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Introduction On Data
Reliability		 Analysis
Methodologies		 A Scientific WFM Observatory Explanatory
Hypotheses		 Conclusion

Available Video Footage
 Trollstigen1 Jul 2018
YouTube: adRsfMwpnQk★★☆☆☆
 Queen Valley (AZ)5 Apr 2018
YouTube: 4KeZ7Pzbd9U★★★★☆
 Suchá14 Oct 2017
YouTube: lnIUh2bPxu0★★★★★
 Crucea de Piatră3 Oct 2017
YouTube: P-iFx3VIiQ0★★★★★
 Crucea de Piatră14 Sep 2017
YouTube: mWvP3QG18v0★★★★☆
 Fort St. John (BC)3 Sep 2017
YouTube: d3ajks8OHCo★★★★★
 Weert25 May 2017
YouTube: h0s_P74oQD4★★★★☆
 Port Tabacco (MD)18 Mar 2017
YouTube: 2wII24qSpDw★★★★☆
 Volgograd (VGG)18 Mar 2017
YouTube: _p_inSwZcPQ★★★☆☆
 Charles Town (WV)Feb 2017
YouTube: JJpSYozvasc★★★★☆
 RugeleySummer 2016
YouTube: mgrI0MHZQQc★★★☆☆
 New York City (NY)Jul 2016
YouTube: QGKkhZE2Fk0★★☆☆☆
 Ayden (NC)16 Oct 2016
YouTube: 6BUA6zdbgEE★★★★☆
 Nueva Talcuna24 Mar 2016
YouTube: O9R1wMq0VOI★★☆☆☆
 Maryland Point (MD)12 Dec 2015
YouTube: 9P2A8m7RgnA★★★★★
 Sion13 Nov 2015
YouTube: dNrtU1z_5EQ★★★☆☆
 Westbury26 Sep 2015
YouTube: VjW_QyXtyHA★★★★★

 Ayden (NC), 16 Oct 2016


 Abstract  The object travels significantly too fast to be an animal or model airplane. Weather conditions and viewing angle are very good for seeing the object approaching in a straight or almost completely straight line and to analyse its speed employing the common methodology. Despite the fast speed estimate, which is consistent with the objects visibility and trajectory, the smear effect in later frames is not as significant as in other cases. Favorable lighting conditions are one reason for this, another reason is that the drone from the DJI Phantom 3 series uses a superior camera sensor with shorter shutter time compared to most other drones from my list of cases. Other cases that were recorded with this drone model substantiate this. The video's originator provides good background information about himself and this particular footage. This case was widely discussed and its first upload has over 420,000 views on YouTube (May 2018).


Video Info
Source:YouTube.com/watch?v=6BUA6zdbgEE
User:mjlstudios1 I Fly DJI 
Published:27 Oct 2016
Resolution:2160p
Frame rate:30fps
Drone model: DJI Phantom 3 Pro
Files: archived original description and comments on YouTube
Content Info
Viewpoint*: 35.495864, -77.431447goo.gl/maps/pB3XjAzzLHm
Time†: 16 Oct 2016 14:00 (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
Weather: 26°C, 1021.9hPa, 51% humid., 7.4 km/h wind SSEmore 
Object Analysis Results
Appears in frames:933 to 956 (00:31:100 to 00:31:867 m:s:ms)
First/last appearance*:(35.485361, -77.424444)  /  (35.495028, -77.431361)
Object's direction:SE to NW
Passed distance:1.25km (52.08m per frame)
Traveling speed:5625km/hReview methodology for this estimate


Background, Reliability and Quality of the Data

This video is one of the most famous cases of possible white fast movers (WFM). As of today (27 May 2018), the video has 420,876 views on YouTube. The video has seemingly been referred to and linked by other media but I cannot explain how exactly it got so popular. However, the originator's channel has only 99 subscribers right now. He uploads about a fistful of videos per month since April 2012 and his list of videos is a mix of drone footage, other somewhat unrelated video documentation of rather personal events with, allegedly and seemingly, friends or family, as well as some technical filming and film making experiments. All in all, his channel shows some indications of being a hobby project of someone who likes to play around with filming equipment and its processing for various purposes. The informative and well-done editing of the footage (e.g. commenting on the object's path of travel, show different frame rates) supports the perception of his introductory acquaintance with film editing. Furthermore, he provides a personal description about himself, which supports this view:

I am a man of faith with a strong belief in God the Father, Jesus the Christ and Holy Spirit. I am a son, a father, a grandfather, a husband, brother and uncle. I am a retired USAF veteran who became totally disabled due to my career field in ACC. (Air Combat Command) I am also retired as a fast food franchise owner, Photography and recording studio owner. I spend my time as a remote pilot flying my professional aerial cameras producing commercials, info clips, crop surveys and speaking at events while demonstrating my aircrafts.(youtube.com/user/mjlstudios1/about on 27 May 2018)

He provides detailed additional information about the footage and reacted very responsive towards questions for further background information. Regarding this footage he claims that he filed a UFO report with MUFON and they notified NASA and sent them a copy of the video. The video is under investigation and analysis work is being performed on it bu both agencies. (original video comment, retrieved on 27 May 2018) However, neither a MUFON case number, nor any indication of a response from MUFON or NASA are provided. Furthermore, it is important to note that his face is clearly visible in some videos on the channel. Commenting on the discussion at YouTube, he writes:

UFO does not mean alien, extraterrestrial, spaceship or anything other than unidentified flying object! (UFO), Let me rephrase this.... there was an object...it was flying.... did not recognize what the object was...unidentified flying object...(UFO). I don't want you to think I'm an ass...but I have had death threats because of this video! (comment on youtu.be/6BUA6zdbgEE, retrieved in Dec 2017)

He does not aim to sensationalize his footage by branding the UFO as more than it is. These aspects let me conclude that the reliability of his case is rather high, meaning that the footage is very likely not the result of tampering to create a hoax.

Due to favorable weather conditions, in particular bright sunlight, and good hardware, the footage is of very good quality, in particular with its high resolution (2160p).

Smear Effect

The object seemingly approaches from the far distance and shows the typical appearance of an extremely fast moving object with a roughly constant altitude over the ground. Figure 1 shows an enlarged stabilized view on the last eight frames in which the object is in sight. A specific peculiarity of this capture is that the object despite its fast travel speed does only weakly exemplify the smear effect of the object in the last frames with the object in sight. However, this footage was shot with a DJI Phantom 3 Pro and other cases (e.g. VjW_QyXtyHA, O9R1wMq0VOI) that were shot with a DJI Phantom 3 Pro or DJI Phantom 3 show the similiar feature in comparison with later models from DJI. The reason may be that the camera sensor of these models have a shorter effective shutter time. Contrary to other drone models from DJI, the DJI Phantom 3 (Pro) uses a camera sensor from Sony. (see Analysis Methodology#Smear Effect due to Long Shutter Time for a comparison of the used cameras).

(click images to start/stop animation)
Fig 1. Enlarged, looped animation of last frames.

Linear or Almost Perfectly Linear Trajectory

The object can be unambiguously located in the footage in every frame between 933 and 956. Since the drone moves slowly with a constant speed into one direction roughly towards the object throughout all frames, no stabilization of the footage is necessary for a reliable estimate of the objects trajectory on the two-dimensional projection. In earlier frames the object seems to be not locatable due to its small size and the far distance of it in regard to the camera. Figure 2 shows a detailled analysis of the object's trajectory of travel. As the analysis shows, this is another case of a linear or almost perfectly linear trajectory with a roughly constant altitude over the ground. Only in the first two frames, in which the object can be detected, a slight change of directory might have occurred. This is also a common feature of WMFs that can be seen to approach a drone very directly from a far distance (e.g. 2wII24qSpDw, JJpSYozvasc, VjW_QyXtyHA).

Fig 2. Path analysis (see descriptions in image for details).

Estimation of Speed

As elaborated on at the page about the Methodologies of Analyses, a crucial assumption for a speed estimate is that the object travels on a roughly constant altitude over the ground. With this assumption a rough estimate of the travelled distance is possible (figure 3). The resulting speed of around Mach 4-5 is consistent with the the increasing size of the object. However, the smear effect in the later frames (figure 1) is noticeable but particularly short, which occurs in some other cases of footage shot with a drone from the DJI Phantom 3 series, in a similar way.

Fig 3. Estimate of object's traveled distance.

Weather Conditions

A nearby weather Station is available (see figure A.1 below) and describes a warm and relatively clear autumn afternoon in US' soutwest. This serves as evidence, in addition to many other aspects of the phenomenon of WFMs, that these phenomena are likely not closely related to hailstones or other mundane weather phenomena.

Appendix

Fig A.1. Distance between camera and nearest publicly available weather station at Kinston (NC) Regional Jetport / Stallings Field.

* Geographic coordinates are given as a vector of latitudes and longitudes in format WGS 84 as used by Google maps.

† The detailed point in time of the capture was stated by the originator of the footage.

 
 
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