Possible U.F.O. sighting

il gatto

Hope I'm posting this in the right place.
About 3 years ago, I saw something which, although not scaring the bejaysus out of me, freaked me a bit. One Sunday night I was travelling on a quiet country road at about 12.30a.m. As I came to a long, straight stretch of road, I saw a really bright light in the sky, travelling in a north to south direction. I was on a motorbike, my visor was dirty and I was tired. However, I was able to see it clearly enough to see it was certainly not normal. As it crossed the road, possibly several miles ahead of me, it vanished, as if the light was directional, like on the front of something. I altered my route home, even though it meant a forty mile trip as opposed to thirty. I didn't want to travel in the same direction as it was heading. At a guess it was 2-4 miles away, at an altitude of maybe 2000 feet and travelling quiet fast, but not supersonic. It had a completely level flight path with no arcing. On the way home I called to a friends house to warm up, clean my visor and have a cup of tea. He was a bit suprised when I showed up in a helmet and leathers, and his girlfriends friend was totally petrified when I told them the story as they'd just been talking about how her father was from Roswell and how she's terrified of that film "Fire in the Sky". I wasn't too bad until my mother rang to see where I'd got to. She asked me as an aside did I see anything unusual on the way home. I asked her what she meant, and she told me that she'd seen the same thing from a road parallel to my route about 10 miles south. She described it as having vanished in a flash. It was to the north, in the exact direction where I'd seen it straight ahead.The light was much brighter than an aircraft. It was in the North Roscommon area (apparently a U.F.O. hotspot. I know it sounds far fetched, but it's true. Sorry for being so long winded. Any views appreciated.

Ziycon

Sounds interesting, as you already said, yes the east coast of Ireland is very active with UFO sightings, if they are US military test craft (US military use the atlantic for 99% of there test craft) or its a UFO of non-terrestrial origin its unclear, what road was thi incident on that you saw the object and can you give a rough day/year/time of the incident? I'd like to follow up on this if i can get these details off you.

magnumlady

We saw a UFO on 30th September 2004. We were travelling to Dublin at 3.00am and as we were just coming into Boyle it seemed to follow along side the car (although up in the air and to my right). From what we could see it was round and it had blue, read, green and yellow lights on it.
It was along side us until we reached Longford.

Ziycon

magnumlady wrote:

We saw a UFO on 30th September 2004. We were travelling to Dublin at 3.00am and as we were just coming into Boyle it seemed to follow along side the car (although up in the air and to my right). From what we could see it was round and it had blue, read, green and yellow lights on it.
It was along side us until we reached Longford.

Sounds like something out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"!:D

IrishAirCorps

It could have been that you were lookin at The Afterburner of a fighter AC The RAF do quick Supersonic "Hops" up and down the Coastline of Ireland infact they do it alot with Tornado F3's and USAF F15E Strike Eagles regularily use the East and West Coast of Ireland and they also transit through Irish AirSpace. You may have seen something like this USAF F15E. BTW a fighter can cruise with full Afterburner up to Mach 0.85 without breaking the sound barrier and the Afterburner usually looks bright red/orange, BTW check this out! Cool Pic also!!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1096711/M/

ladybirdirl

Sorry to go off topic for a minute but very cool picture!!

Ladybird:)

il gatto

It happened on the Carrick-on-Shannon to Manorhamilton road in South Leitrim/North Roscommon. It happened, on reflection, around March 2003. The light was white. Not red or orange. Also, it was pointing ahead of itself, so no way it was an afterburner (unless they've got reverse:D ). I also noted that there were no anti-collision beacons associated with normal aviation. Even when the bright light vanished, I saw no rotating red beacon on a tail plane, or wingtip or fuselage lights.
The object was however on an approach path to the airport in Sligo. I seem to remember speaking to people there and they said the airport was not in use that night. This approach is used by both Air Corps and Aer Arann. Like I've said though, this bore no similarities to these. My mother contacted local radio the next day. They said that several people rang about it, but all had declined to speak on air about it, as did my mother. On reflection, it's a shame somebody didn't as it could have provoked a bigger response.

stevenmu

It's an interesting story, unfortunatly it's impossible to say that an unkown light in the sky is anything but an unkown light in the sky. It does sound odd that there wasn't any anti-collision lights especially if there was some kind of headlights on.



(and I totally agree about the cool pic)

il gatto

Didn't really expect an answer. Just thought I'd share it. I am however 90% certain it wasn't an aircraft. I've worked in an airport for several years (prior to the event in question) and it just wasn't normal. The area of the light was much bigger than a searchlight on the Garda helicopter or Air Corps Dauphin or Sikorsky. The "lens", for want of a better word, seemed to be several meters in diameter. It was too far from an airport to have it's landing lights on. And there were no reports of any searches that night.
The fact that this area of North Roscommon is regarded as a major hotspot for U.F.O. sightings in the last decade didn't sway my view of it. I've never seen anything like it in that area or anywhere else, and I've no major interest in the subject.

IrishAirCorps

Case remains open then! and to think i spent so long looking for a relevant pic such as the USAFE F15E "Strike Eagle" based at RAF Lakenheath UK ( USAFE-United States Air Force Europe )

il gatto

Well, it is an exceptionally cool picture

IrishAirCorps

Makes me wanna go to an Airforce base and listen to the noise that beast creates god!:D

il gatto

I take it you don't live in Ireland so. Marchettis and Cessnas don't make the right noises. Not even a Fuga in the air these days either.

IrishAirCorps

I do live in Ireland in from Galway and am a serving member of the DF.

Read this

It could have been that you were lookin at The Afterburner of a fighter AC The RAF do quick Supersonic "Hops" up and down the Coastline of Ireland infact they do it alot with Tornado F3's and USAF F15E Strike Eagles regularily use the East and West Coast of Ireland and they also transit through Irish AirSpace. You may have seen something like this USAF F15E. BTW a fighter can cruise with full Afterburner up to Mach 0.85 without breaking the sound barrier and the Afterburner usually looks bright red/orange, BTW check this out! Cool Pic also!!

BTW The Marchetti is a prop and long retired from Irish Air Corps Service, The Cessna's are not equipped for night flying and the Fouga Magister CM170 Super Magisters are long gone too. The only night flying that is done by the IAC is by the CASA'S,PC9M'S,GARDAI,MATS,and Special Forces.

il gatto

I just meant that if you went to an airbase in Ireland you wouldn't hear a supersonic fighter. I actually thought you were living in Ireland. Didn't mean to offend you. I was being sarcastic. I realise the Fugas are grounded these last few years. With regards to the Cessnas and Marchettis, I meant they were a long way from an F15E Strike Eagle. That's all.

IrishAirCorps

il gatto wrote:

I just meant that if you went to an airbase in Ireland you wouldn't hear a supersonic fighter.Didn't mean to offend you. I realise the Fugas are grounded these last few years. With regards to the Cessnas and Marchettis, I meant they were a long way from an F15E Strike Eagle. That's all.

FYI its cool you didnt offend me! FA18 Hornets are a regular sighting at Shannon ( EINN ) also RAF/RN Sea Kings are regulars visitors at Cork Airport ( EICK ) as are Tornado F3 ADV ( Air Defence Variants ).

All the Fouga CM170 "Super Magisters" are long gone, 1 is in Carlow IT, 1 is in an Aircraft Museum in Austria and the rest are around oh and 1 is a "Gate Guard" at Baldonnel ( EIME ).

Also The Siai Marchettis are not flying anymore and are in Storage awaiting sale.

il gatto

It's a pity about the Marchettis. I like them. They had a certain WWII look and sound. Spent a couple of weeks on a course in Baldonnel a few years back. They were buzzing around every day. There was still a few Fougas parked up, but they were grounded at that stage. Do you know is it true that the Fougas were only armed when the Pope came to Ireland in 1979? I heard that a couple of times.

6th

il gatto wrote:

Hope I'm posting this in the right place.

IMO it no longer belongs here and should be in the military forum.

stevenmu

For the moment there's some usefull bits about what appears in irish skies, where they appear and what they look like, if it's going to do completely in just an aircraft fans type direction I can move it to military and merge the rest with the UFOLOGY thread.

IrishAirCorps

il gatto wrote:

Do you know is it true that the Fougas were only armed when the Pope came to Ireland in 1979? I heard that a couple of times.

False, The Fouga's were armed nearly everyday with rockets and Guns, same goes for the Marchetti's.

IrishAirCorps

Is Dublin much of a Hotspot for UFO's?

Ziycon

il gatto wrote:

"I was travelling on a quiet country road"

Never mentions anything about a noisey sky, if it was one of the aircraft you mentioned, there would have been some sort of noise that witness heard!!!!

Zillah

Ziycon wrote:

Never mentions anything about a noisey sky, if it was one of the aircraft you mentioned, there would have been some sort of noise that witness heard!!!!

Especially if it was afterburners making the glow.

Ziycon

Zillah wrote:

Especially if it was afterburners making the glow.

That sort of noise would have echo'd in a vast open area with some mountains!

il gatto

Well, I did mention I was riding a motorbike. That would have drowned out all but the most extreme noise. I just meant quiet as in not much traffic. As I also said, it was travelling in the wrong direction for afterburners as it seemed to be on the front of an object. Neither was it the correct colour to be an afterburner.

Ziycon

You would heard the afterburn even though you where on a motorbilke, it wouldnt have been as loud as normal but you would have noticed it!

IrishAirCorps

I love the Afterburner!

il gatto

I would doubt that I'd hear it at that distance on a motorbike. Between windrush, induction howl and exhaust and road noise, a motorcycle blocks out most noise. It's also possible I was wearing earplugs. so it's possible that there was considerable noise that I wouldn't have heard. Only thing is, if it was as loud as an afterburner, wouldn't other people have noticed it? There were no reports of a loud noise accompanying the sighting. I've spent my whole life living in the countryside, and unlike towns and cities, in the country, you tend to investigate unusual sounds as you don't normally hear any more than a fox or a lorry. I presume the noise of an afterburner would have generated more interest and discussion.

north leitrim

I was heading into my house on sat. just gone on the 11th sept. 2010 at about 3 o' clock in the morning.I was not drinking as i had just called up to a friends house and i was on my own when i was walking in my driveway and noticed this intense bright light like nothing i had seen before. As i moved down my driveway and stood in the same position i seen that this object was circular,i could see the top and bottom part of the circle,but not the middle and the most intense white light which was not from a man-made object was lighting up the clouds around the top and bottom for quite some distance.
The object seemed to flash at least once a second top and bottom at the same time mostly and throwing out light that would light up the whole sky and clouds around it's position.
The object seemed to be close but far away and was of a size that was like a sun or moon in the sky being eclipsed in the middle.
I know this sound's unbeliveable but i would be very surprised if someone else in the area did not see this as i watched this object for about an hour???The most intense light coming from a sun or moon shaped and sized object,eclipsed in the middle and flashing at least once a second sometimes more while lighting up the whole sky and cloud's around it.
The object seemed to stay in the same position from the human eye and i was a bit spooked but not massive scared so i had my phone and decided to record it.
My phone is not the best at recording and did not show up what i was seeing but it did show up a load of different flashing light's that change position although i was dissapointed i think you will agree that this video is still pretty amazing.
I will post it on you-tube under "U.F.O. In North Leitrim 2010" I know what I saw that nite and it was pretty crazy.

me_right_one

cant see anything on youtube there NL, its just black!

Dave!

The eh... video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=692xiAuOZPA

Rebdot

I can see it, it's a little red light way off in the distance ,in the centre of the screen,it's moving eractically. I can also see some white flashes around it from time to time.
Reminds me of yrs ago, as kids, we were outside the house really late at night when the folks were saying goodbye to the last of their dinner party guests..3 of us kids were doing that "look at the sky and twirl around as fast as you can to get a head buzz" thing that kids do.
When we all seen the same thing, a light, a little bigger than this one, but blue, and it was jumping across the sky in a zig zag pattern, jsut went against the very nature of all things that fly , as we know it.

murrayp4

OP, could very well have been the international space station.

edit: just realised the OP is 4 years old...