Maine UFO chased by jets (2022)

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johne1618

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This video was taken in Maine, USA on June 20th, 2022. It was uploaded onto YouTube by Alex McCall. In one of the YouTube comments he says:
We were on vacation in Maine. We had just visited thunder hole in Acadia National Park. There were dozens of not hundreds of people around. My kids and grand kids saw it and then heard it. My daughter got her phone out and on and pointed in the right direction but couldn’t tell if she was getting video of it. She stopped when she couldn’t see them any longer. There are several comments by other witnesses that said they saw or heard them. On person said his mom got good video of it. Nobody was talking about it in the park. You just don’t know anyone and you’re not that close to each other.

Are the jets actually chasing an object just in front of them?

The video is just 7 seconds long and unfortunately at 0:04 everything goes out of focus including the tree in the foreground. Alex McCall claims the object and the jets disappeared into the clouds. By stepping though the video one can see the object disappear just before the jets which might be consistent with it entering a cloud before the jets.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruBB0dULz-o
 
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Ok, my initial thoughts are that this is two black fighter aircraft flying in formation with another one, potentially a white one or light camouflage one. As they appear to be going at roughly the same speed, its a fair assumption to thing that the white aircraft is a fighter too, or at least a jet aircraft.

Trawling through ADSB exchange for that day note that this T-38 flew near the area at 19.23 UTC, = 15.23 EDT.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae63f2&lat=43.615&lon=-70.884&zoom=7.8&showTrace=2022-06-20

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Unfortnately the flight data is broken at the point where the aircraft flies past the observers location.

Here's a picture of the T-38 with serial no 64-13176

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10560743

1658228851933.png
 
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I've tried to extrapolate the data for the flight when it drops out. I added a continuous turn between the two points at approx 2300 ft altitude, to show the likely path of the aircraft in relation to the observer's location....

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This is how it looks in Google Earth at ground level...
1658230047428.png

And a comparison to the original video on YouTube...
1658230185023.png


I think that's pretty conclusive.
 
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It seems fairly common for military planes in formation for only one to have the ADS-B transponder turned on.
 
It seems fairly common for military planes in formation for only one to have the ADS-B transponder turned on.
Yes, standard practice is for the lead aircraft only to set its transponder for the formation to appear as a single entity to ATC. Separation within the formation is that formation's internal responsibility.

Formation OAT flights are a major concern as they are usually performed by fast-moving aircraft at higher levels (compared to general aviation).

Upon each initial report on a new radio frequency, the formation leader is to indicate to ATC that the flight is a formation and the number of aircraft it consists of. Similarly to GAT, a formation flight is to be considered as a single aircraft in regard to navigation and position reporting and clearances issued by ATC. Separation within the formation is responsibility of the participants. Additionally, if the operation requires two (or more) formation flights to operate below prescribed IFR separation minima, the leaders are responsible for the safety distance between the formations.

Two types of military formations are defined. In a standard formation each element (aircraft) must remain within 1 NM horizontally and 100 ft vertically from the formation leader (as opposed to a GAT formation where the horizontal limit is 0.5 NM). Only the lead aircraft is to use the transponder as directed by ATC. Elements that are outside the horizontal and/or vertical limits are considered a non-standard formation. These flights represent an unusual aerial activity that must be pre-coordinated between the flight leader and the ATC unit concerned in due time prior departure. It is an ATC decision to approve or disapprove a non-standard formation and to determine special conditions for conducting the flight. For non-standard formations, each individual aircraft is to squawk as directed by ATC.
https://skybrary.aero/articles/operational-air-traffic-controlled-airspace
 
Within the first 4 frames of the video the white object disappears. Why is that?

It's not a focus problem as the tree in the foreground remains at the same level of focus throughout.

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After about 40 frames the white object reappears

a.jpg

b.jpg

c.jpg

d.jpg

Tree at beginning

t1.jpg

Tree at end

t2.jpg
 
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In the first 3 frames of the video the object disappears. Why is that?

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It's white and maybe compression artifacts remove it, the other jets contrast more and so are less likely to be removed.

Phone video and small objects is a recipe for weird behaviour.
 
It's white and maybe compression artifacts remove it, the other jets contrast more and so are less likely to be removed.

Phone video and small objects is a recipe for weird behaviour.
Yes, it looks like the sky-camouflaged aircraft is lost in the digital compression of the video. It's small, far away, and is painted to blend in with the background (sky). It's as you'd expect.
 
I called the lead a/c as a T-38 due to the white scheme and black anti-glare when this video came out a few weeks back. I got a chuckle out of the folks calling this a chase as opposed to a formation.
 
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