UFO over Chinese airport

[dougdirt]

Since we have had some fun UFO chats on here before, I thought this was worth posting. First a story:

An unidentified flying object (UFO) forced Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou, China to cease operations on July 7. A flight crew preparing for descent first detected the object around 8:40 p.m. and notified the air traffic control department. Aviation authorities responded within minutes, grounding outbound flights and diverting inbound ones to airports in Ningbo and Wuxi.

Eighteen flights were affected. Though normal operations resumed an hour later, the incident captured the attention of the Chinese media and sparked a firestorm of speculation on the UFO's identity.

"It is a hidden U.S. bomber flying toward China," one Internet user wrote on Monday. Another wrote on Sunday night, "In my opinion, the UFO is neither a U.S. missile nor a Russian satellite. Suggestions that it is extraterrestrial are even more preposterous. Everyone, use your head. This is clearly a man-made phenomenon. Would the U.S. or Russia risk provoking China's anger by firing a missile or satellite rocket in Chinese skies, without warning? I believe the Chinese military is responsible for the UFO. It is a new missile or aircraft being tested out."

Fueling speculations further, Hangzhou residents released photos, taken in the afternoon before the delays, of a hovering object bathed in golden light and exhibiting a comet-like tail. Less than an hour before the Xiaoshan airport shut down, residents said they also saw a flying object emitting red and white rays of light.

Resident Ma Shijun was taking a nighttime stroll with his wife when he saw the object.

"I felt a beam of light over my head. Looking up, I saw a streak of bright, white light flying across the sky, so I picked up the camera and took the photo. The time was 8:26 p.m. However, whether the object was a plane, or whether it was Xiaoshan Airport's UFO, I don't have a clear answer," Ma told the Xinhua news agency.

The photos taken by Hangzhou residents may be unrelated to the UFO that shut down Xiaoshan Airport. According to Hangzhou meteorological authorities, residents in the afternoon probably saw light reflecting off of an airplane. As for Ma's nighttime photo, Beijing Planetarium curator Zhu Jing told Xinhua that the object looks just like a plane shining its strobe lamps.

For now, the UFO's identity remains shrouded in mystery. A spokesman from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed to ABC News that the matter is under investigation. He declined to disclose further details. A day after the sighting, however, an anonymous source told China Daily that authorities already discovered the identity of the UFO after an investigation but could not publically disclose the information because "there was a military connection." An official explanation is expected to be released on Friday, the source said.

Now, some video:
YouTube - UFO Flying Over China July 9 2010!!! REAL

So, what do you guys think?

[GIDP]

Looks unidentified to me.

[reds44]

Swear all UFO videos have the same type of music.

Definatley looks like UFO, but I'm one of those people who think pretty much all UFOs are military related.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by reds44

Swear all UFO videos have the same type of music.

Definatley looks like UFO, but I'm one of those people who think pretty much all UFOs are military related.

Certainly could be. With that said, what I saw about 15 years ago is so far beyond our capabilities, I can't agree that all things are military based that are UFO like.

[reds44]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Certainly could be. With that said, what I saw about 15 years ago is so far beyond our capabilities, I can't agree that all things are military based that are UFO like.

I'm sure you've posted this before, but I don't think you're coo-coo so want to tell your story again?

[Dom Heffner]

A ghost and a UFO?

Next you're going to tell me what card I'm thinking of.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by reds44

Swear all UFO videos have the same type of music.

Definatley looks like UFO, but I'm one of those people who think pretty much all UFOs are military related.

And you have to remember, we're talking about China here -- not exactly the type of country that is particularly forthcoming with information about what goes on with their military.

I'd bet significant sums of money this was some sort of military test they were running.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Certainly could be. With that said, what I saw about 15 years ago is so far beyond our capabilities, I can't agree that all things are military based that are UFO like.

I also used to think it was military related. After all, the technology the military possesses is far more advanced than we're told or aware of as civilians and the access we have to it.

For me, though, it changed a couple of years ago. I was speaking on the phone with someone on the back porch of where I lived. It was late at night. I looked up and noticed a bright red light hovering in the sky. It was stationary but moving. Then suddenly it zipped from West to East in the sky, disappeared and a bright flash lit up the entire sky.

Interestingly, the next day, a newspaper reported the flash and the report was that a meteorite struck earth in the Newark, Ohio area.

What the paper didn't mention, however, was that bright red light that was hovering, then streaking before the flash. I don't know a ton about meteors, but I know this wasn't one.

I certainly don't know what it was. I don't close my mind to the possibility it was as something simple as military-related experiments. But whatever it was, the bogus explanation of a meteor didn't hold water -- which makes me more skeptical about whatever it was.

[RichRed]

I actually deal with a vendor in Hangzhou. I'll have to ask the guy about this.

[MilotheMayor]

After viewing this video, I'm pretty confident that this 'UFO' was a missile launch by the Chinese government.
YouTube - Minotaur Rocket launch 09/22/2005

[GIDP]

What I will always struggle with when people talk about Ghost and UFOs is that for as popular as they are they still seem to be impossible to document other than hearsay. I have to trust people's words in pretty much every case, or I have to trust some sketchy video that unless you flat out look for it and almost trick yourself into it seeing what you want to see it is just some basic video.

I think its silly to think that there isnt other life out there somewhere because we cant even really think about how big the universe is, but you would think there would be more proof of things flying around in our skies. I'd love to have my own proof, but I find it doubtful I ever will because I for one dont even have it cross my mind, and two I honestly have never seen any proof worth a darn.

[Rojo]

What about North Korea?

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by reds44

I'm sure you've posted this before, but I don't think you're coo-coo so want to tell your story again?

I was sleeping over at a friends (I was 10 or 11 at the time). It was around 1 in the morning and I saw this bright light in the sky that was about the size of a baseball in comparison to the window. It larger than the moon at the time (in perspective, it clearly wasn't larger than the moon, just much closer to us).It was just floating there I guess, not moving for a good 10 minutes. I was terrified and honestly could not move. My friend, had to go to the bathroom really bad went. While he was in the bathroom, the light began to either get larger or get closer. As he flushed the toilet the light, whatever it was did a zig zag type thing across the sky faster than anything I have ever come close to seeing before. Almost made a z type flight pattern before just zipping out of sight. The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes or so. To this day, I still get a little scared to look up into the night sky when I am alone. Still freaks me out.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by MilotheMayor

After viewing this video, I'm pretty confident that this 'UFO' was a missile launch by the Chinese government.

Certainly looks eerily similar. I guess the only thing I would ask is, if it was a missle launch, why was it flying so low to the ground over an airport?!

[Johnny Footstool]

Missile that went off-course.