An Ottawa pilot thinks he has an explanation for a hovering disk seen near Ottawa north of I-35 Sunday afternoon. However, an 18-year-old Homewood man said he also saw exactly the same disk in the same location -- but a year before.
The Overland Park man was driving south on I-35 about five to 10 miles northeast of Ottawa early Sunday afternoon when he saw an white-silver spherical object, which he described as a quarter at arm's length.
The quarter-like object tilted until it was on edge and then vanished, he said.
The Ottawa pilot has suggested one explanation for the sighting. Three pilots who use Ottawa Municipal Airport have older or home-built small airplanes with unpainted aluminum fuselages and who often fly on nice weekends, he said.
Such highly-reflective airplanes could been seen as a bright light in the sky that suddenly vanishes, depending on the sunlight, a viewer's perspective and the type of turn an airplane makes, he said.
However, the Homewood man said he doubts the airplane theory. The man, who like the Overland Park man asked to remain unidentified but said his name and phone number could be provided to investigators, said he plans to join the U.S. Air Force and enjoys watching the sky. He said he is familiar with airplanes.
"This wasn't an airplane," he said.
The Homewood man said he saw an silvery object in July 2006 while he was southbound along I-35, in almost the same spot. The details of the two sightings are similar but the Homewood man described the object as more oval and it vanished almost immediately after he spotted it. He told a passenger in his car but she didn't see it because it vanished so quickly.
He said he didn't mention it until he saw a newspaper account of the sighting this weekend by the Overland Park man.
Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis said it's rare for his department to receive individual unidentified flying object reports and when his office receives such reports, they come in clusters and can be explained by meteors, the northern lights or other prosaic phenomena.
A Kansas investigator for MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, a national group that collects and investigates UFO sightings and activities, said it's rare for his group to receive reports about UFOs seen during daylight hours.
The Homewood man also said he's had another experience earlier this month. Shortly after 2 a.m. July 5 at his home, he was in his backyard looking at the stars with a family member and the family dog.
He said he was watching a pinpoint of light slowly crossing the sky high overhead. He said he was sure the object was a satellite.
However, the spot of light stopped, stayed stationary and then suddenly ripped across the sky in another direction at what appeared to be a high rate of speed, he said.
About a week later in his backyard, he said saw a pinpoint of light behaving in the same manner.
(Original headline: Pilot offers earthly explanation for UFO sighting )
