Spotlights over Pacific

[airgator]

Last night I was flying from Tokyo to Anchorage at FL320, on A590. I always see large groups of boats, way out in the middle of nowhere, 400-600 miles off the coast of Kamchatskaya. I assume there's banks out there abundant with fish, I'm sure everyone else has noticed this as well. I noticed a large group of maybe 50-80 boats ahead of us. It was weird because they all had bright red lights. I could see another group of boats 50 or so miles at about my 2 o'clock also, but they had white lights. We were talking and I guess the guys with red lights are trying to attract a certain kind of fish or shrimp. So as we get closer, I notice a couple boats start trying to spotlight us. It was clear and a million and the moon was out. It kind of got annoying so we turned the lights off and when we did that, about 20-30 boats started to spotlight us. This was at N 44 29.3 E 153 50.0, or about 630 miles ENE of Sapporo. Anyone else ever had this happen in that area?

 

[B747FR8DAWG]

I'm headed to ANC tomorrow from KIX, and will let you know if this happens to us, but in all my years of crossing the North Pacific, I have never had anything like this happen to me. I am always amazed to see these fishermen so far from land, it always looks like a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

 

[The_Russian]

We are watching.

 

[tomgoodman]

Destroy All Monsters

There have been recent sightings of Mothra and Rodan in that area, so the boats are understandably nervous.

 

[cessnapilot]

There have been recent sightings of Mothra and Rodan in that area, so the boats are understandably nervous.

Don't worry... the attack is "generally weak" according to Wikipedia...

Rodan is a very fast character with good combo abilities and extended flight time (his energy bar does not begin to drop until several seconds have passed or until Rodan uses his heat ray, and even then it still drops much slower than King Ghidorah or Mecha-King Ghidorah's energy bars). His weapon rating is also good. On the negative side, Rodan's attacks are generally weak and his defense is low, meaning he is best playing a hit-and-run style of fight. Rodan has been confirmed to be in the upcoming Godzilla

 

[MrSky]

Quick... Someone call Art Bell!

Oh Crap he retired!

 

[DOVPILOT]

We are watching.

No it's just the stupid drunk Russian boat drivers playing "Midnight Laser Tag". First pilot to finish a fifth of vadka without running into another boat...Wins!

 

[rhinodriver]

Saw them out there last night on A590 about 20NM prior to POWAL exactly as you describe. Same fleet 50 or so miles south of them with white lights. About 50 boats right under us with bright red lights and shining spotlights up at us. We thought it might be the fishing fleets red light district...

 

[Thedude]

Wow, I have never seen the asian fishing armada out that far. I will have to admit, the first night flight I had from Korea over Japan, I thought the fishing fleet was a city with all those white phosporous lanterns they use.

 

[GCD]

It's the same way miles off the coast of Vietnam at night. Soooo many fishing boats, it looks like a city.

The Japanese fishing fleet is huge. I have often lost count, when I've tried to count the boats.

Next time I'm there, I'll ask why the different lights.

No, wait...Art Bell will tell us about it.