Unknown over Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls, ID

The report, as filed

Starting at 9:31pm. Let the dog out into the back yard from our deck, and saw a red blinking light to the northeast, traveling from southeast due north. The light was probably 1-1.5 of a miles away and approximately 300 feet in elevation. As the Coeur d’ Alene airport is another mile north I figured it was a plane headed for the airport, although I’ve never seen a plane or helicopter approach from that direction. No white or green navigation lights were visible. Then one red flashing light then went to two flashing red lights, then three, then four, all in a straight line, not one under the craft, one on the rotor tail and one on nose, but all four lined up. The flashing sequence changed from one blinking to two, then four, then three, then one, then all four at once. At an arm’s length, the lights were half the size of my thumb at approximately 1-1.5 miles away. I called my dad out on the deck and pointed it out. He was amazed. The craft made no noise and was moving slowly. If it were a helicopter we would have heard it. Unless it was a silent helicopter without any normal navigation lights on, but then 4 RED lights in a straight row? I immediately thought someone had a new toy drone and were flying it maybe from Lake City High School. I’m an amateur astronomer and have several pairs of high powered binoculars. I quickly set up my tripod and 25/100 binoculars, that’s how slowly the craft was moving, that I could do this. I got a good view of the lights but couldn’t make out a shape of the craft. As the craft was headed over our horizon, rooftops, I grabbed my smaller binoculars and jumped into my vehicle and headed north on Atlas Rd., which runs into the south/west runway of the Coeur d’ Alene Airport. By the time I reached the airport, having the craft in site the entire way, 5 minutes, the craft was now across the airport at HWY 53 or so and now made a slow but quick hard left turn toward Spokane/Hauser, west. I watched it for maybe 2 minutes at this position. It was too lit up with street lights at this position to use the video on my phone. Returning to my vehicle I proceeded west on Prairie Ave. until McGuire Rd. turned north/right and saw the craft approaching the small mountain just south of Hauser lake, having kept it in sight the entire distance. Now, looking at a map, the craft went over the hill just south of Hauser Lake. A train stopped me at Hwy. 53. That was the end of the viewing. It was now 10:01pm. I don’t think this was a drone, as the distance I drove and returned was 36 miles. No toy drones have this capability for this distance or duration. The size of the craft, based on spacing of the lights, also makes me rule out a retail drone.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #118292). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.