I was driving west on Texas State road 87 towards La Vernia. It was lightly drizzling and the traffic was driving slowly. I saw a little light shining through the rain clouds so I pulled over to get a better look at it because there no other star or light in the sky at that time. I stepped out of my truck and stood there next to the driver’s door for an about five minutes. As the rain cloud slowly dissipated and moved from South to North and I discovered I was looking at a shining star or a planet. However, as I was about to reenter my truck, something fell out of the slow moving rain cloud. At first I thought there was a mid-air collision so I imminently called 911 to report it. First I got through to Bexar County 911 dispatch then I was transferred to Wilson County 911 dispatch. A second car pulled off the road about 100 feet behind me and I believe they too witness this event.
This is what I reported to 911: I told them I was driving on 87 heading to Stockdale, Texas. I was presently between San Antonio and somewhere near La Vernia. I told 911 to hold on and I jumped back into my truck and drove about 200 to 300 feet to give them a crossroad. I pulled up to County Road 365 and relayed my position. Then I explain that I saw something about the size of a jet liner fall straight down from the rain cloud but there was no more rain coming from it now. The 911 dispatcher asked if I was sure it was a plane. I told them it looks like an airplane but the wings had broken off (I did not see any wing on the side facing me) and about the size of a Boeing 757 or a bigger 747. I estimated the bottom of the cloud was 20,000 feet and it fell for about 5,000 to 10,000 feet and I think I counted 2 to 3 seconds of free fall. The object was about 20 to 30 miles East of me and was burning up on its way down but it was engulfed in blue flames with dripping hot metal falling more from one side of it (Like when you see videos of the Space Shuttle Columbia breaking up on reentry). Except this thing is dropping straight down from the cloud and it was falling horizontal as if the plane hit a wall, stayed intact and started falling. As I watched it fall, all the flames had burned out about 5,000 feet above the ground. I could not hear anything because of the passing traffic and I did not see a ground impact because of the trees on the horizon. I told 911 that it was not a meteor because meteors fall like left to right or across the sky. 911 asked me where I thought it had falling. I told them it fell to the north and between of La Vernia and Stockdale. They asked for my full name and said they are sending a car out to investigate.
After I hung up the phone with 911, I continued my drive to Stockdale and picked up my son and told him what I had called into 911 about 15 minutes earlier. So we continued East on 87 looking for the crash. We drove all the way to Nixon with no luck so we stopped into Nixon’s Dairy Queen to get something to eat and asked around if anyone had seen anything fall from the sky. There were about four employees but no one had seen or heard anything. It was now exactly 9:51PM when I stepped outside of the Nixon’s Dairy Queen when I heard and noted a twin engine plane flying very slow in a circular formation right above the town. I motion my son to come out and verify the aircraft. I could not see any markings (just the anti-collision lights flashing) but by it slow speed and altitude I believe it to be a search plane.
Next we drove back to Stockdale. On the drive back to Stockdale from Nixon, we passed two police cars heading East but I could not tell if they where State or Local law enforcement. About 4 miles West of Stockdale we took up a looking position at the southern corner of the intersection where 87 and 97 from Floresville meet. At exactly 10:33PM a low flying Helicopter was flying from West to East just north of 87 in the direction to where I reported the possible impact area. At exactly 10:55 two police cars with sirens and lights flashing were driving very fast from Stockdale direction towards La Vernia direction. At about 11:15 with no further incidents, we drove home so I could make this report. I have added a few maps of the area to show my location when I called 911.
This case is under investigation by MUFON Texas.
KEN PFEIFER MUFON NEW JERSEY
