The Black Vault - Mysterious UFO identified

Mysterious UFO identified

WILTON — A flying object — one Wilton resident couldn't identify Monday night — turned out to be a low-flying blimp heading towards Fenway Park.

Teresa Sweeney, who lives on Thunder Lake Road in Georgetown, was perplexed by a triangular object that floated over her home at approximately 11:15 p.m. on Monday.

As Sweeney pulled into her driveway, she heard white noise, or what sounded like a vacuum, from outside. She thought it was a neighbor's Halloween decoration, but when she got out of the car, she heard the sound coming from a low-flying, triangular kite-shaped object above.

"It had to be above the tree line, but not by much," she said.

Sweeney woke her husband, Stephen, and together they watched the object hover across the sky, coming from Redding and heading toward Ridgefield. It had three to five green and red flashing lights on each side, she said. After about five minutes, the Sweeneys went inside without taking any pictures or calling anyone.

Wilton police said no one else reported seeing the object, but Redding police got a call at about 10:30 p.m. regarding a low-flying blimp in Georgetown.
"Somebody who called thought it might be in distress," said Redding police chief Douglas Fuchs, "but we didn't have any information about that."

Fuchs said his department called Bradley International Airport to ask about the blimp. They were told blimps are allowed to fly as low as 500 feet overhead, and they don't have to file their flight paths or maintain radio contact with anyone.

Matthew Kelly, operations coordinator at Waterbury Oxford airport, said the blimp was heading into the Northeast for the first game of the World Series on Wednesday night.

"It was just fighting the wind the whole way," Kelly said, "and with weather, if you get lower to the ground, you're not in the high, high winds."

The blimp stopped for fuel and rest in Brainard airport in Hartford until Wednesday morning, when it took off and headed for Fenway Park in Boston. Barry Pallanck, an assistant airport administrator at Brainard, said it originated in Tampa but flies all over the country for sporting events.

The Lightship Group, based in Orlando, Fla., operates the blimp, which advertises DirectTV, Pallanck said. The group also flies a Hood blimp over Fenway Park during the year, according to the company's Web site. A spokesman for the Lightship Group was not immediately available for comment.

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said it's not uncommon for blimps to park on the grass of Brainard.

"Normal operation," he said. "Nothing unusual about it."

http://www.wiltonvillager.com/wilton_templates/wilton_story/290141780611001.php

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