Pilot Reports orbs over California

[flarkey]

Another case from Americans for Safe Areospace of a pilot who couldnt identify the lights he saw from his plane - looks like they were starlink satellites.


Source: https://x.com/SafeAerospace/status/2006400385045364861?s=20


https://www.safeaerospace.org/reports/com-2024-450

Report ID: COM-2024-450

Date of Occurrence

Mar 31, 2024
Summary
While flying westbound in a Gulfstream V at 51,000 feet, the pilot and copilot observed multiple glowing orbs launching from the ground and ascending above their altitude before disappearing into space. Later, during approach to Van Nuys, they saw another orb hovering above the cloud layers for several minutes before losing sight of it while descending. Both events were captured on the pilot's iPhone.

Location Over Van Nuys, Los Angeles CA USA
Duration12 minutes
Number of Objects:7
Number of Observers: 2
Witness Background: 20-year Gulfstream pilot.

Event Narrative

A veteran Gulfstream pilot with over 20 years of experience reported a series of repeated UAP encounters that have increased in frequency since 2020, with sightings now occurring almost nightly, according to both pilots and air traffic controllers.

The most recent detailed event occurred while flying westbound in a Gulfstream V at 51,000 feet. The pilot and copilot observed multiple glowing orbs launching from the ground near their 1–3 o'clock position, ascending rapidly above their altitude, and then vanishing into space. Later, during approach to Van Nuys, they witnessed another luminous orb hovering above fog covered clouds around the 10–11 o'clock position before losing sight of it in cloud cover. Both events were filmed on the pilot's iPhone.

The witness describes these orbs as cloudy/milky/translucent, often brightening when stationary and dimming when in motion. They appear to perform coordinated or fluid movements, sometimes forming geometric patterns such as triangles and rotating around one another "like dolphins playing."

The witness and fellow pilots report these UAPs are most often seen over open water in the Atlantic, Pacific, Scotland, Iceland, Guam, and Wake Island, and only rarely over land. They exhibit rapid acceleration, extreme climb rates, and apparent interference with aircraft radar and navigation systems, which recover after the objects depart.

Looks like it was N132SD which flew from Miami to Van Nuys on that date. They were at 51,000ft over Phoenix Arizona

Lets look in sitrec
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=https://sitrec.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/15857/N132SD ASA/20260105_093314.js

So yet again this is another likely starlink flares sighting.

This is surprising. Not surprising that the pilot saw lights that he couldn't identify at the time, but surprising that Ryan Graves and the team at ASA couldnt identify it nearly 2 years after the event with all the other cases and reports of Starlink flares being seen and subsequently identified.

 

[flarkey]

Later, during approach to Van Nuys, they saw another orb hovering above the cloud layers for several minutes before losing sight of it while descending. Both events were captured on the pilot's iPhone.

On descent into Van Nuys the star Sirius, often identified as a UFO due to its scintillating appearance, would have been visible low towards the west too.

 

[Smythe Bacchus]

Not surprising that the pilot saw lights that he couldn't identify at the time, but surprising that Ryan Graves and the team at ASA couldnt identify it nearly 2 years after the event with all the other cases and reports of Starlink flares being seen and subsequently identified.

Can we safely assume with under 10 employees and whatever other activities they are doing, they've been overwhelmed by the sheer number of reports? I don't know much about them, but they should consider crowdsourcing to support analysis.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/company/americans-for-safe-aerospace

Welcome to our initial reports release, ASA has over 900 reports which we are currently processing for release. We will be updating this page frequently.

Source: https://www.safeaerospace.org/reports

 

[Mick West]

On descent into Van Nuys the star Sirius, often identified as a UFO due to its scintillating appearance, would have been visible low towards the west too.

There are several (over 10) other stars visible in the video, although it takes a little effort to bring them out.

 

[Ravi]

So yet again this is another likely starlink flares sighting.

This is surprising. Not surprising that the pilot saw lights that he couldn't identify at the time, but surprising that Ryan Graves and the team at ASA couldnt identify it nearly 2 years after the event with all the other cases and reports of Starlink flares being seen and subsequently identified.

I am surprised you find that surprising.

 

[flarkey]

I am surprised you find that surprising.

ok - my use of surprising was an attempt at being polite.

 

[jarlrmai]

Video files if anyone wants them

 

[jarlrmai]

There are several (over 10) other stars visible in the video, although it takes a little effort to bring them out.

View attachment 87488

Did you have to stabilise and stack the frames?

 

[flarkey]

At the 00m37s mark of the second video we can see a few objects just by increasing the brightness. The biggest one appears to be a reflection on the glass. The next thing is to geolocate the lights on the ground. That would give us a close time of when the video was recorded.

 

[Mick West]

Did you have to stabilise and stack the frames?

Yeah. If you scrub through this you can see the stars fairly easily.

 

[Mick West]

Cleaned up the audio