Writing this while very fresh. Happened around 8pm eastern 5/3/2022
I was outside on my porch just enjoying the nice weather. Looked up around sunset to see a jet flying high (probably cruising 30k+feet) leaving a contrail. Nothing unusual there.
But then I noticed something behind it. The jet was shining and reflecting sunlight as I would expect this time of evening, but there was something completely black, about half the size as best I could tell, and trailing it about a thumbs length behind by my perspective. At first I thought it was a bird at a lower altitude that happened to cross the path. But I looked closer and it was definitely not that. It was as high as the the jet and definitely following it. It followed same exact path for well over a minute, which would have been miles at cruising speed at that altitude.
Then the black object flashed bright. And I thought, it must have just caught the sun and been another plane (following, no contrail?). But then it disappeared completely. I scanned the whole area for the black dot and it was gone. Then, about 10-30 seconds later it show up again, still behind the jet about the same distance, and flashed brighter for about a second, then disappeared entirely. All the while the jet it was tracking chugged along making the same contrail that just now as I type this has faded. The black follower object never made any contrail, even though the atmosphere right now is such that every plane I see is making a big one.
Just wanted to put this out there while fresh.
Nice!
A daytime sighting!!
Thanks for sharing. Where are you?
In Virginia near the West VA border, Craig Co.
