Today, October 7, 2009, at about 10:48, my wife and I were north driving along 32nd Avenue NE, near Barlow Trail, in Calgary, Alberta, when we - first I, then she also - saw a plane that appeared to be hovering in the sky. It was to our right, pointing south, and its profile was such that we could see the whole length of it. It seemed like a commercial airplane, with gray-blue colours, but no particular logo on it - even though it was big enough and close enough that we could have seen one if there was one.
It did not move at all, and for at least one minute I saw it stay in the same spot, as we drove on. I must mention again that it was pointing south, while we were travelling north, so I do not think that this was due in any way to our driving at about the same speed parallel to it. Again, recall that we were driving in the opposite direction from its supposed direction of flight.
After a minute or so of my observing it, and pointing it out to my wife, she also saw it, for an elapsed interval of at least 10 seconds, in-between trying to drive safely. She was also convinced that it was not moving. I did not hear any sound from it either. I do not think that the fact that we were in a car had all that much to do with hearing no sound from it, by the way, because, that close, we would have heard something.
Now, the area where we saw this airplane is close to Calgary airport, alright, but definitely not along any of the approach or takeoff paths that commercial planes take to or from the Calgary airport. I know, because I have often observed these planes' paths in NE Calgary close to my former college, as well as close to my residence.
I do not know what this was, or what it was all about, but my wife's research into the possibilities seem to be leading to something about waiting for air traffic control by balancing certain aerodynamic forces. Well, I tried to explain to my wife (and I do have some considerable university-level knowledge of physics and mathematics) that: some force would need to be balancing the force of gravity in order for the plane to stay up in the sky; that if the explanation (she was being given in some websites) that the horizontal forces were being balanced out were to be considered, then we would not have a net horizontal motion to help keep the plane from falling.
Right now, I am certain that what we saw has not yet been explained, and I want technical - I mean, really technical, though simple English - explanations that would rule out this conclusion.
Meanwhile, I am also considering having someone (or myself, who knows) search the catalogue of planes that took off or landed at Calgary airport within the relevant time frame, to see if any of them fit the description reasonably closely - and if they followed any flight path that included that spot (to within one kilometre, even) and at that time (even to within ten minutes). In this connection, I must say that the visual descriptions of the plane that I saw very much match the descriptions given by others on this forum: dull gray blue.
Thanks for the opportunity to post this information. I hope to follow it up with any technical information that I come up with to help explain the phenomenon (if it is explainable). Finally, I wish to state that everything I have said here is as I remember it, and I am willing to repeat this under oath - if I am permitted to say so, here.
