Here are the details and the attached image is one of my attempts to recreate what I saw.



For many (too many) years I worked in the Master Control for a cable TV company. One of the regular tasks for the person on the evening shift was to confirm that the tower lights were on then sign off on the verification in the Tower Lights Log. Because of the Y2K scare the tower lights had to be checked twice that night - the second time being after midnight to confirm that Y2K had not knocked them out. (It's an analog photocell that interrupts the circuit during daylight hours so it shouldn't have been on the list but some manager decided that it needed to be checked.) Also. Because of the Y2K scare we had almost as many people there at midnight as we normally had during an average business day.



I waited until about 20 minutes after midnight to check the lights because people in that neighborhood tend to fire guns into the air for New Year's. The Headend Techs were out back taking a smoking break when I checked the lights. My attention was drawn from the tower by what my mind had at first accepted as The Pleiades constellation - it was moving! As I studied it I realized that it was not an average aircraft so I called it to the attention of the others. They had no interest and their general response was "So, it's an airplane."



I heard no sound and saw no visible exhaust or vapor trail. It flew straight line from south to north at an apparent speed that seemed close to the apparent speed of high flying airliners and military aircraft. The bright spots were what caught my attention first then as I studied the thing I could make out the outline of the vehicle. Apart from the bright points, the form was only slightly different in value and color from that of the night sky. Somewhat rusty-brown-grey looking against the deep blue-green of the night sky.



My first attempt to document or recreate what I saw was to try painting it on a small canvas panel but I could not get it to look even close to what I had seen. I took that attempt with me to one of the ASAA Artist Forums and showed it to the Aviation Week editors who were attending. They lost interest as soon as I said that I had no photographs of the thing. For my next attempt I took a night exposure of the sky from where I saw the thing and I've been playing with it in Picture Publisher - trying to get something close to what I saw. My feeling is that this current attempt is still a bit exaggerated in value and contrast.



I'll let you make of this what you will but I know I saw something that night.