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''© Copyright 2009 The Examiner''
[[File:File1 blacktriangle2-350.gif|thumb|right|]]
[[File:Downtownnevadacity.jpg|thumb|right|Downtown Nevada City, Ca.]]
[[File:Map1-450(2).gif|thumb|right|Nevada City, Ca. map]]
[[File:Map2-450(1).gif|thumb|right|Nevada City, Ca. street map]]
== The Article ==
By Roger Marsh
UFO Examiner 

A second UFO chase report is coming out of Nevada City, California, after a witness reported seeing a close range triangular-shaped craft with three white lights at its three points and a single red light at its center at 10 p.m. PST on March 17.

The object was twice the size of what appeared to be an F-18 following between 100 and 300 yards behind, according to witness testimony logged into the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

Nevada City is about 25 miles from Beale Air Force Base.

Another group of witnesses at Long Beach, CA, reported a saucer-shaped, controlled craft maneuvering near the coast very close to the Seal Beach Navy Weapons Station at about 7 p.m. PST on March 17. More than 10 helicopters appeared to give chase. 

Following is the compete and unedited witness account from the triangular-shaped report from last evening.

'''CA, March 17, 2009 -''' Triangular shaped craft emitting low rumbling sound followed closely by an F18.

Last night was crystal clear, no wind and about 45 degrees. As always I went for a walk (left house at 9:45PM) through my neighborhood, which normally takes me twenty minutes. At 10:00PM I started hearing a noise that reminded me of a large diesel generator.

Now my neighborhood does not have any streetlights and there was only the occasional driveway light on. I stopped to get better idea as to what the sound came from as it started to get louder.

As on cue all the dogs in the neighborhood went nuts.

Then I saw the blinking lights through the trees. First I thought it was a commercial airliner because its underside was illuminated and it had three blinking white strobe lights and one red one in the center. But the closer the plane got the more unusual things started to look.

"The 'thing' it was following was something different all together." 

First of there was a chase plane and I assume based on wing profile that it was an F-18 following at an extremely close distance. (My elevation is 3200ft. and I would guess the objects to be at about 6-7000ft). The plane followed at between 100 to 300 yards mostly directly behind and sometimes slightly to the right as they were passing me from left to right pretty much right above me. The F-18 had two white strobes, one on each wingtip, otherwise no illumination.

The "thing" it was following was something different all together.

===Triangular-shaped twice the size of the chase plane===

It was triangular in shape yet somewhat blurry. I could not see clean edges. It was about twice the size of the chase plane. The whole underside was illuminated by a cream colored warm light. There was one bright light at each corner that also acted as a strobe light but only visible from below. There was one red strobe in the center of the craft.

Airspeed was that of a single engine prop plane which is the only type to fly this low around here. Any type of jet traffic is usually in the 30 000ft range except for the occasional fighter from Beale AFB and they only fly during the day. As they flew right above me the diesel sound (a pulsed rumble) was the loudest, the dogs still barking like mad. I could clearly see the outline of the chase plane against the starlit sky but the outline of the triangle remained blurred.

===Flying Slow===

As they past I could finally hear the sound of the jet engines from the F-18 even though at very low throttle. I wondered what the stall speed of an F-18 is because they were flying so slow, but I never heard the engine pitch change as long as I could see them.

The sound from the lead object also never changed but was still audible long after they were out of sight. The dogs went quiet as soon as I could no longer hear them, which surprised me a bit since dogs generally hear much better then us. But from start to the end they seemed to hear what and when I heard it. The only other time that I have unusual things in the night sky is with my Gen.II night vision goggles but that is a different story all together.

One last thing. With out checking by compass, I estimate that they were flying South maybe South/West.

===Editor's Note===

Nevada City is northeast of San Francisco in Nevada County, with a population at the 2,000 census of 3,001. Beale Air Force Base is about 25 miles southwest.

The reports you are reading about here are raw accounts and may be under investigation by MUFON. If assigned and I get a follow up to this case, it will be reported on.

March 19 update: A reader kindly pointed out that the U.S. Air Force does not fly F-18s. My limited military background. The headline has been corrected to a generic "military" so that I cover any of our armed forces flying the skies. And most recently I referred to a Petty Officer Second Class in a headline as an officer - and it was quickly pointed out that Petty Officers are not officers. While I find that strange, I'm not aruging with the experts. Another correction. 



== Credits ==

Special thanks to The Examiner.


== External Links ==

* [http://www.examiner.com/x-2363-UFO-Examiner~y2009m3d18-Airforce-busy-chasing-CA-UFOs-March-17 Original The Examiner Article]

[[Category:UFO_Newspaper_Clippings]]