Well, I Saw a UFO Tonight in Chicago - VIDEO!

T

Time Will Wipe Us Out1

Chrono Cadet
Hi friends

I haven't posted here in a while, but something crazy happened to me tonight. I saw a UFO.

While walking home from work, I noticed a green, flying object. It caught my eye because it was an unusual color, and it was solid. It wasn't flashing, nor were there any other colored lights. I began recording it when I noticed it simply stopped near the Sear's Tower. The videos are below. I am open to any ideas as to what this could be.

[video 2]
In the first video the object is clearer because after it moved again, it appears it increased altitude by quite a bit. My first thought was that it's a Helicopter, so I checked the Helicopter Tour routes through the city, and it turns out none of them go directly down town. So I am at a loss.

 
I've no idea what it is. My initial thought was helicopter. Keep an eye on internet forums/youtube for other people who may have posted this unidentified ariel object from another vantage point in the city.

 
What might it be? With everyone and their brother getting drones nowadays, that's where I'd put my money. They have LED lights that can definitely be seen at great distance and be green or red or both. It's very hard to determine size, distance, or altitude at night and even harder from a video.



 
For it to have been a tiny drone, it would have to have been super close. An airplane goes by in the second video, giving a reference for height, at least.

Also, I could see the thing as it went behind the Sear's Tower, meaning it was at least 2 miles away from me. No chance I could have seen, much less filmed, a tiny drone like this at that distance.

 
I've no idea what it is. My initial thought was helicopter. Keep an eye on internet forums/youtube for other people who may have posted this unidentified ariel object from another vantage point in the city.
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That was my initial thought, too. I checked the routes for the Helicopter tours in Chicago, and none have a flight path that goes as far north as I this thing was when I first saw it, nor do they cut right through downtown.

 
I'm still gonna say, most likely a drone. From ground level at Seward Park, looking south there are several other open areas where someone could have been flying a drone and it would be hard to tell what its elevation could be. The ceiling for hobby drones is about 400 feet, so a drone around a half mile from you would appear as high as or higher than the Sears Tower (Yea I still call it that). There is a park at Chicago Ave. that would be in just the right spot to appear as this light did. Also, someone could have been flying a drone from the roof tops of any of several buildings south from where you saw it. Obviously, being there, you would have the better field of view but, from the video, I sense it is between you and the tower. It just seems closer and lower. As far as the light, LED's can be seen from a great distance.

 
In the first video the object is clearer because after it moved again, it appears it increased altitude by quite a bit. My first thought was that it's a Helicopter, so I checked the Helicopter Tour routes through the city, and it turns out none of them go directly down town. So I am at a loss.
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You mentioned red and green in the video. Those are clearly aviation lights. Per regulations a green light must be mounted on the right (starboard) side of the vehicle and a red light must be mounted on the left (port) side of the vehicle. Just because a tour helicopter does not have a published route there does not discount the helicopter possibility. Why? Because all medium to large size police departments (esp. in major metropolitan areas) now regularly have choppers in the air, ESPECIALLY during night shifts.It is most likely a police heli. But of course I cannot say for sure. But the red and green lights are purposefully mandated to let you know which side of the vehicle you are looking at.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_light#Aviation_navigation_lights

RMT

 
You mentioned red and green in the video. Those are clearly aviation lights. Per regulations a green light must be mounted on the right (starboard) side of the vehicle and a red light must be mounted on the left (port) side of the vehicle. Just because a tour helicopter does not have a published route there does not discount the helicopter possibility. Why? Because all medium to large size police departments (esp. in major metropolitan areas) now regularly have choppers in the air, ESPECIALLY during night shifts.It is most likely a police heli. But of course I cannot say for sure. But the red and green lights are purposefully mandated to let you know which side of the vehicle you are looking at.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_light#Aviation_navigation_lights

RMT
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It couldn't be navigation lights.First, navigation lights typically blink. In fact, in the second video an airplane with navigation lights flies by and is clearly blinking.

Second, when I first spotted the object is was to the north of me; it headed south about two miles before it reached the Sear's Tower. The entire time, it was green. The back navigation light is supposed to be white.

Third, the object is seen moving south, east, west, and northwest. It was never white.

If anything, the navigation lights rules out it being any helicopter. Thank you for that information.

 
First, navigation lights typically blink.
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No, they don't. Not the directional red/green ones (technically called positional lights). They are mandated to be steady. You are thinking of the white strobe (technically called the anti-collision light). The only red light that is flashing is the beacon, which is at top-dead-center or bottom-dead-center of the aircraft fuselage and is usually only used on the ground. But you will never, ever see a flashing green light. Here are the relevant FARs for position and anti-collision lights:https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.1385

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.1401

Second, when I first spotted the object is was to the north of me; it headed south about two miles before it reached the Sear's Tower. The entire time, it was green. The back navigation light is supposed to be white.
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You are presuming that the helicopter moved in a specific orientation (i.e. with its back facing you), and that is not necessarily true. In fact, if you always saw it green (and steady green) then there is no doubt you were looking at the right hand side (starboard side) of the vehicle. Presuming that the aircraft was in compliance with FARs. If it were a "UFO" (interpreted to be something not of this earth) wouldn't it be interesting that they decided to comply with our FARs? :)

Third, the object is seen moving south, east, west, and northwest. It was never white.
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Again, you are presuming that this means the vehicle is flying in a certain attitude, which you have no way to prove. Unlike a fixed wing airplane, which pretty much has to fly within a small angle region of the direction of its nose, a helicopter can fly at ANY yaw attitude, because the rotor disc can be canted in any direction around the full 360 degrees.

If anything, the navigation lights rules out it being any helicopter. Thank you for that information.
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No, actually, they do not. I am afraid you are mistaken. Full disclosure: I am a flight controls systems engineer and aircraft systems architect who has certified several different types of aircraft with the FAA.RMT

 
RMT:

You are correct about the light not blinking. I just spent the last hour observing airplanes with a pair of binoculars. What struck me about the solid green and red lights: I couldn't make them out on the majority of the airplanes without the assistance of binoculars. Even with the binoculars, the flashing strobe lights and the flashing red light would completely bleed out the solid green and red light, making it difficult for me to ascertain whether it really was a solid light, or if it too were flashing.

This convinces me more that the light I saw last night wasn't simply the navigation lights. Those lights are tiny and very hard to see from the ground.

Additionally, none of the airplanes I observed just now, or any that I can remember, have ever been just a single, solid color. Red and white are always present (and were present) on every airplane I just observed.

If this thing were a helicopter, then I should have been able to see the white tail light as well last night. It's not there. Ever. And it's really confusing that this thing would have flown south while facing east; continue east still facing east. Decide to turn west to move west; turn and face east again. And then turn and face west before heading south again.

The only thing I am not clear on, and hopefully you can clear it up: does a Helicopter require the Red flashing light? And does it require strobe lights as well?

 
The only thing I am not clear on, and hopefully you can clear it up: does a Helicopter require the Red flashing light? And does it require strobe lights as well?
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They are required to be installed on the aircraft. However, there is an interesting difference between the navigation positional lights (red and green steady) and all other lights on an aircraft. Namely, the positional lights are the ONLY ones that are ALWAYS turned on whenever the aircraft is powered, and therefore NOT under the control of the pilot to turn on or off. ALL other lights are implemented such that they can readily be turned on or off by the pilot. While this clearly makes sense to most lay folks for things like landing lights and taxi lights, most folks do not understand why you would also allow pilots to have the ability to turn off the strobe and beacon lights. But anyone who has flown would know why. You see, there are times in flight when having those lights on can cause difficulty in viewing situations outside the cockpit by the pilot, or difficulty viewing by other pilots nearby. The most common condition is when an airplane is flying in clouds and/or rain. In those conditions, when happening at night, the light can easily get reflected back into the cockpit and make it difficult for the pilots who are flying the airplane to see the features outside they are looking to identify (on approaches in low visibility, pilots are looking for both lights on the runway and landmarks around the airport to verify they are in correct position). As such, this is why pilots are given the ability to turn off ALL lights except the positional lights.So this is why I am fairly sure you were looking at a helicopter. Because, while I cannot say for sure WHY the pilot may have turned off the beacon and/or strobes, what matters is that the pilot can, indeed, turn them off. Therefore, it is quite possible it could have been a helicopter AND these lights were simply turned off. I am a pilot myself, but not a police helicopter pilot. However, I might hazard to guess that if it was a police helicopter and it was in pursuit of someone on the ground, the MAY elect to turn off all lights they can (which would still leave the positional lights on, which is enough for proximate traffic to see them and identify their direction of flight) so that the people they are pursuing have a more difficult time seeing them in the sky above them.

Just a thought,

RMT

 
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