UFO Spotted in Wilton?

Over the last few weeks, the Wilton Police Department has been receiving reports of an unidentified, low-flying vehicle over town.

Lest anyone think aliens are attempting to make first contact in the area, it should be pointed out that all the reports are coming during the day and touch on a lawnmower-like sound coming from the vehicle. Intuition says a flying saucer would probably not sound like a lawnmower.

In actuality, a nonresident has been using Allen's Meadows to take off and land in his "Howard Parachute," what amounts to a parachute with an apparatus below it that allows for a pilot and is powered by a large fan at the rear (see attached pictures). Whereas parachutes ordinarily only float down, the fan and motor actually allow the Howard chute to fly much like a small plane or glider.

The problem for residents, however, has been that the motor is quite loud and the man is apparently flying fairly low, creating noise pollution.

"The engine must be loud because we've gotten several residents calling in to report hearing this thing flying overhead in the last few weeks," said Lt. Don Wakeman of the Wilton Police Department.

Wakeman said police made contact with the gentleman by following his flight path until they saw him land at Allen's Meadows. The man does have a pilot's license and was not specifically told to stop flying.

Rather, police took down his information and reported the complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration. Wakeman said he was not sure if the man was violating any laws by not maintaining a certain altitude and said the matter is now in the hands of the FAA.

Calls to FAA officials were not immediately returned.