12 June 2021 UFO Over Lake Michigan Chicago (Short Clip)

These sort of videos invariably raise the same most blatantly obvious question : Why, oh why, do people time and again stop videoing their prize once in a lifetime UFO while it is still highly visible in the sky ? Why are these videos almost invariably always just 19 seconds long and they stop with the UFO still very much visible and getting closer.
 
These sort of videos invariably raise the same most blatantly obvious question : Why, oh why, do people time and again stop videoing their prize once in a lifetime UFO while it is still highly visible in the sky ? Why are these videos almost invariably always just 19 seconds long and they stop with the UFO still very much visible and getting closer.
How about zooming in? All phones can zoom.
 
These sort of videos invariably raise the same most blatantly obvious question : Why, oh why, do people time and again stop videoing their prize once in a lifetime UFO while it is still highly visible in the sky ? Why are these videos almost invariably always just 19 seconds long and they stop with the UFO still very much visible and getting closer.

Most people don't care about UFOs (why would they?).

They'll pull out their phone to record if they see something cool/strange sure, but it's not important enough to stand still wasting phone battery & time.

How about zooming in? All phones can zoom.

He zooms in at the start. Most phones have no optical zoom though, so the advantages are marginal vs cropping afterwards.
 
He zooms in at the start. Most phones have no optical zoom though, so the advantages are marginal vs cropping afterwards.

You are right, I missed it! True, optical zoom is always better. But at least it would've saved me from zooming in in the video myself. :cool:
 
Stabilized:


The constant motion suggests it might be a plane, just seen from an unexpected angle.
 
Were it not for the motion to the left, I'd say maybe one of these, with the long stingray-tail flapping around to supply the flutter. Manta ray kite by Peter Lynn Kites, NZ, the one in this picture is an Andreas Fischbacher variation. I've seen one before as a claimed UFO caught in Google Earth Street View, also in Chicago but on the north side of town, probably that kite was flown from the beach by Lincoln Park.

These are normally flown tied off to anchors and so should not be moving over the ground much, unless the flier was moving the anchor -- which happens, but as minimally as possible. And sometimes the anchor drags, but that should be pretty much straight towards the camera if I'm reading the flight angle correctly There are less common smaller versions, which could move along the beach as the flier walked with them, though even those would more typically be flown anchored.

Just north-ish from the spot identified are the 63rd and 57th Street beaches, and Promontory Point. None look like ideal spots to fly a big kite, but it might be possible -- or the kite might be a midi or small version. (PLK Maxi rays 30mmeters long with tail, so maybe 5-6 meters wide -- I don't have one or I'd pull it out and measure -- the midis about half that, the smalls are... well... smaller. If it became of interest I could get those exact widths from associates who have one.)

So I'd say it is consistent with one of these, if the cameraman happened to catch the somewhat rare moment when the anchor was being moved. (They come in all sorts of color patterns and with several different style tails...)


plk_ray-af-02.jpg

Here is the one from Google Earth, current street level footage no longer shows it.

chicago UFO.JPG
 
Not sure if related, but there appears to be some blinking light that maintains a constant distant ahead of it (or at least it looks that way to camera, may well be at a much different distance):

 
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Most people don't care about UFOs (why would they?).

They'll pull out their phone to record if they see something cool/strange sure, but it's not important enough to stand still wasting phone battery & time.



He zooms in at the start. Most phones have no optical zoom though, so the advantages are marginal vs cropping afterwards.
Well, no, that really doesn't answer the question. Even if a person doesn't immediately think an object is a UFO, they are still videoing it because it is 'strange', as you say. So the question of why they stop videoing it after just 19 seconds, while it is still being strange and still has a lot more sky to cover, and is actually getting closer, still stands. And if the person didn't think it was a UFO at the time...why is it now being reported as such, or is this yet another of those cases where someone has gotten hold of a video that nobody originally claimed to be a UFO and has separately presented it as a UFO.
 
Well, no, that really doesn't answer the question. Even if a person doesn't immediately think an object is a UFO, they are still videoing it because it is 'strange', as you say. So the question of why they stop videoing it after just 19 seconds, while it is still being strange and still has a lot more sky to cover, and is actually getting closer, still stands. And if the person didn't think it was a UFO at the time...why is it now being reported as such, or is this yet another of those cases where someone has gotten hold of a video that nobody originally claimed to be a UFO and has separately presented it as a UFO.
Maybe his girlfriend or sister (we see at start of video) was naggin him to stop screwing around and "let's go already". :) I would be.
 
Air traffic to O'Hare or even up to Milwaukee's Billy Mitchell are often routed up the lakefront, out over the lake. If it's northbound over the lake, it's possible that the plane was flying straight, but the west winds we often get in the general area could have been skewing the plane to a funky angle.

There have been plenty of videos showing planes landing with a strong crosswind causing them to come in at awkward angles.

As to g2MBhKaOu5G3c1vUy6cL's 'light', it's probably a reflection from an occasional glint of sunlight hitting the lens of the phone's camera.
If the plane was being buffeted by high-level crosswinds, akin to a tumbling satellite it would only flash occasionally when the angle was right for that position.
 
I think towed "beach banner" is the solution.

They sometimes turn at least partially on their side and the flapping becomes more noticeable.



I don't think the bright spot in front of the object is from navigation lights - the rhythm is too irregular. I think it's a specular reflection of the Sun off the aircraft.
 
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These sort of videos invariably raise the same most blatantly obvious question : Why, oh why, do people time and again stop videoing their prize once in a lifetime UFO while it is still highly visible in the sky ? Why are these videos almost invariably always just 19 seconds long and they stop with the UFO still very much visible and getting closer.
From the comments section:

Winning Back Mines
2 days ago
@joeblow4 why only a few seconds of filming??

joeblow4
6 hours ago
@Winning Back Mines because I’m not a UFO guy. I just wanted enough proof I saw something strange


Another thread:


BTC Shrimp

1 day ago
dude did your battery die? you just filmed 19 seconds and went on with your day? what happened after you stopped filming?


joeblow4
21 hours ago
I went on the boat. Had someBeer.jpg
 
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I don't see it as a drifting plane, it's simply flying away from the viewer on a slightly divergent heading relative to the camera, making it look as if it is sliding sideways.
 
I'm starting to favor a low speed aircraft; helicopter or drone. The banner behind a low speed aircraft is more likely to languidly flap.

This banner is huge. I think a helicopter can tow a larger banner because a helicopter pilot doesn't have to worry about stall speed.




This looks strange.




This helicopter is towing a banner that has a different design than we are more used to seeing.





Sometimes you can see the drone that's towing this banner, and sometimes you can't.



If it were a drone towing this type of banner, this might add to the confusion. It's something we aren't used to seeing.

The one thing that might be inconsistent with this idea, is that these banners tend to "hang" below the level of the helicopter/drone. The aircraft in the OP video seems to be at the same level as the banner.


 
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The 12th was a Saturday.
According to the WeatherUnderground archive, there was a high of 91, visibility 10 miles, wind gusts of up to 25mph.
The sky is clear, so it has to take place between at least 6:53am to 12:53pm.
The high of 91 was recorded from 10:53am to 12:53pm.

My personal thoughts on this, based on the angle of the plane flying, with a possibility of higher wind speeds at an upper altitude,
is that it is indeed a plane flying to O'Hare, most likely following a path between the green and red lines (8 and 10 miles) with enough heat inversion to the image to explain the shimmering effect around Noon.

Chicago UFO.jpg
 
Path of an early morning flight going to Chicago - Midway. (It's just visible to the bottom center of my previous graphic. )
This is from today, as FlightRadar24 isn't showing me any data from the 12th. His viewpoint is around the "P" in the area labelled "Jackson (Andrew) Park.midway flight 1114UTC.jpg

This is the flightpath of a flight coming in to land at O'Hare. The little red dot is his viewpoint.

ohare flight 1121 utc.jpg

Both flights match up with the general angle of the shape as we see it.
Domestic flight of some sort. I couldn't identify it exactly, but both pictures match up pretty well to the flight path of the UFO.

Case solved as far as I'm concerned.
 
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