Why are Starlink "Racetrack" Flares [Mostly] Reported from Planes?

I've just seen this one... could it be Starlink again...?


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1csc0o6/ufo_spotted_on_flight_to_newark_nj/?share_id=lRVI-CHO_ZCPaxlTqji3T&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1


I was on a flight from San Juan, PR to Newark, Nj on 05/14/2024. Flight was UAL2036. It was 10:05-10:10pm and the flight was a bit away from reaching land in NJ-NY. The flight was around 7000 feet up going around 300 MPH. I looked outside the window at the time because we were told to get ready for landing. I saw a bright light outside in the distance. Couldn’t tell you approximate distance but did not seem fairly close. I made sure to check if it was a reflection from the inside cabin, it was not. The flight showed up in the bottom left view of my window, it seemed to move up and to the right where it was ahead of the plane wing. It dropped down and went back to where it started. Another light appeared right next to it and was glowing a bit brighter. A third light appeared from the right and went towards to the other two on the left. At this point the second light that randomly appeared on the left disappeared, the other two dimmed a bit and disappeared as well after another minute.

So while this was happening I did take video in which you can see the lights. Due to the lack of quality in dark spaces and the reflection of the window and humidity inside the cabin, its not the most high quality stuff but you can see the movements of the light. I tried to google the flight radar info to check in maybe there was a flight flying towards the plane at a different direction but was not able to pull it up. I also tried to be mindful of the movement of the plane in regards to the movement of the light. I would say the plane was not making a drastic movements while this was happening as you can kinda see the horizon light below the clouds in the video.

Would like some thoughts on what this might be. Please disregard any gramatical errors made, I was trying to write down everything quickly.

Link to video


Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-XWqsaQqSK5u_6-cEsfAKGjSAl0fBrFy/view?usp=drivesdk


Edit:

Flight date was 05/14/2024


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Seems to be in the right place, right time, for Starlink flares

(@Mick West - sitrec doesn't seem to be 1) showing the flare band and 2) showing flare-arrows when using the kml as the camera position source)

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(@Mick West - sitrec doesn't seem to be 1) showing the flare band and 2) showing flare-arrows when using the kml as the camera position source)
Oops! I've been making some significant "improvements" to the code, which invariably have side-effects. I'll fix this ASAP.
 
Oops! I've been making some significant "improvements" to the code, which invariably have side-effects. I'll fix this ASAP.
Should be fixed. I could not duplicate #2, but it might be a side effect of other things I fixed. If it's still happening, please post the KML and how you make it happen.
 
I think I had the time wrong, used the last saved metadata time rather than the created time. that puts the aircraft much further on in its flight and therefore unlikely to be Starlink flares.


1000113761.jpg
 
Starting to see short vids like this crop up on FaceBook short videos. Noticing the phenomenon is spreading, so far most I've seen seem to be open to an interesting if non-paranormal explanation, that it is Starlink satellites flaring.


https://www.facebook.com/reel/3712535562369612
 
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Another NUFORC Report

https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=180458

NUFORC Sighting 180458​

Occurred: 2024-02-16 21:15 Local
Reported: 2024-02-16 22:59 Pacific
Duration: 90 minutes
No of observers: 3 - Pilot - Aviation Expert

Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Location details: 50NM South of Morgantown (MGW) VOR

Shape: Light
Color: White, red, orange
Estimated Size: Undetermined
Viewed From: Aircraft
Direction from Viewer: 300
Angle of Elevation: 10
Closest Distance: >150nm
Estimated Speed: Mach 2.5
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

8 Lights Moving in counter clockwise pattern with other lights making passes through and below the formation

I am the captain of a scheduled Part 121 air carrier. The event was witnessed by my First Officer and one Flight Attendant. En route from New York LGA to Memphis MEM, 50nm South of Morgantown MGW VOR, at 34,000ft, three lights appeared in a triangular formation. They were intermittently appearing and disappearing while moving in a counter clockwise pattern, vertically.

There were also two lights very close together in a right echelon formation making passes through the larger formation at a very high rate of speed, at least Mach 2.5. Various other lights appeared around the formation moving in different directions.

The lights appeared in red, orange, white, and yellow colors, but never changed color. Up to 8 lights were seen at one time. The lights were on a 300 bearing from our aircraft as we tracked roughly 270 degrees, varying in altitude from 2.5 degrees below the horizon to 10 degrees above the horizon.

We watched these lights continue to behave in such a manner for around 90 minutes, until we descended to a lower altitude. There were several other aircraft (at least 6) reporting the lights, as far West as Cheyenne Wyoming. I flew this same route the previous night, departing about one hour later, and did not see any lights on that flight. This is the 5th time that I have observed lights similar to these, and the 2nd time that my First Officer witnessed them. I was also with him the first time that he witnessed them.

NUFORC Note:
We spoke at length via telephone wiith this pilot, and we found hm to be quite sincere and sober-minded.

1716544614601.png

"Occurred: 2024-02-16 21:15 Local - En route from New York LGA to Memphis MEM, 50nm South of Morgantown MGW VOR,"

This is the plane. I have filtered for planes on the route LGA-MEM and played back after midnight UTC on 17 Feb 2024. The nav beacon MGW is visible at the top of the map. Pilot said the lights occured 50nm south of MGW, which puts the time at 0219UTC.
1716545055942.png

The Kml is attached. I put the kml into sitrec and played back the flight. They were right in the middle of the starlink flare band as they flew west. Flares would have been visible in their one o'clock position just above the horizon.

The lights were on a 300 bearing from our aircraft as we tracked roughly 270 degrees, varying in altitude from 2.5 degrees below the horizon to 10 degrees above the horizon.

https://www.metabunk.org/u/kAT82B.html
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Note that the pilot said:
I flew this same route the previous night, departing about one hour later, and did not see any lights on that flight.

FlightRadar24 shows that the day-before flight was actually 1h30m later...
1716545664620.png

This puts the plane outside of the Starlink flare band for much of the flight, and all of the time at cruising altitude.

https://www.metabunk.org/u/CRqEWa.html
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"varying in altitude from 2.5 degrees below the horizon to 10 degrees above the horizon."

They were right in the middle of the starlink flare band as they flew west. Flares would have been visible in their one o'clock position just above the horizon.
Your "horizon" being the conical one of normie-speak, their "horizon" being the local horizontal. (And given that "2.5 degrees below horizontal" is unambiguous but "2.5 degrees below the horizon" isn't, I really think the pilots made a terrible choice in nomenclature. But that's an aside coming from someone who prefers precision and clarity in technical communication.)

Another digression - the "2.5 degrees below" got me wondering how far below horizontal a pilot may see the horizon (muahahah):
Code:
? acos(6380/(6380+10))*180/Pi
%112 = 3.2
 
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A new NUFORC report: https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=182083

NUFORC UFO Sighting 182083​

Occurred: 2024-06-11 00:31 Local
Reported: 2024-06-28 18:50 Pacific
Duration: 50 minutes
No of observers: 3 - Pilot - Military

Location: , , Unspecified
Location details: While flying from N24 24.6 W144 59.2 on a course of 054 degrees to N26 59.7 W138 12.3 at 35,000

Shape: Orb
Color: White
Estimated Size: Unknown
Viewed From: Aircraft
Direction from Viewer: 330-360
Angle of Elevation: 10
Closest Distance: Unknown
Estimated Speed: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted other objects

Lights in low earth orbit illuminating brightly then fading, staying stationary, then moving in multiple directions, then orbiting

While flying between Latitude / Longitude coordinates stated above in the location details, and at FL350 between 0831 Zulu time and 0921 Zulu time, myself and 2 other pilots observed multiple unexplained orbs of light at our 830-1000 o’clock position, roughly in the direction of the Alaskan Aleutian Islands In reference to constellations, these UAPs were on a line drawn from the handle of the Big Dipper, intersecting through the bottom right corner of the dipper’s spoon and observed roughly half the distance of the entire Big Dipper constellation away from the bottom right corner along the described line. All observations reported below were located between 5 and 20 degrees of elevation in the northern sky.

The observation started with a single stationary orb of light resembling a star, which slowly increased in illumination to the brightest light in the night sky. Twice over the duration of this event, some orbs of light illuminated to possibly the brightest light I’ve ever witnessed while watching the night sky. This interval was roughly 7 seconds. After the second observation of this event I began timing the intervals between observations, and the first 3-4 events timed at approximately 45 seconds. Multiple observations that followed were at irregular intervals between 5 seconds and 2 minutes. This was followed by an observation of a second orb slightly below and to the left, exhibiting similar behavior by increasing and decreasing illumination intensity. The maximum range of intensity varied as well as the maximum and minimum illumination during the course of observation. I was initially cautious in my observation believing there was undetectable weather phenomenon obscuring or altering our view such as high level cirrus clouds or other cloud formations on the far northern horizon. After minimizing any remaining light pollution in the cockpit, cross-referencing weather reported by onboard systems (to include enhanced vision systems) with air traffic control, and utilizing unaugmented vision through naked eye observation - it was concluded by all 3 pilots that there was not any weather obstructing our view of the phenomenon. We discussed our observations over our many years of many similar looking space related events such as geo-stationary and rotating satellites, star-link satellites, iridium satellite flashes, reflections from space debris, rocket launches and booster separations, military missile testing, etc. As we continued our observations, we quickly ruled out the aforementioned events. The orbs of light began moving rapidly along straight lines but at different degrees of elevation from left to right across the sky. The lights would then lose intensity and start again from the original observation point. At one point a a total of 7 orbs of light, in different degrees of elevation from the horizon were observed at the same time, sometimes all at the same level of illumination, and sometimes at varying degrees of intensity. I’d estimated the speed to be between 2-4 times the speed of an observable satellite. At different times through the event, the lights would both become stationary and/or move in the opposite direction from right to left. At 3 different times the orb movement deviated from what we originally witnessed as straight line movements, to abrupt changes in elevation, to smooth changes in linear movement from straight line to a curved path. At one point it appeared that a single orb of light while at a high level of illumination had 2-3 other dimmer orbs of light accelerate away from it at a very high rate of speed..
I was absolutely amazed at the randomness of the event, the unexplained behaviors, the change from stationary to fluid movements, to rapid accelerations, and the degree at which multiple objects appeared or disappeared and on so many different planes of elevation and azimuth. The only resemblance of a pattern within the time of observed lights came in the last 8-10 minutes of observation when 5 orbs of light entered a racetrack orbit, with varying degrees of light intensity. To rule out the possibility that these objects were closer than estimated such as 45,000-70,000 feet and 100-300 miles away, Air Traffic control was queried a second time as we neared the western coast about any radar-indicated traffic in the vicinity of observation and none were reported.
From my experience I’d estimate that these objects were either in low-earth orbit near the polar region or even much further into space. All 3 observers are highly trained, highly experienced commercial international airline pilots, including 2 retired combat military aviators, with over 40,000 hours of combined flying experience.
A new NUFORC report: https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=182083
Content from External Source
Location: 24.410000, -144.986667
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Time 2024-06-11 00:31 Local = 10:31 UTC

Flight was this 737, ASA894 from Kailua-Kona to San Diego. I filtered FlightRadar24 for flights at 35,00 over the pacific at the time of the sighting. I confirmed this below by checking the co-ordinates of the sighting.
1720004791183.png

Their route goes straight through the reported waypoint above. KML is attached.
1720005416894.png

Recreated in Sitrec:
1720005207593.png

I'm trying to get a permalink on Sitrec but it doesnt seem to want to.
 
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