Changing over Bolton, NY

The report, as filed

I am a commercial pilot on a VFR flight. My course line over Lake George, NY, took me from Sandy Bay to Northwest Bay. At my cruising altitude 2500 Ft MSL, I noticed what I first thought to be another aircraft heading towards me at same altitude off my 11:30 - 12 o'clock position. I first estimated its distance to be 5-6 miles away. As I continued I turned on all lights to become more visible. After about the first minute of observation, the object appeared stationary with a gradual increase in its altitude. Its color and shape changed from looking like a distant white landing light initially, to slightly larger rectangle of reddish/yellow color flickering like a waving flag. The sighting coincided with the time of sunset that day, however I ruled out reflected sunlight due to the many layers of clouds creating relatively flat light. As I approached the object, I had a growing concern that it may be a balloon of some type possibly on a cable or cable suspended below it. I changed course about 5-10 degrees east to avoid possible hazard. After about the 6th or 7th minute of observation the object completely vanished! The rest of the flight was uneventful. I have not witnessed an object like this in over 20 years of commercial flying; truly unidentified! Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #125587). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.