1
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I live in Hazelhurst, Georgia?

2
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Yes, sir.

3
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I was just talking to the Helm of Flight Service.

4
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I'm a private pilot.

5
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I was not flying last night, but I was in my backyard and I saw something a little strange

6
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that I called them and asked them if they had any information on it.

7
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So they referred me to your number.

8
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Okay, I care about it.

9
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I live, as I say, I live in Hazelhurst, Georgia and I was in my backyard.

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I looked almost due north from Hazelhurst.

11
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Yes.

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There was a vertical takeoff object of some kind.

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It went straight up to its altitude and I've been trying to estimate a little closer to

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the altitude, 20 to 30,000 feet.

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It went high enough that it looked like it left a jet vapor trail when it horizontally

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south.

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But it, going vertically, it left a trail of smoke like a solid fuel device.

18
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Yes.

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And it was a round, link-wise object.

20
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Now, it flew south, kind of west of where I live, and left a vapor trail going right

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on out of sight.

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But it went absolutely vertical on its vertical takeoff.

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Now, I was guessing that it's something like 30 to 35 miles north of Hazelhurst up in the

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Bidavia or a little west of Bidavia area.

25
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Georgia.

26
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Uh-huh.

27
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Okay, well.

28
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You know what it is?

29
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No, sir, we haven't had any other reports on it.

30
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Did this object have a defined shape of any kind?

31
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Well, it looked like a long cylinder-like and it appeared to have wings on it, small wings,

32
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like supersonic, you know, swept-back wings.

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Again, I looked at it strictly with my eye, and that's when I was trying to judge the

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distance and height.

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Of course, I don't know what size it was, so it's hard to tell what distance it was.

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But it was high enough it was leaving a nice vapor trail as it went south.

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Man, did you watch it until it disappeared from view?

38
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Mm-hmm.

39
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Okay, what time did you spot that?

40
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This was around 7.30 quarter of 8 Eastern Daylight Time.

41
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Okay.

42
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This is at the PM, 1930 to 1945 hours.

43
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Okay.

44
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And when this object started to...

45
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Now, you say it made a vertical takeoff.

46
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Yeah, absolutely vertical to its altitude and it turned, you know, leveled off and went

47
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south.

48
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Okay, now when it turned and leveled off, was this a sharp turn?

49
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I wouldn't say I watched that part of it too carefully.

50
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I watched it on its vertical takeoff and then I kind of did something else and looked back

51
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up and it turns, you know, and gone south.

52
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Now, this is a few seconds in there, you know, almost.

53
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Right, okay.

54
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It appeared to make a sharp turn.

55
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Okay, now as it went south, did it maintain a straight flight path?

56
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Looked like a leveled straight flight path.

57
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Okay.

58
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Now, do you have any estimate of size?

59
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Can you compare it with anything?

60
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Not really.

61
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That's what I was trying to do before I called you.

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We have a flight instructor who works with us here at Sound Lock.

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And he and I were just discussing it, trying to judge from things I could explain to him

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what it might be.

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If I had to guess offhand, I'd say it was, and it's purely a guess now, I'd say it was,

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you know, it's got to be a pretty good size equivalent to a 727 or something like that,

67
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a little smaller.

68
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Okay.

69
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Now, the wings weren't that big though.

70
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Very small wings that appeared to be.

71
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Now that's, again, not a very good analysis.

72
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Okay.

73
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Can you give me any estimate of the distance from you?

74
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Well, the distance from takeoff, I would guess at 30 miles.

75
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Okay.

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Now, the vertical altitude to which it climbed, I'm guessing at 25,000 feet.

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Uh-huh.

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That's purely a guess.

79
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And then it went kind of southwest, which is a little west of me.

80
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You know, I started to say due south, but it was probably a little bit southwest.

81
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Right.

82
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Okay.

83
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It looked like it went all into Florida to me.

84
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Okay.

85
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Did you pick up any sound at all?

86
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No.

87
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Okay.

88
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Never did notice any sound.

89
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That was a curious thing about it.

90
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Right.

91
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Okay.

92
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:03,800
And were you alone at the time, sir?

93
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No.

94
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My wife saw the same thing, and one of the neighbors, the little boy was outside and

95
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I said, hey, have you dead?

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Come out and take a look at this.

97
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And he came out and saw it as the vapor trail was going south.

98
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And still vapor, I mean, still smoke vertically.

99
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Okay.

100
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Now, how long did that, the smoker vapor trail remain in the sky?

101
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About how long?

102
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I don't know.

103
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I'm trying to think now.

104
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Oh, the vertical trail faded out, I'd say, in four or five minutes.

105
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The vapor trail behind the object was gone in a couple of minutes as it faded out.

106
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Okay.

107
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Wouldn't that be very unusual at that altitude for any type of jet vapor trail?

108
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I don't know.

109
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All or not as long as you can get jet vapor trails from 15,000 up.

110
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Depending upon the temperature up there.

111
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Depending on a lot of factors.

112
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Right.

113
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Well, count.

114
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Again, I first was guessing it was a little higher than that, but the fact that I could

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see the object with a naked eye gave me the indication it was lower than I first judged.

116
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Yes.

117
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So I'm taking hindsight here.

118
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Okay.

119
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How are the sky conditions?

120
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Clear.

121
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Okay.

122
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All right, sir, where did you get our number again?

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From the Flight Service Center in Alma, Georgia.

124
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Okay.

125
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I'm a private pilot, so that was the reason I called them and see if they had anything

126
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on it.

127
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Right.

128
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But I've met with the Flight FAA in Douglas, Georgia, or Flight Service Center in Douglas,

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Alma, Georgia.

130
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Okay.

131
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Well, sir, we sure appreciate this again, and we'll check it out.

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And if we come up with any more information on this, we'll get back to you and let you

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know.

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So I didn't think I was reporting an unidentified object when I first asked them about it, but

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then after I told them what I'd seen, they asked me to call you.

136
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Right.

137
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You're in Washington?

138
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Yes, sir.

139
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Okay.

140
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Certainly enjoyed talking to you, and I, as I say, I'm kind of curious about what this

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is.

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By the way, there's one other factor I ought to mention to you that when I mentioned this

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to some of the flight instructor, he said that he'd seen what looked like a silo off

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up in that area, or he thought it was something public government.

145
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Uh-huh.

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And so he'd never seen anything come out of it, but just spotted it on the ground.

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It looked strange to him.

148
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Now, he'd never flown directly over it.

149
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I've got here if you want to ask him about that.

150
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Okay.

151
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All right.

152
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When Mr. First told me about this, immediately I associated it with something that looks

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like a silo in flying toward Macon, Georgia, from Hazelhurst.

154
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Uh-huh.

155
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Now, I'm not sure it's a government installation, but from the air, and I've never seen it from

156
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the ground.

157
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Right.

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From the air, it looks like an area that's enclosed in a pretty heavy chain link fence,

159
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and in the center of it, it looked like some type of silo.

160
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So when he mentioned it, I first thought of that.

161
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I thought maybe they were testing something in that area.

162
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Yes.

163
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So that's about all I can link to this thing.

164
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Okay.

165
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I didn't see the object.

166
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Okay.

167
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I think we should appreciate that bit of information.

168
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Uh-huh.

169
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All right, sir.

170
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Well, thank you again, and thanks for again.

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And if we get anything on this, we'll get back to you and let you know.

172
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Yeah, it's quite interesting.

173
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We'd certainly like to know what it was.

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Right.

175
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Thank you a lot, here.

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Thank you.

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Bye.