Hello -
I'm wondering if anyone could help identify some 'UFOs' / 'UAPs' I saw over the South China Sea on 30th November 2024 between about 7:30 PM and 8:10 PM.
The 'sighting' was from the passenger window of a commercial flight from Taipei to Bangkok and took place over the course of about 40 minutes.
I regret I can't provide video or photos, so there's only my account to go on and the flight number: Thai AirAsia FD231. I was in seat 31 F, which meant I was looking in the direction of the coast of China.
I did make several moves to activate my phone camera over the course of the events, but the distances and sizes involved would have made the videos all but useless, plus the overhead corridor lighting was on, albeit very low, and it was around 7:30 PM. (In other words, nearly all the duration of the sighting I had my face pressed to the window with my hands around my brows to block out the corridor lights.)
I submitted an account of the sighting to NUFORC plus the Drone Safety Reporting system of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Taiwan. Another slight regret is I said I didn't need a reply from the CAA, as although I'm sure they have plenty rather more pressing things to be dealing with, to put it mildly, I still wonder what their reply might have stated.
The NUFORC submission is NUFORC UFO Sighting 184804, but please note that there are some quirks of their forms that make the report a bit misleading. For example, for Angle of Elevation, I randomly put 45. In fact, if I've got it right, my line of sight to the initial large 'light' was probably at an angle of depression of about 12 or 13 (the plane was at around 12 KM and the 'light' was probably 50 KM distant at around 1 KM altitude - ?).
Below is an edited version of the report I sent NUFORC - edited for clarity and a few missing points of information:
*TLDR*
At roughly 7:30 pm a large white 'light' apparently stationary at approximately 50 KM distance and approximately 1 KM altitude over the South China Sea for several minutes before 'vanishing', after which at the same point on the horizon a succession of fast red smaller 'lights' ('orbs') shoot vertically up from around sea level over the course of several minutes, each arcing rapidly away in a north-east-ish direction before 'vanishing'.
Subsquently, two golden-yellow 'lights' ('orbs') of a similar size to the red ones fly in organic very 'unaircraft-like' motion through the sky toward our aircraft, the first from roughly around the same point as the initial 'white light'. The first moved from initially lower to similar altitudes to our aircraft. The first appeared to change colour as it flies (changing to reddish at moments). Both fly for several minutes before 'vanishing' (in these cases, like a light switching off).
'UAP' events ceased at around 8:10 PM as we approached the coast of Hainan island.
There appeared to be a connection between the activity of these 'luminous objects', but clearly that's only my inference. In other words, the golden-yellow 'lights' may have been entirely unconnected things to the big white 'light', for example.
I make no claim as to what they were other than that they were light sources. 'Orb' is a shape option at the NUFORC site.
*Times and Locations*
Throughout these sightings I was sat in a passenger window seat (31F) of Thai AirAsia FD231 from Taipei - Taoyuan (TPE) to Bangkok - Don Mueang (DMK) on Nov 30th, 2024.
Seat 31F is on the right side of the airplane. I was looking out of the window in the direction of the coast of the PRC. So the initial 'white light' was roughly 50 KM distant in the same direction as the PRC coast.
Sightings began at around 7:30pm and ended at around 8:10pm.
My account is based on a messaged I typed out to a friend while in the waiting area at Don Mueang Airport, immediately after I collected my luggage.
I have no professional or amateur knowledge regards astronomy, meteorology, or aerospace, so I claim no great authority for my estimates of distances, sizes, altitudes, speeds, or locations.
Perhaps what I saw were military objects such as flares, drones, balloons, some type of new UAS etc.
I have uploaded a route map. This map was created by a passenger of an EVA Air flight from TPE to BKK. My guess is this map may correspond quite closely to the route of my flight and the location of the plane and the 'UAPs'.
Referring to the uploaded map, my estimate is my initial sighting of a 'UAP' occurred as flight FD231 was located approximately at the point at which the solid line changes to a broken dashed line.
My guess is my sightings persisted for the length of the dashed line. Certainly the sightings ceased as we approached Hainan. Near Hainan is also the point at which the solid line resumes.
Relatedly, throughout the course of the sightings, the location feature of Google Maps was not functioning. As the plane approached Hainan, the Google Maps location feature became available.
*Visibility and Conditions*
Visibility was good – i.e., over 50 km.
Conditions were overcast, but this thick layer of overhanging cloud was several KM above our airplane. Below this layer of cloud, visibility was over 50 KM.
There were some sparse and occasional very low clouds below us and some haze, with a few sparse whisps of thin cloud. Occasionally there were clumps of larger denser clouds below us.
Based on consulting meteorological sites, it appears that winds on the coast at Hong Kong were from the NE at speeds of 2 to 3 m/s. I've no idea what winds were at our altitude our over the South China Sea, but the flight was fairly smooth, with no instruction to fasten our seatbelts.
No moon was visible. The night of Nov 30th was a new moon. In the west, one star remained visible through the clouds above us throughout most of the events. I assume this was Venus. Another star was sometimes visible through the cloud in the north; perhaps this star was Arcturus.
There were often lights from boats dotted about below us. These boat lights were mostly green or yellow-ish to yellow-white in colour, presumably from fishing boats. Sometimes they were arranged in groups and rings, again presumably fishing.
The line of the horizon to our north (northwest to northeast) was emphasized at times by a slight reddish-orange tinge to the sky, which I infer was probably caused by intense light pollution from coastal cities such as Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen. The sea was relatively darker, i.e., blackish.
The amount of detail and colour in the surroundings helped give clarity when observing the relative motion of the red and gold light sources against the background, as it were - for example, relative to the small clouds, sea surface, and other lights such as from boats.
*Sightings*
Immediately on clearing immigration and baggage reclaim at DMK, I typed out an account of what I had witnessed and messaged it to a friend and to my brother. I have used that account for this report. I still have the conversations on my WhatsAPP and Messenger.
I'm fascinated by the UFO / UAP topic, but I'm entirely open to the possibility that there are prosaic explanations for everything I saw.
The NJ and UK drone flap was in the news. Until the sighting began, I was reading a book on my Android phone. Feeling a need to take a break from concentrating on reading, I looked out of the window and my attention was caught by a ring of green and yellow lights below, which I inferred were fishing boats. If I remember correctly, I consulted Google Maps and found that the blue location icon was not showing.
Ironically, the book I was reading was Nick Pope's 'Open Skies, Closed Minds'. I do not rate the book that highly. Closing the book and looking out of the window, I thought to myself, somewhat jokingly, 'right, I want to see a UFO!' To be clear, I have never previously witnessed a 'UAP', and I had no expectation of actually seeing anything remotely interesting.
Shortly after this, while gazing out over the boat lights, I noticed a substantially larger luminous object that was located perpendicular to the path of our airplane and was further away than any of the boat lights, its location at a distance of about 50 KM.
This luminous object was a bright, spherical white light that was approximately three or four times larger than the boat lights.
This luminous object appeared to be stationary and located at least 1 KM above the horizon line – in other words, substantially above the surface of the ocean.
At first, confused by what I was seeing, I stared at the luminous object and puzzled about what it actually was, but not initially with any sense I was seeing anything unusual.
The background against this large luminous object was set was sky and thin haze with a slightly reddish tinge, which I assume was created by light pollution from the further distant massive coastal cities of China. Substantially below the object was the horizon line and blacker ocean. Further away above the object was a layer of overcast cloud.
Given its approximate distance of 50 KM, on later reflection my guess was that the actual size of this luminous object must have been very substantial - at least that of a very large house, but probably as great as a football field.
My estimate of the length time of I stared in bemusement at this object is very approximate - perhaps a minute or more. It then vanished from sight. I wondered whether its apparent rapid disappearance might have been due to an intervening low cloud and the motion of our airplane.
I kept my attention fixed on where it had been located, puzzling as to what this now-vanished object was and whether it might become visible again.
Within very approximately the span of another minute, in the same location as the vanished object but at a lower altitude, a smaller but vivid pink-red spherical luminous object (similar in apparent size to the boat lights) shot rapidly and vertically upward from approximately sea level to approximately the same height as the vanished luminous object, at which altitude the red luminous object then arced rapidly away several KM to the east-northeast and vanished at an altitude higher than 1 KM. I guess this object was moving at several hundred km/h.
After a couple of minutes, a second spherical red luminous object repeated this pattern, arcing rapidly to the east or northeast with a comparatively more wave-like uneven motion before vanishing.
A third object repeated this process with an increasingly wave-like uneven motion.
I was very puzzled as to what these objects were - a firework show or light show from a tourist boat? A military ship launching drones? Or were we in fact close enough to the mainland that these might be activities around Hong Kong or Shenzhen? Were these launches from an artificial island not shown on maps?
Possibly these red luminous objects emerged from the sea.
Their speeds as they shot vertically and horizontally were very high, which is why I have ticked the NUFORC 'extreme acceleration' box.
I continued to look out of the window, only removing my attention to check the time on my phone and establish whether I might be able to take video footage.
I confess I'm unable to remember the exact number of red spheres that emerged. There were at least three, but in total there could have been as many as five.
By the time I'd finished watching these events, the location of the initial sighting was moving to the periphery of what was visible from my window.
At this time, another spherical luminous object came to my attention, initially located around the same point on the horizon from which the previous luminous objects appeared, but at an altitude midway between us and the sea surface.
This object was in motion at apparently varying velocities of the order of up to several hundred km/h, progressing approximately mainly to the south and to southwest, drawing increasingly close to our airplane as it did so. My memory is that this object may have shifted from reddish to more yellow-white in colour as it drew closer.
This object didn't vanish as rapidly as the previous luminous objects. This object had no regulation airplane lights or visible wings. Its motion was unlike the movement of an aircraft. It did not move on an even plane. Its course altered often. There was a wavy, bobbing characteristic (up / down) to its motion as it proceeded towards our airplane, at one point moving through some clouds, proceeding on a curved path at uneven speeds, pausing and accelerating.
Because this luminous object was against a background of boats lights that actually made its relative motion and height clearer.
This object got to within very approximately 10 KM of our airplane, moving at speeds I would guess of up to several hundred km/h, then when located away to our rear, suddenly vanished.
Within a few minutes, another luminous object appeared, this time for the first time appearing ahead of us, from the west. Again, this object was yellowish-white and moving nothing like a conventional aircraft. This object approached our airplane over the course of a minute or so in a similarly organic motion.
This time I made a last attempt to activate my phone to take video. In doing so, I looked down at my phone. When I looked up again, the object had vanished.
By now, we were approaching the island of Hainan. The location feature activated on Google Maps showing us to be roughly 50 KM to the south of the island. I saw no further 'UAPs'.
Were these smaller objects maybe military drones of some kind? Were they illuminated balloons?
When waiting at the luggage carousel, I was able to ask the two pilots of our flight if they saw anything. The pilots said that if these objects were off the west side of the plane, they would have been out of their line of sight. I suggested they might be drones. The senior pilot laughed, "haha, drones." They fell into what looked like intense conversation as I left.
Lacking any formal training in observation, it is hard for me to estimate distance, speed, altitude, and size with confidence.
These last two objects that flew toward our airplane were in terms of their appearance 'spherical lights' and were moving at perhaps several hundred km/h but with a type of motion that could be described as 'organic' and 'uneven' relative to the smooth plane, fixed direction, and continuous velocity of a winged jet aircraft. There was a wave-like quality or slight 'bobbing' and a comparatively uneven velocity, as well as a more 'organic' line to their route of flight.
During the course of our flight, I watched a passenger plane pass us at a lower altitude in the direction of Hong Kong. It's steady even linear motion was utterly unlike what I saw.
I made several moves to take photos or video of the 'luminous objects' but they would have been near worthless.
In conclusion, these objects absolutely didn't move like winged craft at all. Perhaps they might be some type of new technology or unusual plasma phenomenon. I doubt the last two object were balloons. The first sightings on the horizon at 50 KM distance certainly weren't, in my opinion.
I'd be very interested if anyone can use all this to identify what they actually were.
Thanks,
Angus
I'm wondering if anyone could help identify some 'UFOs' / 'UAPs' I saw over the South China Sea on 30th November 2024 between about 7:30 PM and 8:10 PM.
The 'sighting' was from the passenger window of a commercial flight from Taipei to Bangkok and took place over the course of about 40 minutes.
I regret I can't provide video or photos, so there's only my account to go on and the flight number: Thai AirAsia FD231. I was in seat 31 F, which meant I was looking in the direction of the coast of China.
I did make several moves to activate my phone camera over the course of the events, but the distances and sizes involved would have made the videos all but useless, plus the overhead corridor lighting was on, albeit very low, and it was around 7:30 PM. (In other words, nearly all the duration of the sighting I had my face pressed to the window with my hands around my brows to block out the corridor lights.)
I submitted an account of the sighting to NUFORC plus the Drone Safety Reporting system of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Taiwan. Another slight regret is I said I didn't need a reply from the CAA, as although I'm sure they have plenty rather more pressing things to be dealing with, to put it mildly, I still wonder what their reply might have stated.
The NUFORC submission is NUFORC UFO Sighting 184804, but please note that there are some quirks of their forms that make the report a bit misleading. For example, for Angle of Elevation, I randomly put 45. In fact, if I've got it right, my line of sight to the initial large 'light' was probably at an angle of depression of about 12 or 13 (the plane was at around 12 KM and the 'light' was probably 50 KM distant at around 1 KM altitude - ?).
Below is an edited version of the report I sent NUFORC - edited for clarity and a few missing points of information:
*TLDR*
At roughly 7:30 pm a large white 'light' apparently stationary at approximately 50 KM distance and approximately 1 KM altitude over the South China Sea for several minutes before 'vanishing', after which at the same point on the horizon a succession of fast red smaller 'lights' ('orbs') shoot vertically up from around sea level over the course of several minutes, each arcing rapidly away in a north-east-ish direction before 'vanishing'.
Subsquently, two golden-yellow 'lights' ('orbs') of a similar size to the red ones fly in organic very 'unaircraft-like' motion through the sky toward our aircraft, the first from roughly around the same point as the initial 'white light'. The first moved from initially lower to similar altitudes to our aircraft. The first appeared to change colour as it flies (changing to reddish at moments). Both fly for several minutes before 'vanishing' (in these cases, like a light switching off).
'UAP' events ceased at around 8:10 PM as we approached the coast of Hainan island.
There appeared to be a connection between the activity of these 'luminous objects', but clearly that's only my inference. In other words, the golden-yellow 'lights' may have been entirely unconnected things to the big white 'light', for example.
I make no claim as to what they were other than that they were light sources. 'Orb' is a shape option at the NUFORC site.
*Times and Locations*
Throughout these sightings I was sat in a passenger window seat (31F) of Thai AirAsia FD231 from Taipei - Taoyuan (TPE) to Bangkok - Don Mueang (DMK) on Nov 30th, 2024.
Seat 31F is on the right side of the airplane. I was looking out of the window in the direction of the coast of the PRC. So the initial 'white light' was roughly 50 KM distant in the same direction as the PRC coast.
Sightings began at around 7:30pm and ended at around 8:10pm.
My account is based on a messaged I typed out to a friend while in the waiting area at Don Mueang Airport, immediately after I collected my luggage.
I have no professional or amateur knowledge regards astronomy, meteorology, or aerospace, so I claim no great authority for my estimates of distances, sizes, altitudes, speeds, or locations.
Perhaps what I saw were military objects such as flares, drones, balloons, some type of new UAS etc.
I have uploaded a route map. This map was created by a passenger of an EVA Air flight from TPE to BKK. My guess is this map may correspond quite closely to the route of my flight and the location of the plane and the 'UAPs'.
Referring to the uploaded map, my estimate is my initial sighting of a 'UAP' occurred as flight FD231 was located approximately at the point at which the solid line changes to a broken dashed line.
My guess is my sightings persisted for the length of the dashed line. Certainly the sightings ceased as we approached Hainan. Near Hainan is also the point at which the solid line resumes.
Relatedly, throughout the course of the sightings, the location feature of Google Maps was not functioning. As the plane approached Hainan, the Google Maps location feature became available.
*Visibility and Conditions*
Visibility was good – i.e., over 50 km.
Conditions were overcast, but this thick layer of overhanging cloud was several KM above our airplane. Below this layer of cloud, visibility was over 50 KM.
There were some sparse and occasional very low clouds below us and some haze, with a few sparse whisps of thin cloud. Occasionally there were clumps of larger denser clouds below us.
Based on consulting meteorological sites, it appears that winds on the coast at Hong Kong were from the NE at speeds of 2 to 3 m/s. I've no idea what winds were at our altitude our over the South China Sea, but the flight was fairly smooth, with no instruction to fasten our seatbelts.
No moon was visible. The night of Nov 30th was a new moon. In the west, one star remained visible through the clouds above us throughout most of the events. I assume this was Venus. Another star was sometimes visible through the cloud in the north; perhaps this star was Arcturus.
There were often lights from boats dotted about below us. These boat lights were mostly green or yellow-ish to yellow-white in colour, presumably from fishing boats. Sometimes they were arranged in groups and rings, again presumably fishing.
The line of the horizon to our north (northwest to northeast) was emphasized at times by a slight reddish-orange tinge to the sky, which I infer was probably caused by intense light pollution from coastal cities such as Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen. The sea was relatively darker, i.e., blackish.
The amount of detail and colour in the surroundings helped give clarity when observing the relative motion of the red and gold light sources against the background, as it were - for example, relative to the small clouds, sea surface, and other lights such as from boats.
*Sightings*
Immediately on clearing immigration and baggage reclaim at DMK, I typed out an account of what I had witnessed and messaged it to a friend and to my brother. I have used that account for this report. I still have the conversations on my WhatsAPP and Messenger.
I'm fascinated by the UFO / UAP topic, but I'm entirely open to the possibility that there are prosaic explanations for everything I saw.
The NJ and UK drone flap was in the news. Until the sighting began, I was reading a book on my Android phone. Feeling a need to take a break from concentrating on reading, I looked out of the window and my attention was caught by a ring of green and yellow lights below, which I inferred were fishing boats. If I remember correctly, I consulted Google Maps and found that the blue location icon was not showing.
Ironically, the book I was reading was Nick Pope's 'Open Skies, Closed Minds'. I do not rate the book that highly. Closing the book and looking out of the window, I thought to myself, somewhat jokingly, 'right, I want to see a UFO!' To be clear, I have never previously witnessed a 'UAP', and I had no expectation of actually seeing anything remotely interesting.
Shortly after this, while gazing out over the boat lights, I noticed a substantially larger luminous object that was located perpendicular to the path of our airplane and was further away than any of the boat lights, its location at a distance of about 50 KM.
This luminous object was a bright, spherical white light that was approximately three or four times larger than the boat lights.
This luminous object appeared to be stationary and located at least 1 KM above the horizon line – in other words, substantially above the surface of the ocean.
At first, confused by what I was seeing, I stared at the luminous object and puzzled about what it actually was, but not initially with any sense I was seeing anything unusual.
The background against this large luminous object was set was sky and thin haze with a slightly reddish tinge, which I assume was created by light pollution from the further distant massive coastal cities of China. Substantially below the object was the horizon line and blacker ocean. Further away above the object was a layer of overcast cloud.
Given its approximate distance of 50 KM, on later reflection my guess was that the actual size of this luminous object must have been very substantial - at least that of a very large house, but probably as great as a football field.
My estimate of the length time of I stared in bemusement at this object is very approximate - perhaps a minute or more. It then vanished from sight. I wondered whether its apparent rapid disappearance might have been due to an intervening low cloud and the motion of our airplane.
I kept my attention fixed on where it had been located, puzzling as to what this now-vanished object was and whether it might become visible again.
Within very approximately the span of another minute, in the same location as the vanished object but at a lower altitude, a smaller but vivid pink-red spherical luminous object (similar in apparent size to the boat lights) shot rapidly and vertically upward from approximately sea level to approximately the same height as the vanished luminous object, at which altitude the red luminous object then arced rapidly away several KM to the east-northeast and vanished at an altitude higher than 1 KM. I guess this object was moving at several hundred km/h.
After a couple of minutes, a second spherical red luminous object repeated this pattern, arcing rapidly to the east or northeast with a comparatively more wave-like uneven motion before vanishing.
A third object repeated this process with an increasingly wave-like uneven motion.
I was very puzzled as to what these objects were - a firework show or light show from a tourist boat? A military ship launching drones? Or were we in fact close enough to the mainland that these might be activities around Hong Kong or Shenzhen? Were these launches from an artificial island not shown on maps?
Possibly these red luminous objects emerged from the sea.
Their speeds as they shot vertically and horizontally were very high, which is why I have ticked the NUFORC 'extreme acceleration' box.
I continued to look out of the window, only removing my attention to check the time on my phone and establish whether I might be able to take video footage.
I confess I'm unable to remember the exact number of red spheres that emerged. There were at least three, but in total there could have been as many as five.
By the time I'd finished watching these events, the location of the initial sighting was moving to the periphery of what was visible from my window.
At this time, another spherical luminous object came to my attention, initially located around the same point on the horizon from which the previous luminous objects appeared, but at an altitude midway between us and the sea surface.
This object was in motion at apparently varying velocities of the order of up to several hundred km/h, progressing approximately mainly to the south and to southwest, drawing increasingly close to our airplane as it did so. My memory is that this object may have shifted from reddish to more yellow-white in colour as it drew closer.
This object didn't vanish as rapidly as the previous luminous objects. This object had no regulation airplane lights or visible wings. Its motion was unlike the movement of an aircraft. It did not move on an even plane. Its course altered often. There was a wavy, bobbing characteristic (up / down) to its motion as it proceeded towards our airplane, at one point moving through some clouds, proceeding on a curved path at uneven speeds, pausing and accelerating.
Because this luminous object was against a background of boats lights that actually made its relative motion and height clearer.
This object got to within very approximately 10 KM of our airplane, moving at speeds I would guess of up to several hundred km/h, then when located away to our rear, suddenly vanished.
Within a few minutes, another luminous object appeared, this time for the first time appearing ahead of us, from the west. Again, this object was yellowish-white and moving nothing like a conventional aircraft. This object approached our airplane over the course of a minute or so in a similarly organic motion.
This time I made a last attempt to activate my phone to take video. In doing so, I looked down at my phone. When I looked up again, the object had vanished.
By now, we were approaching the island of Hainan. The location feature activated on Google Maps showing us to be roughly 50 KM to the south of the island. I saw no further 'UAPs'.
Were these smaller objects maybe military drones of some kind? Were they illuminated balloons?
When waiting at the luggage carousel, I was able to ask the two pilots of our flight if they saw anything. The pilots said that if these objects were off the west side of the plane, they would have been out of their line of sight. I suggested they might be drones. The senior pilot laughed, "haha, drones." They fell into what looked like intense conversation as I left.
Lacking any formal training in observation, it is hard for me to estimate distance, speed, altitude, and size with confidence.
These last two objects that flew toward our airplane were in terms of their appearance 'spherical lights' and were moving at perhaps several hundred km/h but with a type of motion that could be described as 'organic' and 'uneven' relative to the smooth plane, fixed direction, and continuous velocity of a winged jet aircraft. There was a wave-like quality or slight 'bobbing' and a comparatively uneven velocity, as well as a more 'organic' line to their route of flight.
During the course of our flight, I watched a passenger plane pass us at a lower altitude in the direction of Hong Kong. It's steady even linear motion was utterly unlike what I saw.
I made several moves to take photos or video of the 'luminous objects' but they would have been near worthless.
In conclusion, these objects absolutely didn't move like winged craft at all. Perhaps they might be some type of new technology or unusual plasma phenomenon. I doubt the last two object were balloons. The first sightings on the horizon at 50 KM distance certainly weren't, in my opinion.
I'd be very interested if anyone can use all this to identify what they actually were.
Thanks,
Angus
