Re: Was I hallucinating?

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early this year while skiing I saw a hitherto unknown phenomenon:
zillions of very small ice cristals in an otherwise clear blue sky.
This was daytime and it really looked pretty with the sun glistening
in all of them. Kids were runing around tryign to catch the sparkles
but to no avail. Kind of Xmas feeling......

Dunno what atmospheric condition was responsible for it; only saw it
once in many years of skiing. Temperature was about -10 Celsius (+15
Fahrenheit).

Could have been the very same stuff you saw.

"Kitepilot" <kitepilot@DONTSPAMMEkitepilot.com> wrote in message
news:wdAY6.138$m2.21308@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> No, I wasn't...
> My friend saw it too. We were flying VFR last nite from Flagstaff
AZ, to
> Denver via Albuquerque, and the night was pitch dark. The first
part of the
> trip was easy, we followed the freeway and in general it was pretty
easy to
> tell up from down. After Albuquerque things began getting
interesting...
>
> Not only the higher elevations in the terrain forced us to 15K,but
also
> things began getting A LOT darker (because of the lack of populated
areas
> and fewer busy roads). So here I am scanning outside for lights
(or lack
> of them thereof), and scanning my instruments preparing myself to
turn
> around at any moment because we knew that the weather in the Front
Range
> could be pretty nasty (actually the storm had already damaged my
friend's
> car along with a bunch of airplanes, but it was already 2 in the
morning and
> it was supposed to be dissipating).
>
> Anyway, in the sweep of my scanning, I would look out to the strobe
lights
> rather frequently watching for any sign of a cloud to turn around
> immediately. And that was when I saw the lights...
>
> Now, I am not IFR, but I have flow MANY times and for MANY years at
night,
> from commercial to 152's, and I had never seen anything like that.
My
> friend saw it too. It was like a million of tiny mirrors reflecting
the
> strobe light in a bright flash. Like one of those mirror balls in
the disco
> that had broken apart in zero gravity and the mirrors were floating
away.
> It was like that cloud of magic dust that is seen in Disney movies.
Like
> looking at a flock of bright silver fireflies firing all at once.
It was
> like a hallucination. And I am glad that my friend saw it too...
>
> At the first flash, my first reaction was, OK, I am in a cloud, turn
around.
> In the time that it took to flash again, reality settled in. Wait a
minute,
> clouds don't look like THAT! Then the next flash brought me down to
the
> realization that I was seeing something that I had never seen before
in many
> years flying with bunches and bunches of pilots. Then it turned
into
> instant concern. Am I hallucinating with hypoxia? (I had oxygen
with me
> but didn't have it on. Living in Colorado at 6K+ and being a %#$*&
> snowboarder, I have developed some resistance to hypoxia. I
think...) Are
> we getting CO in the cabin and this are the symptoms?
>
> For reassurance, I turned to my friend to ask him if he was watching
the
> same thing that I was. I could see the magic dust flashing behind
him as we
> talked quickly and briefly. As I was questioning him about my
vision, he
> saw lighting miles and miles ahead and the debate turned into
turning around
> (thus we were NOT into a cloud). It flashed like that a few more
times and
> went away. A couple of minutes later we ran into a cloud, I turned
off the
> strobes and initiated a 180 as I called Denver approach to let them
know
> that we were turning back. We landed uneventfully in Santa Fe and
slept in
> the plane until dawn, when we resumed the trip.
>
> He saw it too. We talked about over the phone this afternoon. He
didn't
> know what it was, but he has not flown at night as much as I have
and he
> thought it was normal.
> Was it?
> Does anyone has a clue about what the .. I saw last nite?
>
>
>