Yes, 15 eyewitnesses at encounter #2 and 7 for encounter #3.
The first one was just me alone backpacking. I doubted it until I realized this was not an uncommon thing to see based on other accounts I soon learned about.
Planes have blinking lights, right? These had none of those. They moved around in a non-linear fashion at will, they were intelligently operated. One of them disappeared in a flash...
All the people there with me ruled out all the logical possibilities too, most of them were skeptics (including myself) before we saw them. We still joke about the ordeal when we see each other.
Not necessarily - they can be turned off, non-functional, or drowned out by a brighter light like the landing lights from a distance.
> One of them disappeared in a flash...
Or someone flipped the landing lights switch.
I saw a C-17 at night while staying near Fort Drum that I was completely baffled by until it got close enough to properly make out. Had it stayed away, I'd have had one of those "inexplicable" encounters people talk about too.
A distantly seen dogfight at night would involve afterburners (bright lights! and they'd wink on/off during maneuvering, when they're turned on/off, or when the plane turns to face towards you instead of away from you) and rapid random non-linear movements as described.
There were two of them next to each other. Is that common at all?
How close is "next to"? Aircraft tend to have multiple lights, many symmetrically positioned. And when it's closer than you think and maneuvering, it may look as if the lights are moving non-linearly. Disappearance of a light can be explained too - the plane maneuvered in a way that its wing or fuselage blocked your view of the light.
The first one was just me alone backpacking. I doubted it until I realized this was not an uncommon thing to see based on other accounts I soon learned about.