Changing over Torrance, CA

The report, as filed

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at about 9:15 pm Pacific Time. Torrance, CA looking west toward the Redondo Beach coastline. There was a marine layer several hundred feet high and appeared to be off the coast. I stepped out of my house to make sure the cars were locked and noticed a bright red-orange light rising from the horizon. Looking in this direction you can often see aircraft departing from Los Angeles International Airport. I am a pilot so when I saw the odd and very bright light I looked to see if there were any of the flashing position lights normally seen on aircraft. There were none. As the light rose to what I estimate to be about 1,000 feet I noticed two additional red-orange lights rising from the horizon. I refer to these as lights 2 and 3. Recognizing this was unusual I called by two adult sons to come witness what I was seeing. Light #1 dimmed to a faint white light and stopped in the sky at about 2,000 feet. The other two rose together then separated their formation. Light # 2 appeared to track out to sea in the direction of the northern end of Catalina Island. Both dimmed like the first one but could still bee seen. Light 3 continued to rise and stop at roughly the same altitude as Light 1. This pattern continued with four to six more lights. Some of the lights moved in a straight path. Some changed directions and stopped in one place at times before continuing to move. I continued watching Light #1, as it approached us. As it got closer it appeared translucent and white. It was wobbling and the closest thing I can describe it resembling is a modern parachute. However, this was no parachute! It passed us to the south and we lost it as it went behind some trees. Very bizarre!

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #111350). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.