climberrn
Well Known Member
On Sunday my wife and I were flying from KSTS to KCXP direct, at about 9,500. Autopilot on, smooth air, talking to Oakland center for VFR advisories. About 10 miles east of KAUN, Oakland called out traffic near my elevation, when we finally saw it pass under us a couple hundred feet headed south it appeared to be a white canard, but seemed too small, and just didn't look right. Didn't think too much about it. Notified OK ctr "not a factor."
About a minute later, my wife yells "what's that" and points to 11 o clock and grabs the stick. I saw it just before it passed under our left wing. Close enough to shake me up. We promptly notified OK ctr, and they didn't have it on radar. I got a pretty poor look at it, but the best I can tell it was a few feet across, dark shinny blue and black with a dome on top. The dome appeared the size of a soccer ball, but shinny and smooth. Thought it was a quad copter, but could have been a short fixed wing.
We were 4-5k agl, and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. The nearest town or road was miles away. Looked on the FAA site about reporting it further, but could not find out how. Probably a mood point now. We always try to fly 9-11k feet just to avoid instances like this.
Spoke with a friend that used to fly FPV electric fixed wing planes a few thousand feet AGL, and up to 35 miles away. I know..., we had a talk about that several years ago, and he doesn't do that anymore. He was not aware of any hobby quad copter types that have that much range. Military, surveying???
Just wanted to vent, and share my experience.
About a minute later, my wife yells "what's that" and points to 11 o clock and grabs the stick. I saw it just before it passed under our left wing. Close enough to shake me up. We promptly notified OK ctr, and they didn't have it on radar. I got a pretty poor look at it, but the best I can tell it was a few feet across, dark shinny blue and black with a dome on top. The dome appeared the size of a soccer ball, but shinny and smooth. Thought it was a quad copter, but could have been a short fixed wing.
We were 4-5k agl, and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. The nearest town or road was miles away. Looked on the FAA site about reporting it further, but could not find out how. Probably a mood point now. We always try to fly 9-11k feet just to avoid instances like this.
Spoke with a friend that used to fly FPV electric fixed wing planes a few thousand feet AGL, and up to 35 miles away. I know..., we had a talk about that several years ago, and he doesn't do that anymore. He was not aware of any hobby quad copter types that have that much range. Military, surveying???
Just wanted to vent, and share my experience.