Other over Solromar, CA

The report, as filed

Observed an object that, at first, appeared to be an instrumentation balloon. Vertical configuration of a mass "suspended" below three bright, what appeared to be rotating, or flashing alternating primary colors, R-G-B in random duration and speed. These were not aircraft strobe lights. Too bright at that range and not a discharge flash. From my position on PCH highway, I first noticed it at a bearing of about 15 degrees and a few seconds of observation revealed it to be apparently drifting to north-northwest laterally at approximately 8500 to 9000 feet altitude. Observed craft for 11 to 12 minutes until it "drifted" to a bearing of about 385 degrees, flashing colors alternately, randomly, with no obvious apparent relation between the three active parts of the craft. Observed Southwest Airlines SFO to SDiego flight at cruise altitude clearly behind this craft as it passed behind the craft in my field of view. At about 12:15 it changed direction of motion to the northest and picked up speed linearly and went behind Boney Mountain out of view. No sound other than the low rumble of Southwest Airlines. I estimate the speed to have been about 200 knots and increasing when it went out of view. 35 year Aeronautical Engineer, Flight Test Engineer/Pilot. 10X25 binoculars. Clear, sunny, cool.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #117116). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.