Strange movement, Inverness???

[Thunder]

Ok all, bear with me here.

It’s 0200hrs and I’ve just finished watching Quadrophenia on Sky Arts. I went into kitchen before heading to bed and as I looked out the window I saw a very high intensity White strobe in the sky travelling pretty fast from South to North before slowing and turning North East over Inverness. For those familiar with a/c over Inverness it was more or less following the approach to the airport, although it was further out to the West. I thought it was either the HMCG -139 or Helimed 2 EC-135 but the strange thing is, there was next to no noise if any from it, the two types mentioned above can be heard miles away. It is also a very still night tonight so the sound hasn’t drifted due to the wind.

I’m thinking it may have been an Apache out of Leuchars but not sure if they’re still operating out of there for Ex Chameleon.

Anyone know what it was that was flying about.

[Mike]

Hi Scott, I didn't see it but it wasn't either of the mail flights and nothing else is showing on FR24 for that time and I think the Apaches have already left Leuchars.
Strange one, can someone do a replay on ADS-B for that time please, as I don't know how to!

[GVLCN]

Had a very strange experience myself here in Newport, waiting for a Dutch Gulfstream on airways 7.45am Friday just gone & this bright set of lights caught my attention. I was shocked when I looked through my scope, was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen through my scope.
All I could describe it was like 5 high intensity lights moving slow & steady, just shocked what I was looking at & still can’t quite describe it now.
At a guess a UAV of some sort, I’ve seen something similar over Cardiff before but this was at night!

[Thunder]

Yip checked FR24 straight away and nothing was showing. I did think it may have been the mail flight but then thought they don’t fly Sat/Sun(or do they?)

It was the brightness of the strobe that immediately grab my attention as it was far brighter than any strobe I’ve seen before, also the speed was unusually fast and when I opened the window to listen there was no noise from it.

[Mike]

The mail flights don't operate on a Sunday morning so I've no idea what this could have been!

Edit :- Nothing showing on a Planefinder replay either.

[Mike]

Just a thought, but do any makes of drones have strobes fitted these days?

Edit :- Aha! Yes they do :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/RCstyle-White- ... B078C72RTW

[Thunder]

I thought about a drone this morning as I know the guy out the back of me has one, but I'm dismissing that due to the distance and direction(general flight characteristics) the object travelled and the time of night.

I'm putting it down to a test flight of the B-21 'Raider' and the pilot didn't know how to turn off the strobes

[Fastwalker]

I wasn't going to bring the subject of strange white lights in the sky but on Thursday night around 1945 hrs I saw two white lights heading NE over Newark line a stern which eventually faded out. No green/red strobes.
Checked FR24, Freedar, plane finder and Heavens above for satelite passes and all negative.

[Thunder]

Yip same as last night no Red/Green nav lights just the White strobe.

[Fastwalker]

Just to confirm, the white lights I saw were steady on and not really bright . I would estimate around mag 0 or +1 for those who follow space stuff.

[red leader]

I saw something similar over Northamptonshire about a couple of months ago. It was at night. I was looking up at the stars as it was a clear night. I saw a fast moving object as a single bright white light. It was quite low and made absolutely no sound. It was moving n a controlled manner like an airplane but showed no usual airplane lights. I watched it for about 30 seconds and then it vanished! I've no clue what it was but can rule out helicopters as no noise and shooting stars as it was far too slow.

[Vulcan74]

Was it a UFO!!!

[Thunder]

Well yes it is, until it's identified it's unidentified and it was a flying object.

[mustang5861]

With the exception of the two lights together, might any of these have been the ISS or a LEOS? Just a suggestion - not trying to cast doubt on what people have seen.

[Thunder]

Definitely not in my case. The flight characteristics were most certainly belonging to an aircraft/helicopter of some description.

[mustang5861]

Definitely not in my case. The flight characteristics were most certainly belonging to an aircraft/helicopter of some description.

The only 'conventional' thing I can think of that could/would be coming from south to north, other than the helos you mentioned, is one of the Scottish Ambulance Service Beech Super King Airs out of Aberdeen; they certainly fly in/out of Aberdeen at any time of day and night according to requirements. However they are quite noisy, with a very distinctive engine note - and presumably they would show up on FR24 etc.

[red leader]

I would say most likely explanation is military movements that are not logged. Possibly test flights of experimental stuff.

[baz1]

I would say most likely explanation is military movements that are not logged. Possibly test flights of experimental stuff.

a bit like in the Machrihanish days ?

[Supra]

Almost without exception we as humans are profoundly rubbish at identifying objects at night, especially from a single source of information such as just eyesight!
'Thunder' states in a post above..." but I'm dismissing that due to the distance and direction(general flight characteristics) the object travelled and the time of night."
With no known sound audible, also at night with no points of reference & no idea of the objects size I'll wager nobody can accurately know the position of 1 (even2!) lights in a dark sky! The human brain cannot process that single piece of info' as there isn't anything else to correlate ? A small object manoeuvring close to the observer at night can appear to be a large object moving really fast & erratically in the distance if no further data is available! Aliens clever enough to navigate the Galaxy ain't stupid enough to perform stunts in public, that would be like rolling the Vulcan over say Grantham?
For example, the 'Father Ted' theory can't work in this case as that relies on the observer knowing the size of the object!...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0

[baz1]

I had that problem I kept seeng a whitish light over towards the south at night then I would see red and green and slowly moving to the S/W it was doing my head in every night watching it through bino's until some pointed on out on here its what they call the disco star