Occurred : 10/13/2003 21:30 (Entered as : 10/13/2003 21:30)
Reported: 10/14/2003 12:43:11 AM 00:43
Posted: 10/15/2003
Location: Trenton, OH
Shape: Other
Duration:2.5 to 3 minutes
Strange "Passenger Jets"
One night last week - and again,later this evening,or more appropriately yesterday evening since it is now 4:00 AM by my clock(I'm a night owl),I have seen low flying "Mystery Planes" Passing over my nieghborhood at a somewhat low altitude...
Now my area is literally SURROUNDED by small,modest,municipal airports - and why not? - It's the birthplace of aviation.
These airports service small aircraft mostly,such as small propeller prop personal aircraft,small business jets,etc..
The nearest airport to me is in Middletown Ohio and services a private airline comprised of vintage WW2 C47 / DC3 aircraft,the type of gull winged,dual propeller prop aircraft used to drop paratroopers at the D-DAY and the Normandy invasions.These planes are pretty good sized,I am aware of their shape and lighting configurations.
They are NO WHERE NEAR the size of a large passenger jet liner such as a Boeing 727 or an L10-11,The DC3s are designed to require less of a strip stretch / tarmac length to land on also.
What I saw tonight,and once last week - appeared to me to be a normally flying,albiet oddly quiet,low,and slow moving large passenger jet liner type of airplane - according to it's light configurations and colors.
It was too dark to see these aircrafts shapes or silouettes on both occassions.
Both "mystery planes" I have seen had the typical flashing red landing / belly lights,wing tip lights,flood lights,etc..
So what's so wierd about that-and why are bothering us reporting PLANES here instead of little silver balls and flying saucers from mars?-You might be asking? WELL-THESE planes that I observed slowly passing low over my nieghborhood had several very wierd characteristrics...
#1 - NO SOUND OF A DISERNABLE JET ENGINE,even though they were low enough to where the engine drones SHOULD have been quite obvious.
I may have heard a very VERY low "humming roar" or drone sound - but not at the proper volume that it should've been logically / normally - I'de probably have to strain myself to hear it clearly over normal background noise coming from barking dogs,vehicles on the highway near me,etc..
#2 - They appeared to be flying so low as to be coming in on a relatively close landing approach,yet the two airports nearest me that are large enough to land a passenger jet of THAT size are in Cincinnati and Dayton - which are quite a ways away from Trenton.Large passenger jets CAN fly somewhat low over my area on final approach to either of these locations - but NOT AS LOW as these "mystery planes" I have observed.
There are NO airports that can service that type of plane or accomodate it's landing near my home - even though the one I observed last night WAS heading in the direction of Middletown's field.The strips that are operated by the local municipal fields are simply too small,too tightly taxable,and far too short!Trying to land a large passenger jet on one of them would be catastrophic! #3 - The plane I observed last night had it's wing tip lights TOO FAR BACK,as if it's fuselage tapered into a "Delta" wing configuration such as the shape reminiscent of a British Dehavilland Vampire fighter jet,a french SAB fighter,or the Concord.I know of no passenger planes - even small ones - that fly around here that have wings of that type.
So maybe you wern't the only one to see it.
