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Flashing Lights

A

Anonymous

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I live in the south west of england and was driving along this evening and all of a sudden there was a large flashing light in the sky. Like a photo camera flash. The same flash happenend at random intervals. It cant have been lightning because A. the sky was clear and it wasn't the right weather. B. There was no thunder and C. there was no lightning in sight. Can anyone offer an explanation?
 
Sounds like theres a speeding ticket on the way. :D

What kind of road was it? Was it a busy one or a lonely country lane?
 
A similar type of thing was mentioned not so long ago in another thread.

I live on the North East coast of England, my house is fairly high up and has good views out towards the sea.

During the past six months or so I have witnessed similar flashes in the sky, usually orange in colour. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but my wife has also seen these flashes.

As if that were not enough, we have had friends and relatives over at our house who have also seen the flashes. They are seen both during daylight and at night.

If I recall correctly, in the previous thread there were a number of sightings which seemed to occur mostly on the eastern coast of England.

Slightly off topic - but bear with me.

A few months ago, my wife and I saw what clearly looked like a distress flare going up into the sky one night. We rang the coastguard who said they had received a number of reports. Anyway, they send out the lifeboat to investigate, and I switched on my radio scanner to listen to the search operation.

After finding nothing the coastguard ordered the lifeboat to return to base, but added that they were now receiving calls from all up and down the eastern coast of Britain re flares in the sky!

I must add that the flare I rang the coastguard about bore no resemblance to the "flashes" I have witnessed.

I can only guess that this may be some sort of atmospheric disturbance or perhaps distant lightning storms. The funny thing is that we always see it in the same part of the sky.

What colour were the flashes you saw whilst driving?
 
I find these descriptions of flashes irritatingly inadequate. Was the flash the sort of thing you'd see if you were watching someone use a flash camera? If so, the exact direction of the flash should be given.

Or was it a sort of overall flash, as you might see in a room if someone used a flash camera behind you?

And, liddi, you say "this evening", but to me that could mean anything after sunset (or even before, in summer) up to the time of your post. Was it dark? Were you driving on headlights?

You know what you mean, but we don't!
 
Sorry, I'll explain in more detail. It was a white flash and it was the sort of flash you'd see if some one had taken a picture behind you. I saw it to the left of me above trees in a woodland. My head lights were on but I wasn't looking in front of me.
The sky was also clear so it could not of been a lightning storm.
I saw the lights at about 9:30pm. The flash must of appeared 20 times at random intervals as I was driving down the road alongside the woodland.
 
Did it come from a point source? Also, where the lights all in the same place?
 
Is there a rail line near the road? The sparks and flashes from the overhead electric pick up can look like this at night.
 
Liddi, what do you think of this article? Its possible what you saw was space debri entering the atmosphere.
 
That is a very likely explanation for the lights I saw and no the the road is not near a traintrack.
 
AdamRang said:
Liddi, what do you think of this article? Its possible what you saw was space debri entering the atmosphere.
Click to expand...

It's not really an answer though is it? even the authorities couldn't say for sure what it was.
 
No, but I thought it was still interesting if there's a simmaler account of it.
 
Ok I'm putting this here as i have no clue where to put it but I want to tell you what I just saw tonight before it starts to fade

At about 21.00 I opened the door for the cat to come in, I looked up, as I always do and I saw, to the left and obviously high above me flashing lights, they were three colours but I cant quite remember what colours, sorry, and the three colours were grouped together, they were not the small lights that are on planes, they flashed in one place then in another then another, all in a sort of triangle pattern, they seemed to be staying in the more or less same bit of sky then I went to get my phone but when I returned they had gone.

Next about 22.45 I went to let the other cat out and looked up, in the exact same place I saw a big red light gliding across the sky, again it was bigger than a normal plane light much bigger and it had a sound like it was running on electric, like a monorail sound if you know what I mean, as it glided along the sky it stopped dead, it was like it had bloody seen me looking at it, so I went to grab my phone again and the bugger had gone, it only took me a few seconds this time as the phone was at the side of me on the counter, not that I would have got a photo cause my camera is shite

The one thing that got me was the lights were quite large, probably drones?
 
Shady said:
Ok I'm putting this here as i have no clue where to put it but I want to tell you what I just saw tonight before it starts to fade

At about 21.00 I opened the door for the cat to come in, I looked up, as I always do and I saw, to the left and obviously high above me flashing lights, they were three colours but I cant quite remember what colours, sorry, and the three colours were grouped together, they were not the small lights that are on planes, they flashed in one place then in another then another, all in a sort of triangle pattern, they seemed to be staying in the more or less same bit of sky then I went to get my phone but when I returned they had gone.

Next about 22.45 I went to let the other cat out and looked up, in the exact same place I saw a big red light gliding across the sky, again it was bigger than a normal plane light much bigger and it had a sound like it was running on electric, like a monorail sound if you know what I mean, as it glided along the sky it stopped dead, it was like it had bloody seen me looking at it, so I went to grab my phone again and the bugger had gone, it only took me a few seconds this time as the phone was at the side of me on the counter, not that I would have got a photo cause my camera is shite

The one thing that got me was the lights were quite large, probably drones?
Click to expand...
My first thought was drones.
 
The first sighting sounds a lot like the three marker lights on a fixed-wing aircraft (white beacon; red port side marker; blue or green starboard side marker). Some - typically more modern - aircraft flash the marker lamps to aid in grabbing an observer's attention.

A drone would be a good guess for the second sighting. So would a helicopter. Helicopters don't necessarily conform to the same marker / beacon light requirements as fixed-wing aircraft. I've seen red lamps used for the tail - and even the belly (underside) - marker on a chopper.
 
The three colour lights were fast moving, there is no chance that was a plane as the lights were big, so three groups of three lights, close together, and each set of three lights moved as one, they appeared in sequence of two above and one below, as one set blinked off the other would blink on, like they were taking turns, it was way too fast for helicopter or plane, sorry, im having difficulty knowing how to word this correctly.
The red lights was in a row but it was the noise and the sudden stop like it had seen me, i was probably back lit, so i showed up more, i think probably drone, but ive never seen one in real life. Given that they were seen in the same place it may have been a group of drones, the multicoloured ones made no sound
 
Shady said:
The three colour lights were fast moving, there is no chance that was a plane as the lights were big, so three groups of three lights, close together, and each set of three lights moved as one, they appeared in sequence of two above and one below, as one set blinked off the other would blink on, like they were taking turns ...
Click to expand...

Oh ... OK ... I didn't realize you were describing three identical trios of lights. Did the entire set of 3 trios remain in a fixed formation / arrangement? Or did the trios seem to move independently of each other?
 
Shady said:
The three colour lights were fast moving, there is no chance that was a plane as the lights were big, so three groups of three lights, close together, and each set of three lights moved as one, they appeared in sequence of two above and one below, as one set blinked off the other would blink on, like they were taking turns, it was way too fast for helicopter or plane, sorry, im having difficulty knowing how to word this correctly.
The red lights was in a row but it was the noise and the sudden stop like it had seen me, i was probably back lit, so i showed up more, i think probably drone, but ive never seen one in real life. Given that they were seen in the same place it may have been a group of drones, the multicoloured ones made no sound
Click to expand...

Aerial refuelling?

aerial-refueling-8.jpg


maximus otter
 
@EnolaGaia
My fault as im not describing it well sorry, each trio of lights remained together, but they moved independent of the others. they didnt move far from each other, it was like in a row to begin with then one trio dropped to the back and below of the others, that's when i went for my phone, I thought it was pretty, maybe it was a couple of drones dragging Christmas lights or something normal seen at a weird angle
@maximus otter
that might work if they were silent and they each had 3 coloured lights that were touched , they do tend to bob about when they are refueling, yes?, would they be doing it at night? And would the lights be big, and close together cause these did not look like plane lights, i am used to seeing them and ive never seen any that big.
One thing i did not know that they could fuel planes in twos, nice pic.
It is weird that both of these occurred in the same place, maybe a flight path? tho to be honest it is very rare i have seen them that close unless it is the air ambulance or the police copter, and the odd military plane or like the other day the twin rotas
This is the, obviously, pattern of the flight each orb took, in the patterns of three each individual orb was a different very bright colour, cant remember the colours so i wont guess, i just remember it was pretty

WhatsApp Image 2020-10-15 at 11.47.50.jpeg

The three red lights were in a row
Thats why i didnt show them here and i have no clue why this is bolded
 
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Shady:

What was the direction of flight / movement for the 3 trios of lights? On your diagram - left / right / up / down?

Depending on the tanker / receivers involved, aerial refueling can be done with anywhere from 1 - X receivers. (X = total number of: 1 boom maximum (if installed), plus however many drogues, on the tanker)

Yes, refueling can be done at night. In non-combat conditions taxi / landing lights might be fully lit up (which you don't normally see during flight).

Refueling is done at substantial altitude at relatively low cruising speed, so it can be relatively quiet or even silent from a given ground position.

Yes, the similarity of paths for the 2 separate sightings might be indicative of an established or controlled flight path or corridor.
 
OK ... Thanks for the clarification ... Now, to clarify further ...

Did you watch the three light trios change their formation / arrangement? If so ...

Here's an annotated version of your diagram. I've labeled the 3 trios to indicate their relative ordering in (apparent) single file when first seen.

ShadyLightsDiagram-A.jpeg

Which trio(s) moved which way(s) to end up in the second / new configuration?

For example:

- Did #1 fall back to fly in parallel with #3?
- Did #3 move forward to fly in parallel with #2?
- Or ... ?
 
Yes, i saw it change its position, it was 1 that dropped down and fell back under 3

The other day my friend told me that there was something on the telly regarding a big round orange orb being seen and a woman had taken a picture of it and that it often appears at the same time every year, i think, this is only going off of what my friend told me, so this would be the day before i saw my lights, not sure if that would be anything to do with mine tho, i am off to search the web to see if anything comes up

Edit: Can't find a thing about this big orange orb
 
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Thanks for the additional details ...

The maneuver as you've described it makes me tend to discount the idea this could have been an aerial refueling. There are canonical procedures for conducting a refueling rendezvous. In all cases the receivers approach the tanker from the rear - taking up position to match speeds and then ascending or descending into refueling mate-up positions. After refueling the tanker maintains course / speed and it's the receivers who depart, typically by turning and / or dropping away.

If #3 had moved forward to parallel #2 it could have been two receivers getting into position for a dual refueling (e.g., from a pair of wing drogues). Rendezvousing with a receiver out front of a tanker and then having that receiver fall back just isn't done. The only way I can make this maneuver consistent with refueling practice would be if the change represented two receivers aborting a link-up and moving off. If this were the case you should have seen #2 and #3 move away from the fallen back #1 almost immediately.

Alternatively, #2 and #3 could have been receivers obtaining fuel from a single boom, with #3 already fueled and trailing #2 as it refueled. When #2 finished the two receivers moved away and above the tanker (from your vantage point). Still, it would be highly unusual for #3 to loiter directly behind a refueling #2 after it had completed its own refueling.
 
It was a pity i moved to get my phone to take a pic, but they were gone when i got back, i was gone about 30 seconds maybe, as my phone was in the bedroom, but it is a crap phone so i wouldn't have gotten a very good picture at all, then it was about and hour and forty five minutes later that the three red ones showed up , maybe they were drones and they saw what i saw and came to investigate

And i tell a lie i have seen a drone, in real life, it was actually hovering above a street and i was driving towards it and it was facing me, it was probably a foot or so long and it was a airplane, couldn't see nobody about controlling it, unless they were hidden behind a hedge or indoors
 
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