Date: December 25, 2011
Time: Approx: 9:00 p.m.
Hello Brian, I found the story of the orange flame in Suffolk County , NY on the internet this morning. We had one of those fly right over our house shortly after 9:00 p.m. last night (December 25). I saw it through the window and ran out on to the driveway as it passed overhead.
My wife saw it too, as did my neighbor who was across the street unloading his car. This object had an orange glowing flame as it moved consistently and slowly across the sky at a fairly low altitude. It made no noise and did not deviate from its path at all.
My guess is it was less than 1,500 feet in the air. My neighbor commented that he thought it looked like a Chinese lantern as it appeared the flame was shooting from a circular pattern. I have never seen anything like it in terms of the visual elements, and the consistency of its path with no noise!
After it traveled to the east another half mile the flame disappeared and it appeared sparks dropped from the object. I could not see a defined shape around the flame, but the flame burned consistently as well and no debris was falling from it as it passed over.
I would very much like to communicate this to the folks who saw an object in NY to compare notes if that is possible. I want to try to find an answer on this to see what I observed. I know aviation and planes and astronomy fairly well and this was nothing connected to those subjects. Thanks for any help you can provide. Sincerely, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
