them until they were out of sight remained the same and could be liberally estimated to perhaps be at or about three to four hundred miles per hour. From first sighting of these until they were out of sight there was absolutely no sound of any possible propulsion system whatsoever. No standard aircraft position lights (red/green), flashing anti-collision lights or strobes were visible either. There was but a steady, faint/dim brightness that never changed from beginning to end. They did seem to have a touch more of an intense red point towards the center but only enough to barely notice. As they moved steadily closer the second and third light began to separate from the main line upwards somewhat and then those two flipped further out to the side above the rest, spun around in what looked like a quick figure eight movement and then immediately came back in. This action took place when they were directly in front of me. Only once they began to remerge into the line of the other lights all of them quickly transferred their flight formation into a very pronounce 1V1. By now they were to my left, due south, and had never slowed down. Shortly after forming into a 1V1 they then spread out into a straight line, east to west, but continued on south without any appearance of hesitation for those maneuvers whatsoever! Without question there are no aircraft that we are aware of that could make movements such as what I1ve described without obvious delays in their forward movement. No change in forward movement occured whatsoever!! Even the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds cannot in any way shape or form make the same maneuvers as what these did as they continued in a very defined forward motion. I had but only two or three seconds before they disappeared behind the trees. I ran out into the street to see if by chance I could follow them more but no luck. Needless to say it was both surprising and very intriguing. Simply put, just what were the lights that I had just seen and were they experimental aircraft or the obvious other? There is no way of ever knowing for sure. But I must say one thing 1 it was one of the most invigorating experiences I1ve ever had. There is more in the sky than stars!

Date
CityWINFIELD
District
KANSAS
CountryUS
SourceMUFON
Source ID26694