Appearance / Description of Object(s)

The formation was like an irregular letter "M" being spread open -- similar to the constellation Cassiopeia, though not so open. The formation consisted of from 12 to 16 very faint glosing orange lights, outlining the edges of this shape, like a formation of gliding birds -- glowing, orange-light birds.

Size of Object(s)

No way of estimating

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

No way of estimating

Description of Area / Surroundings

Just a few hundred yards east of the beach in New Smyrna Beach, Florida -- a fairly highly developed tourist area, filled with hotels and small beach homes.

Full Description & Details

I was standing in my yard, facing north, at 9:26 EDT, when I heard the engine of a small plane overhead. I looked up and saw the flashing light of a small plane moving more-or-less NNE to SSW, consistent with the sound of the plane engine. The plane was fairly low and was flying toward me, causing me to lean back and bend my head back. I watched it for only 2 or 3 seconds -- only long enough to see if I could locate it from the sound. As I started to move my head forward again, I saw, above the level of the airplane (which already had left my field of view), a formation of faint, pale orange lights moving in almost exactly the opposite direction -- that is, SSW to NNE.

The formation was like an irregular letter "M" being spread open -- similar to the constellation Cassiopeia, though not so open. The formation consisted of from 12 to 16 such lights, outlining the edges of this shape. There was no sound at all -- total quiet, and the formation glided quietly but quickly across the sky.

The sky generally was cloudless -- at least in the area of this formation; and, other than seeing it was above the level of the small plane that had just flown over, I had no frame of reference to estimate its size, altitude, or speed. But the speed and the quiet, combined, created strong impressions.

The speed with which it crossed the sky created the impression that it was quite low -- but it had been at least higher than the small plane, and the total silence causes me to question if it really could have been that low. On the other hand -- again reacting to the silence -- it seemed to be moving just too fast, and be too big, to be so high that there would be no noise at all.

The overall impression was like a formation of birds gliding overhead -- but they would have to be birds that glowed with a faint orange light. I tried to imagine it as a cloud in the "open M" shape, somehow light from underneath, but it moved entirely too quickly to have been a cloud.

My total sighting of this formation lasted for perhaps 10 seconds, after which the faint lights faded into the ambient glow from the lights in the town.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

I can't think of anything. I considered birds or a cloud, but the formation moved entirely too quickly.

Witness Background

60-year old attorney.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I haven't formed an opinion. I've never been prepared to say there's nothing out there but us, but neither can I deny that we can't possibly know every possible natural explanation. I just don't know.

Reported Sighting? 

Reported To: 

Name: