Within Airborne Debris
The LED Kite Mistaken for a Vancouver UFO
In Vancouver, Washington, unusual lights reported in 2011 were traced to a large kite carrying hundreds of LEDs and an illuminated tail.
On this page
- What witnesses saw over Vancouver
- How the illuminated kite was identified
- Why lights can hide the kite carrying them
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Introduction
In February 2011, residents of Vancouver, Washington, reported an unusual display over the Fisher’s Landing area: bright, multicoloured lights that appeared after dark, hovered or moved around the sky, and seemed to “dance” back and forth. Some witnesses interpreted the illuminated shape as a flying saucer. The explanation, established when the operator later demonstrated it for local journalists, was much more terrestrial: a very large triangular kite covered with hundreds of programmable LED lights.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
The case is unusually useful in the study of UFO and UAP misidentification because the proposed explanation was not inferred merely from a distant photograph. The owner reproduced the display in the same Vancouver neighbourhood, showing reporters the kite, its lighting system, tether and controls. The demonstration helps explain how a perfectly ordinary tethered object could acquire the visual characteristics of an apparently hovering, colour-changing craft once darkness concealed everything except its lights.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
What witnesses saw over Vancouver
The sightings were concentrated around Fisher’s Landing in east Vancouver. Contemporary reports described something visible only after dark, high in the sky, moving strangely back and forth while producing vivid sequences of colour. Some observers compared it with a saucer; the sightings attracted enough attention to spread beyond Vancouver into the wider regional media.[Spokesman-Review]spokesman.comReview Giant kite lights night sky, UFO fans’ imaginationsReviewGiant kite lights night sky, UFO fans’ imaginations…
Archived UFO-report data add useful detail about what people thought they were seeing on 20 February. Entries for Vancouver at around 19:00–19:45 described a bright object hovering for several minutes, a glowing red sphere and an object showing green and red lights. One report classified the object simply as a “Light”, while another classified it as a “Disk”. These labels are important because they show how the same general display could produce different apparent shapes when observers were primarily seeing illumination rather than a clearly resolved physical body.[Pure Tranquility Publishing]puretranquilitypublishing.comufo sightings 2011Pure Tranquility PublishingUFO Sightings 2011 - Pure Tranquility Publishing…
The range of explanations proposed publicly was similarly broad. Contemporary coverage recorded suggestions including fireworks, Jupiter, the aurora, a radio-controlled helicopter, helicopter training and a military drone. Others insisted that the apparent object was too large to be a kite or balloon. At the same time, some commenters correctly suggested an LED kite before the owner publicly demonstrated it.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
This variety is itself revealing. Without a dependable estimate of range, altitude or physical dimensions, witnesses were trying to infer the identity of an unseen object from its lights and motion. “Disk”, “sphere” and “light” were therefore interpretations of essentially the same limited night-time information rather than measurements of a solid craft’s geometry.
How the illuminated kite was identified
The decisive evidence arrived in early March. The kite’s owner, identified in contemporary reporting only as Mike, realised after seeing news coverage that people had been interpreting his night flying as a UFO. He invited a team from The Columbian to watch him reproduce the display at Clearmeadows Park in Fisher’s Landing. The City of Vancouver identifies Clearmeadows as a 5.7-acre neighbourhood park with an open lawn in Fisher’s Landing East, making it a plausible launch area for a substantial kite.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
This was no small children’s kite. Contemporary descriptions give its dimensions as about 7½ feet (2.3 metres) tall with a 13-foot (4-metre) wingspan. It was triangular, made from parachute fabric and manufactured in China. Its numerous LEDs were powered by an onboard rechargeable lithium-ion battery and controlled by a small computer that generated changing sequences rather than simply leaving the lights continuously illuminated.[Spokesman-Review]spokesman.comReview NW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lightsReviewNW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lights…
Those sequences could be elaborate. Reporting from the demonstration described gold-and-green illumination resembling a palm tree changing into an upward-moving red display. The programme ran through roughly five minutes of patterns before repeating. That helps account for descriptions of flowing or changing colour: observers were not necessarily watching a craft whose individual lamps happened to blink, but a deliberately programmed aerial light display.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
For the demonstration, strong wind led Mike to attach a 60-foot illuminated tail that both stabilised and weighted the kite. With the tail fitted, the installation carried 480 LEDs. Its scale was also evident on the ground: the operator used a large hand-cranked reel with brakes, wore a harness to resist the pull and flew it on heavy braided line.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
The reproduction substantially strengthens the identification. The owner did not merely claim responsibility after the event; journalists saw the equipment and watched him launch it after dark in the neighbourhood associated with the sightings. A contemporary wire report subsequently summarised the mystery as solved and noted that he had even called 911 before the demonstration so dispatchers would know the explanation if another round of UFO reports arrived.[Spokesman-Review]spokesman.comReview NW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lightsReviewNW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lights…
Why the lights looked like a craft
The Vancouver case illustrates a particularly effective night-time illusion: the observer sees the illumination but loses the structure that explains it.
In daylight, a four-metre triangular kite, a long tail and a line running towards the ground provide abundant clues about what is being observed. At night, the dark parachute fabric and thin tether can become difficult or impossible to resolve against the sky. The LEDs remain conspicuous because they generate their own light. The perceptual problem is then reversed: instead of seeing a kite decorated with lights, the witness sees lights and has to infer what invisible object connects them.
The programmed patterns made that ambiguity stronger. Hundreds of LEDs could illuminate different parts of the kite and tail in sequence, changing the apparent outline as different lamps switched on and off. A witness might consequently perceive a disk, sphere, elongated display or changing shape even though the underlying kite retained the same physical geometry. Contemporary descriptions of the Vancouver sightings as a light, disk or sphere are consistent with precisely this loss of structural information.[Pure Tranquility Publishing]puretranquilitypublishing.comufo sightings 2011Pure Tranquility PublishingUFO Sightings 2011 - Pure Tranquility Publishing…
The tether also helps explain the apparently unusual motion. A kite can remain within one portion of the sky rather than continuously travelling through it like an aeroplane, yet it can still swing, surge and move sideways as wind and line tension vary. During the Vancouver episode, witnesses specifically described the illuminated object as hovering or dancing back and forth. Those behaviours seemed anomalous when attributed to a free-flying craft but were readily reproduced by the tethered kite.[Spokesman-Review]spokesman.comReview NW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lightsReviewNW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lights…
The operator’s equipment also shows why judging the display as “too big to be a kite” from the lights alone was unreliable. The actual kite already had a 13-foot wingspan, far larger than the small recreational kite many observers may have pictured when considering that explanation. Its illuminated tail could extend another 60 feet. Without a known distance or visible tether, there was no straightforward visual scale against which a night-time observer could estimate its real dimensions.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
The identification was stronger than a visual resemblance
Many explanations of UFO photographs amount to resemblance: an image looks like a balloon, bird, aircraft or kite. Vancouver offered a more informative chain of evidence.
The reported phenomenon occurred around Fisher’s Landing; an identifiable local operator acknowledged flying a large illuminated kite there; the kite’s dimensions and hundreds of programmable LEDs accounted for the conspicuous colours and apparent shape; and the owner then reproduced the display for journalists at Clearmeadows Park. The same demonstration showed directly how a tethered object could move around the sky while its lighting programme repeatedly changed its appearance.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
There is also a useful distinction between identification and accusations of deliberate deception. Some later summaries have called the episode a “hoax”, but the stronger contemporary reporting does not establish that Mike originally flew the kite in order to manufacture UFO reports. Instead, it says that after discovering that people had misinterpreted his kite, he contacted journalists and demonstrated it. He also said he had discussed his kite flying with an FAA official and Vancouver police, and he warned emergency dispatch before the demonstration.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
That makes misidentification the more evidence-based description of the case. The UFO-like appearance was a consequence of an unusual illuminated recreational object being observed without the daylight cues that would normally reveal its identity.
The aviation detail also provides a useful check on exaggerated claims surrounding the event. Contemporary coverage reported that Mike said he kept the kite below 500 feet. US federal rules applicable to qualifying large kites restrict them, absent an applicable exception or authorisation, from operating more than 500 feet above the surface and impose additional cloud, visibility and airport limitations. The FAA has explained that these regulations exist because kites can become objects affecting navigable airspace.[Federal Aviation Administration]faa.govFederal Aviation AdministrationApplicability_of_14_CFR_Part_101_2009_Legal_InterpretationSeptember 3, 2021…
What the Vancouver kite case demonstrates
The Vancouver incident is a compact example of why unusual night-time lights should not automatically be treated as lights mounted on an aircraft. In this case, nearly every striking feature had a mundane source: hovering came from a tethered kite, erratic lateral movement from its response to the wind, dramatic colour changes from computer-controlled LEDs, and the absence of an obvious body from dark fabric viewed against a night sky.[HeraldNet.com]heraldnet.comHerald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.comUFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011…
Most importantly, the identification did not require dismissing what witnesses reported seeing. People really did see a large and unusual illuminated object moving above Vancouver. The error lay in interpreting the visible lights as evidence for the size, shape and propulsion of an otherwise unseen craft. Once the kite was observed on the ground and then relaunched, those apparently extraordinary characteristics became properties of an elaborate recreational light display.
For the broader problem of kites and airborne objects mistaken for UFOs, Vancouver therefore supplies an unusually clear diagnostic lesson: when an object is reported mainly as lights that hover, sway, change colour or alter apparent shape after dark, investigators should consider whether the luminous pattern is revealing the object itself or concealing it. In Fisher’s Landing in 2011, the spectacular lights that made the object seem mysterious were also the very equipment that ultimately explained it.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: heraldnet.com
Title: Herald Net.com UF O? Nope, just a kite with lights | Herald Net.com
Link:https://www.heraldnet.com/2011/03/09/ufo-nope-just-a-kite-with-lights/
Source snippet
UFO? Nope, just a kite with lights | HeraldNet.comMarch 9, 2011...
Published: March 9, 2011
2.
Source: spokesman.com
Title: Review Giant kite lights night sky, UFO fans’ imaginations
Link:https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/mar/10/giant-kite-lights-night-sky-ufo-fans-imaginations/
Source snippet
ReviewGiant kite lights night sky, UFO fans’ imaginations...
3.
Source: spokesman.com
Title: Review NW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lights
Link:https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/mar/09/nw-today-vancouver-ufo-identified-kite-lights/
Source snippet
ReviewNW today: Vancouver UFO identified as kite with lights...
4.
Source: faa.gov
Link:https://www.faa.gov/media/14416
Source snippet
Federal Aviation AdministrationApplicability_of_14_CFR_Part_101_2009_Legal_InterpretationSeptember 3, 2021...
Published: September 3, 2021
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Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61259590
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Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61259555
7.
Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61259243
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61259186
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61259005
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258995
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258929
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Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258872
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258831
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258529
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61258457
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Source: classifieds.columbian.com
Title: ad details
Link:https://classifieds.columbian.com/ad-details/61255094
17.
Source: heraldnet.com
Title: Rocket debris lights up skies over the Pacific Northwest | Herald Net.com
Link:https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/rocket-debris-lights-up-skies-over-the-pacific-northwest/
18.
Source: faa.gov
Title: Chapter 18. Waivers, Authorizations, and Exemptions
Link:https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/fac/1805.html
19.
Source: spokesman.com
Link:https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/mar/9/
20.
Source: faa.gov
Link:https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pham_html/chap33_section_2.html
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Source: faa.gov
Link:https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/foa_html/chap19_section_5.html
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Source: faa.gov
Link:https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pham_html/chap33_section_1.html
23.
Source: puretranquilitypublishing.com
Title: ufo sightings 2011
Link:https://puretranquilitypublishing.com/ufo-sightings-2011/
Source snippet
Pure Tranquility PublishingUFO Sightings 2011 - Pure Tranquility Publishing...
24.
Source: baddogneedsrottenhome.co.uk
Title: Image | Joke
Link:https://baddogneedsrottenhome.co.uk/page.html?image=3839
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Source: puretranquilitypublishing.com
Title: ufo sightings 2011 processed
Link:https://puretranquilitypublishing.com/ufo-sightings-2011-processed/
Additional References
26.
Source: ecfr.io
Title: 14 CFR 101.13 | Operating limitations | e CFR.io
Link:https://ecfr.io/Title-14/Section-101.13
Source snippet
14 CFR 101.13 Citation 14 CFR 101.13 Corpus Daily eCFR Displayed edition 2026-07-24 Last updated 2026-07-24 § 101.13 OPERATING LIMITATION...
Published: July 24, 2026
27.
Source: law.cornell.edu
Title: Legal Information Institute14 CFR § 101.13
Link:https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/101.13
Source snippet
Operating limitations. | Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute...
28.
Source: customsmobile.com
Title: Table of Contents § 101.11
Link:https://www.customsmobile.com/regulations/expand/title14_chapterI-i1_part101_subpartB_section101.15
Source snippet
14 CFR 101.15 - Notice requirements.July 24, 2026 — Regulations last checked for updates: Jul 28, 2026 Title 14 - Aeronautics and Space l...
Published: July 24, 2026
29.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-121/subpart-R/section-121.493
30.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-61/subpart-G/section-61.167
31.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-68/section-68.3
32.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-234?toc=1
33.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-H/part-145/subpart-C/section-145.109
34.
Source: ecfr.gov
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-50/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-14/subpart-B?toc=1
35.
Source: ecfr.gov
Title: e CF R:: 31 CFR 544.101 – Relation of this part to other laws and regulations
Link:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-V/part-544/subpart-A/section-544.101