Subject: UFO SIGHTING
Location: WASHINGTON, D.C.
Date: MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2002
Time: Approximately 10:50 a.m.
In a series of E-mail messages beginning on Wednesday, December 18, a 38-year old college-educated (6-years) homemaker in the Washington D.C. area sought to report a suspected UFO sighting. The witness expressed her concern for privacy and would not release her phone number, choosing to call me at my home telephone number that I provided to her. After the exchange of several emails, arrangements were made for me to interview her by telephone on Friday evening, December 20 at 9:00 p.m.
The witness informs that she located my email address from a Google internet search under UFO sightings and also from an online message board about UFO sightings from the Washington, D.C. area. She said that she was aware of my investigations into the Washington D.C. UFO situation from this past July.
The witness reports that at approximately 10:50 a.m., she was inside her home, located at the northeast corner of Washington D.C., when she heard 2 fighter jets fly over her neighborhood. She said that she had lived on Air Force bases for 9-years and knew jet engines sounds, and after hearing the aircraft commotion she thought: "Oh my gosh, are they escorting someone out of the airspace?"
Stepping then to her window and looking to the south from her vantage point, she was able to easily discern an unusual object that appeared to be as large as a thumbnail at arms length, or comparable even to the size of a full moon in the night sky. The object, she said, was bright silver and reflected the sun (the sky conditions were clear with bright blue skies, she said).
"I asked myself if this object was a wayward balloon," she said, "but it flew at a fast speed and had a 'bouncing' motion, dipping up and down."
The witness claims that the object was "way bigger" than an airplane and that it flew from south to north at a speed comparable to that of a quickly moving fighter jet. She said the duration of the sighting was around 5-seconds.
The object was estimated to have occupied airspace within 3-miles of her vantage pointed and situated over the northwest part of The District or over Downtown D.C. near near the Lincoln Memorial or the Mall area and flying at an elevation the witness said was "a bit higher than a helicopter would fly."
She reports that the object was 'oval-shaped' and there was no sound nor any smoke, The 'bouncing' flight conduct was most noticeable, she said, and likened it to the pulse of a heart monitor. She said the object was clearly of a 'silver-ish metal' composition and could distinctly observe the sun reflecting off of it. The bottom half of the object was darker and possibly due to shadow.
She could discern no structural detail and could not view any apparent rotation of the object. She said that the UFO departed from her view as it traveled to the north over a rooftop.
When asked if she could compare the shape to anything familiar, she said the oval-shaped object was similar in appearance to the top end of speed-stick deodorant.
The witness believes that if the jets were looking for the UFO, they had 'just missed it'
Although hearing the jet aircraft activity, she did not see the jets and did not necessarily think the UFO would have been traveling in pursuit or even in the same direction as the jets.
"I've never seen anything like it before," she said. "I kept thinking, 'I have no idea what that was.'"
After the incident, the witness said that she told her husband and her sister about what she observed. She further advises that she has never seen a UFO sighting previously.
FURTHER INQUIRY
In conjunction with this eyewitness claim of a UFO sighting, there was a significant aerial event taking place in the Washington D.C. area on the same date and time of the sighting report. Apparently it has been reported by CNN news and also confirmed by NORAD that 2 F-16 fighter jets were scrambled over the nations capitol to intercept a "potential violator" of the restricted Washington D.C. airspace. The intercept attempt apparently failed and the jets reportedly located nothing.
Hoping to assemble the details concerning this reported December 16, 2002 incident over Washington D.C. airspace, I sought to re-contact Maj. Michael Snyder, a NORAD public affairs officer I had earlier communicated with concerning a similar event over D.C. this past July. However, as per automated response from Maj Snyder's E-mail address, he had apparently been "demobilized" and no longer available. The response did offer a new telephone number for any questions intended for the NORAD public affairs desk.
I then called the NORAD public affairs office at 719-554-6889 (on Tuesday, December 17) and spoke with Sergeant Carpenter. I asked the public affairs officer if I could acquire information concerning a news report of a failed intercept mission of an unidentified object over Washington D.C. airspace. The officer was interested to ascertain who I was and if I was affiliated with the news media. I advised him that I had previously spoke with Major Snyder concerning a similar occurrence earlier this year and that I was a State Section Director for MUFON and had previously written articles for the MUFON Journal and FATE MAGAZINE concerning the earlier event.
Sergeant Carpenter asked what I wanted to know about the event and I informed him that I sought to gather information concerning the date and time of the incident, what was reported and by whom.
I also asked if there were any official statement or news release available concerning the incident.
Sgt. Carpenter said he could only confirm that the incident happened on Monday, December 16, 2002 and that no news release had been offered concerning the incident. He then informed that my questions should be handled by another person who was presently 'out of the office.' .
I left my name and phone number with him and he said that someone would return my call. The call was not returned as of Thursday, December 19 prompting my return call to the NORAD public affairs office where I was transferred to the voice-mail of Major Barry Venable.
On Tuesday, December 24, 2002, Major Barry Venable then responded by E-mail and only offered that the event of December 16 did have similarities to the situation from July but that in this instance the unidentified radar target, which was a "momentary image on radar," was located inside the restricted Washington D.C. airspace (as opposed to the July event when the object was outside of and approaching the restricted air corridor).
When asked if there might be a potential explanation for the radar target, Major Venable reported: "Flock of birds, big gust of wind, radar anomaly are all potential explanations.
Further, Major Venable was not immediately aware of a second event taking place over Washington D.C. later that evening, as reported by WBAY ABC Channel 2 News of Greenbay, Wisconsin, in which a small plane violated the airspace and later landed in West Virginia. When asked if the plane had been identified and the pilot(s) approached for interrogation, Major Venable answered: "I don't know about the late evening event you mention-will have to research. If it did occur, we would not be the appropriate agency to approach the pilot-that is a law enforcement function."
COMMENT
In conversation with the UFO eyewitness, I did not detect any behavioral issue or ascertain any indication that the witness was inclined toward alcohol or heavy medication. The witness sounded clear, sober and lucid. The witness stressed her concern for anonymity and confidentiality, saying that she did not want to see her name appear on the internet in conjunction with this report.
While informing the claimant that I would respect her desire for confidentiality, I also advised that having her account authenticated by a third party is crucial to authenticating the report. I then suggested the name of Joan Woodward, who took the Waldorf, MD UFO reports from last August, and asked the witness if she would mind also speaking about the sighting again. The witness seemed unsure about being contacted by other UFO researchers and I suggested that I would confer with her through E-mail and possibly send a phone number to her that she could call next week.
This report, concerning the Monday, December 16th sighting of a UFO over Washington D.C. in conjunction with jet aircraft activity, surfaced on Wednesday, December 18. On the previous afternoon, Tuesday, December 17, it was revealed that NORAD had dispatched F-16 fighter jets over the nation's capitol on Monday, December 16 to intercept an unidentified radar target According to reports, the jets could supposedly find nothing. UFO investigator Richard Hall reported to the Current Encounters research list of also hearing jets passing low overhead from his vantage point in the D.C. area at 10:50 a.m., which is same the time the claimant reports hearing the aircraft commotion and observing the strange object. Later that evening, jets were scrambled once again over the Washington D.C. area, this time to intercept a small private plane that reportedly landed in West Virginia.
Filed,
DECEMBER 20, 2002
KENNY YOUNG
--
UFO Research
https://kenny.anomalyresponse.com
Attached: CNN Article courtesy of researcher Donnie Blessing, WBAY ABC Channel 2 News article from Greenbay, Wisconsin and article "Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Washington" from NBC Channel 4 News
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F-16s patrol Washington, but no threat found
Monday, December 16, 2002 Posted: 1:48 PM EST (1848GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters scrambled over Washington Monday morning after radar detected a potential violation of the 15-mile restricted flight zone around the nation's capital, said officials with the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Federal Aviation Administration.
No threat was found. Officials speculated either a flock of birds or an anomaly caused by high winds resulted in the radar reading, which indicated a possible flight violation 18 miles northwest of Reagan National Airport.
Nevertheless, the F-16s maintained a combat air patrol over Washington for at least an hour, and air traffic was halted briefly at Reagan National, officials said.
The incident occurred at 10:30 a.m. EST, and routine air traffic resumed shortly after 11 a.m.
Officials said it is not unusual for radar to pick up other objects, such as birds or balloons, and the incident is considered routine.
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Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Washington
Jets Find Nothing In SkiesDecember 16, 2002
Source: NBC Channel 4 News
https://www.nbc4.com/news/1840951/detail.html
WASHINGTON -- Two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled in the Washington area Monday for a possible security breach, News4 learned Monday.
Authorities said the jets were scrambled at Andrews Air Force Base around 10:30 a.m.
A radar blip appeared to show that an aircraft was about to violate the restricted airspace above Washington.
Officials say, however, that when the F-16s arrived in the area, there were no aircraft in the area.
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Fighter jets scramble after plane enters restriction zone
WBAY ABC Channel 2 News
Greenbay, Wisconsin
December 17, 2002
Washington-AP -- Two fighter jets were scrambled last night to intercept a small plane over the nation's capital.
The plane had flown into restricted airspace over Washington, but officials determined it posed no threat and called off the intercept.
Two F-16's took off from suburban Maryland after the plane was spotted in restricted airspace.The plane later landed in Martinsville, West Virginia. No word on what type of aircraft was involved or who was on board.
Since the nine-eleven attacks, military officials have responded to more than 600 domestic airspace security incidents.
Source URL - https://www.WBAY.com/Global/story.asp?s=1013733