"Sneeky Pete" Revealed

Also, be careful not to mistake Rutan's "Sneeky Pete" (a modified EZ) and General Dynamics's "Sneaky Pete" (a sub-scale flying-wing demonstrator for the A-12 Avenger II).
 
sublight said:
It was the stealth blimp.

So stealthy it was lit up and visible to the naked eye at night, and so top secret it was flown over a major metropolitan area at at time of night on a "party night" when it was assured that many more people than usual would be outside looking up.
 
Stargazer2006 said:
Also, be careful not to mistake Rutan's "Sneeky Pete" (a modified EZ) and General Dynamics's "Sneaky Pete" (a sub-scale flying-wing demonstrator for the A-12 Avenger II).
Thanks Stargazer, I'll TRY and keep myself straight.... (Memory like a stainless steel sieve, Ya... that'll happen I'm sure ;) )
Actually I'm on rather "familiar" terms with the F107, nice engine as long as you don't actually have to work on it ::)

Orionblamblam wrote:
So stealthy it was lit up and visible to the naked eye at night, and so top secret it was flown over a major metropolitan area at at time of night on a "party night" when it was assured that many more people than usual would be outside looking up.
But of course! How else are you going to be able to tell how well your stealth works unless you count the number of "UFO" reports on a given night?
;D

Randy
 
Apparently another guy saw the same thing as "the artist" last night:
"About 1:05 am June 3, 2010 severe thunder / lightning storm moving in from the Northwest and I saw a single plane like bluish light moving through the very bad lightning and watched it wondering what the heck a plane was doing flying directly through the storm. The storm had to be at least 10 miles away and the light I first saw moving through it was behind it coming towards my direction, but it came on very fast. Fast enough that before I realized it had gotten closer I could see something that at first appeared to be a triangular shape or diamond shaped outline against the approaching storm clouds. It looked like it stopped and I guess made a complete 90 degree turn and then flew right over my head. As it flew over I could distinctly see it was a rectangular shaped craft and see the lines of it's construction as well as markings underneath (couldn't quite make the markings out but they looked like something an aircraft would be marked with). In the center of it I could still make out the bluish light and could lightly see what looked like red squares in each corner and still faintly make out the square outline of the craft but if I hadn't been so curious about seeing a 'plane' flying through a bad lightning storm it pretty much completely blended in with the sky. Doubt anyone else would be able to make it out unless they spotted it by chance and were watching. It was fast and silent. Couldn't estimate how high up it was since I am not sure what type of aircraft you could compare it to but judging by how high it was coming through the storm I'd have to say pretty big for me to see that much detail as it went overhead. Bigger than any kind of aircraft I have ever seen. When I realized I was looking at something strange I went to get my cell phone to take a picture or something but it was way gone. Last heading towards the direction of Galveston Bay. I'm sure it was military. Confident of it. Just had a familiar kind of 'feel' to it as it went overhead. Would love to know what it was though, and would like them to explain how they got that kind of technology in the first place."
 

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Thank you for the comments.

sublight said:
Apparently another guy saw the same thing as "the artist" last night:
"About 1:05 am June 3, 2010 ...

The shapes and movements described are nothing like what I saw. The thing flew straight line at a constant speed.

Orionblamblam said:
The Artist said:
Somewhat rusty-brown-grey looking against the deep blue-green of the night sky.

The coloration indicates that what you were seeing was the city lights below being reflected off of a low-flying aircraft, not an aircraft at airliner altitudes. Something at most a few thousand feet up. Could have just as easily been the Goodyear Blimp. Which might explain the rows of lights you indicate; not full-fledged messages on the , but perhaps just a few "pixels" lit up as running lights.

Determining the speed and altitude of an aircraft is essentially *impossible* without proper scale references. And a vaguely visible aircraft of undiscernable configuration at night with nothing near it to indicate size? It could be a thousand feet up flying at 50 knots, or 50,000 feet up flying at 2,500 knots.


Imagine this with the main message shut off, just a few lights on to avoid collisions, cruising around 2,000 feet up. Not a chance in hell you'd hear it over city traffic.


EGADS! Flying Hummers!

I've watched blimps (Goodyear, Fuji, etc) fly directly overhead and this was nothing like those craft. As I said, I was able to make out the outline of the vehicle and it was not the fat cigar outline of a blimp. Additionally, I did not get the impression that those bright spots were lights - just brighter parts of the aircraft.

Dynoman said:
For the Artist...there is a lot that the picture does not show, for example: How close are you to an airport/air base? Where was the sighting, in the city, suburbs, outskirts, etc.? How long did you track it? Did you wait around to hear any sound after the object passed overhead? As Orionblamblam says, it "could have easily been the Goodyear Blimp," considering it was New Years. In these cases it's usually best to eliminate the 'most likely suspects,' before considering the unlikely.

My interest is in the lights on the vehicle. The shape at night can be confusing, however the light pattern does not look like a landing light configuration, anti-collision, nav, etc. There are stealth technologies that rely on diffused lighting systems (USAF has used a blue light diffusion systems in the past) that could explain the light pattern.

The basic shape is similar to the Strela below. So the configuration is not impossible.

The Dielman cluster of Charter Communications' buildings is located about six miles south of Lambert Field / St. Louis International Airport. At that time the Missouri Air Guard had a unit there and of course, Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) is there. There is a G/A airfield (Creve Coeur) about ten miles to the west-northwest. Spirit / St. Charles airport (G/A) is farther to the northwest and Parks / St. Louis Downtown Airport is about twenty to twenty five miles to the east-southeast in Illinois. Scott AFB is farther to the east-southeast in Illinois. Look up 9334 Dielman Industrial Drive (Zip code 63132) in Google Maps to get a clearer picture of the setting. There is a tower and a number of satellite receiving dishes in the yard behind the building. Lambert does not have a north/south runway so any traffic approaching or departing would to/from the east/west.

I'm not sure how long I tracked the thing. I know it couldn't have been all that long as I had other things that had to be done back inside the building. (My best guess at this time would be one to two minutes.) When I first noticed it, it was to the south at about forty degrees above the horizon. I watched it fly overhead (there was maybe a five degree offset to the west from directly overhead) then I lost it in the glare of parking lot lights as it reached about forty degrees above the northern horizon. Unfortunately, I was not able to wait there for any delayed sound as other items on my checklist needed to be checked. As to the possibility of it being a blimp. For a blimp to appear to move like that it would have had to have been close enough that I'd have known what I was seeing.

Onto the "lights." The pattern in my recreation attempt is probably not accurate. As I said. my mind first registered it as The Pleiades. That gives a suggestion if its apparent size and brightness - but then I think the actual constellation may be brighter than what I saw. As I said above. I did not get the impression that those bright spots were lights, only brighter parts of the aircraft.
 
The Artist said:
I've watched blimps (Goodyear, Fuji, etc) fly directly overhead...

At night, lit primarily by city lights rather than big lightsigns on the side/underneath?

I was able to make out the outline of the vehicle and it was not the fat cigar outline of a blimp.

Project Yehudi. Things that are oddly or poorly lit often don't look like themselves.


The Dielman cluster of Charter Communications' buildings is located about six miles south of Lambert Field / St. Louis International Airport.

Making it even less likely to be something really entertaining, as this would put it square in the sights of a whole *lot* of people going to some effort to examine the sky.
 
Artist...just some insights into the area where you saw the object. Your location (9334 Dielman Industrial Drive) is positioned in the first tier of the St Louis Class B airspace (from the surface to 8,000 feet), with a Mode C veil of 30nm from the surface to 10,000 feet. For the object to fly through there it would have to talk to the controlling agency, i.e. ATC, and have a transpoder signaling its location and altitude in that airspace, otherwise it would be a serious hazard to other traffic. My thought is it was above this airspace. Matching up the direction of travel you described with your location and both IFR Low and High Altitude Charts, I noticed that Jet Route J35-151 traced the same routing you described. Jet routes are 18,000 feet and above.

Assuming it was on a jet route and moving at the speed of an airliner (e.g. 450-650 miles/hr), it sounds like it may have been a very large object. However, if it were lower (e.g. 10,000-20,000 feet) you may have been able to distinguish some shape, however, it would probably be much larger than a typical fighter aircraft. (Try going out and looking at airliners at night...not much to see, but lights). At that altitude the noise from a convetional turbine would also be difficult to hear and may not have of been heard at all or at least until it passed.

Also, its direction of travel did not appear to place it on a course for the major flight test centers, although it really could have traveled anywhere.

With all of the speculative projects that are available to chose from, based on size and speed of the vehicle, I would say a classified semirigid dirigable equipped with a jet engine would be my guess.

Interesting video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjHgkZU_YZU
 

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Sneeky Pete patch

Cited as being a reference to Scaled Composites test pilot Pete Siebold.
 

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A better look at the Lockheed Stealth blimp shows some obvious similarities with what TheArtist has described (triangular shape, fins that extend both above and underneath the main body and so forth). I am offering here a cleaned up, alternate positive negative view of Lockheed's artwork to help get a clearer view of its shape.

stealth-blimp.gif
 
Orionblamblam said:
The Artist said:
I've watched blimps (Goodyear, Fuji, etc) fly directly overhead...

At night, lit primarily by city lights rather than big lightsigns on the side/underneath?

I was able to make out the outline of the vehicle and it was not the fat cigar outline of a blimp.

Project Yehudi. Things that are oddly or poorly lit often don't look like themselves.


The Dielman cluster of Charter Communications' buildings is located about six miles south of Lambert Field / St. Louis International Airport.

Making it even less likely to be something really entertaining, as this would put it square in the sights of a whole *lot* of people going to some effort to examine the sky.

First. Yes, I've watched one of the blimps fly over after sunset. (Still some twilight on the western horizon but otherwise dark overhead.) I had just gotten out of my car at home and noticed it approaching along Rt. 40/I-64. As the road I parked on was separated from Rt. 40 only by an exit ramp and a fence, you could say that the thing flew almost overhead of me. It flew west along 40 then (and this is my guess based on having driven that way for over twenty years.) it turned to the north to follow I-170. What I saw on the morning of 01/01/2000 was nothing like that.

They say that the old Glencoe Navy Blimp kit is close in shape to the Goodyear blimp. Today I took that model and tried to find a viewing angle that produced the closest outline to what I saw. Then I tried to make it keep that shape while I moved it through that arc. The thing would have to tumble and even fly backward to maintain that apparent outline. And that outline was not even close enough for me to be able to say "It could have been . . ."

The thing was high and (I'm sure) not on an approach to Lambert. I've been watching planes in the sky - day and night - since I was a kid. Also, I'd say that it was just dumb luck that I noticed the thing. Had the Master Control Operators not taken to turning off the overhead lights during the late evening and night hours (even though the managers often complained) my eyes would have had to make a greater adjustment from room lighting to the night sky and I'd have probably not noticed it.
 
Dynoman said:
Artist...just some insights into the area where you saw the object. Your location (9334 Dielman Industrial Drive) is positioned in the first tier of the St Louis Class B airspace (from the surface to 8,000 feet), with a Mode C veil of 30nm from the surface to 10,000 feet. For the object to fly through there it would have to talk to the controlling agency, i.e. ATC, and have a transpoder signaling its location and altitude in that airspace, otherwise it would be a serious hazard to other traffic. My thought is it was above this airspace. Matching up the direction of travel you described with your location and both IFR Low and High Altitude Charts, I noticed that Jet Route J35-151 traced the same routing you described. Jet routes are 18,000 feet and above.

Assuming it was on a jet route and moving at the speed of an airliner (e.g. 450-650 miles/hr), it sounds like it may have been a very large object. However, if it were lower (e.g. 10,000-20,000 feet) you may have been able to distinguish some shape, however, it would probably be much larger than a typical fighter aircraft. (Try going out and looking at airliners at night...not much to see, but lights). At that altitude the noise from a convetional turbine would also be difficult to hear and may not have of been heard at all or at least until it passed.

Also, its direction of travel did not appear to place it on a course for the major flight test centers, although it really could have traveled anywhere.

With all of the speculative projects that are available to chose from, based on size and speed of the vehicle, I would say a classified semirigid dirigable equipped with a jet engine would be my guess.

Thank you for that information. My feeling from the beginning was that it was something flying high. As I told Scott, I've been watching aircraft in the sky since I was a kid.

The LTA pic looks interesting. The outline is still not right - the trailing edge was not that straight. What I saw had a pumpkin seed or watermelon seed shape. And, I did not see anything that looked like fins. That being said, I have to say that the texture of the surface detailing "feels" right.
 
walter said:
Hi all,
I am also somewhat puzzled on Sneaky Pete. However, I think there is not a real connection with the California Microwave, Inc project. As far as I know the company was involved in a test program with Scaled Composite (Mr. Burt Rutan) on their CM-144 derivative of the LongEZ. It seems the CM-144 was first flown around 1987 or 1988 and reportedly had a 210hp t/s Lycoming IO-360 engine. Dimensions given included wingspan 29ft and length 18.5ft. Flight endurance was said to be some 18 hours. The CM-144 was claimed to differ construction wise from the homebuilt LongEZ to enable mass production., but apparently only a single example was built.
I noted that Sneaky Pete's date for first flight was reported as 18 July 1982 and engine (180hp Lycoming O-360) and dimensions (span 28ft, length 17ft) are also slightly different from those of the CM-144.
What both a/c had in common was that they were used on secret test and &D work.
Love to see this puzzle solved, someway, sometime.
Regards, Walter

I've posted one more piece of the California Microwave puzzle here:
 
This forum is so confusing. So Sneaky Pete is a still classified aircraft, but Sneeky Pete is a modified Long-EZ? Yet I see an classified patch for Sneeky Pete, the non classified one? Im really interested into what Sneaky Pete is
 
This forum is so confusing. So Sneaky Pete is a still classified aircraft, but Sneeky Pete is a modified Long-EZ? Yet I see an classified patch for Sneeky Pete, the non classified one?
You can run into classified uses of all sorts of things.

U-2s, for example, still end up wandering into a classified project every so often.


Im really interested into what Sneaky Pete is
Sneaky Pete with an A is a sub-scale model of the MDD A-12 Avenger, a "flying Dorito"
 

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