Description

Location: 10,000 feet above Chino, CA

Date: 8/23/2025

Time: 8:08am

Duration: 1.5 seconds

Number of witnesses: 1

Description of sighting: I was filming outside my plane window around 8:08am flying west into LAX. I was shooting at 240fps with my iPhone but saw this object fly past briefly and then was able to review the footage at a slower rate.

I tried to include as much information in the video as possible, but I'll include it here as well. *Flight data obtained from FlightRadar 24.

Time: 8:08am
Altitude: 9825 feet
Ground Speed: 303 knots

According to Flightradar24, there were two planes west in the direction of the object. One 5ish miles out at 4500 feet and another 9ish miles out at 1500 feet. Since the object was at eye level, I don't think it was either of these.

The size and height of this sighting probably makes bugs unlikely. Similarly with a drone. And hot air balloons don't fly much past 3000 feet.

That doesn't rule out birds or balloons. There aren't many pixels but the shape doesn't really imply bird and not many birds are flying at 10,000 feet.

It's obviously hard to gauge the speed since the plane was flying 303 knots past it. And as always, there's never enough pixels. Always the most frustrating part.

The most interesting part of the object is the separation of black pixels. It makes its shape a little more unique. It could be a pixel resolving issue, but it's very consistent as it moves past the plane, making it seem it's part of its structure.

Would love to get your input and thoughts. Prosaic or not, I think it's good to capture and gather as much data on objects in the sky so we can use them to rule out explanations in the future.