Actually, I used to own a Velocity, though not as nicely painted. It was definitely a conversation starter. I flew it from Florida to Arizona. You can imagine the looks I got when I landed in Roswell, NM. 
J.
Pretty unlikely to have both canards and a T-tail. Seeing as you didn’t see the canards, we’re best looking for a T-tail turbo-pusher.
The only two turbo-prop pusher T-tails I can find are these:
or a NAL Sara.
The Sara isn’t in production yet so it is more likely to be the Embraer although the Sara may have been on a demonstration flight.
Neither of these aircraft are anywhere near the size of a 737 though, turbo-props aren’t normally that big.
Looking into it further it seems that only two Vectors were built.
Also there have been several P180 flights into San Jose recently. Are you sure it was a T-tail turbo-prop pusher? It seems that they are as rare as an honest politician.
Right last post, sorry for the spam session. Obviously I neglected the P180 when I made that comment about T-tails and canards.
I’ve been through Wikipedia’s list of pusher prop aircraft. There were three with turbo-props and a T-tail. The Embraer Vector only saw two prototypes made and the Sara has recently made it’s 100th flight. The P180 however, fits all of your description except for size and where the engines are mounted. Size is incredibly difficult to judge with no reference–was it similar size to a B737 or was it smaller and flying lower? The P180 also flies into SJC fairly regularly.
My vote is for a P180.
Detail of the Unducted Fan Jet engine on the MD81 test aircraft:
http://www.b-domke.de/AviationImages/Rarebird/0809.html
The airplane would be a DC9 class jet with a T-tail. However there was only the one made, for the testing of the engines, almost 20 years ago and AFAIK they were dismantled when the testing finished and it was decided to just go with high-bypass ducted fans for the next-gen MD95.
I understand your skepticism regarding the size. I am a pilot, however, and often watch the planes fly overhead. I’m pretty good at estimating size, and it was definitely bigger than the NAL Sara and Vector. I’ve even owned my own plane for a year. I’m quite confident that it was larger than these. The fuselage in front of the wings was also MUCH longer, which is why I interpreted the bulges on the sides of the front part of the fuselage as a canard.
It was also much bigger than the P180. I’m used to seeing unusual configurations in smaller airplanes flying into San Jose, and wouldn’t have taken much notice of it had it been smaller. This one was remarkable because it was airliner size with a very unusual configuration.
Thanks for your efforts in trying to identify it.
J.
When did you see it?
You won’t believe it, but I just saw the same plane (now 2012). I have spent five hours on the internet searching for pics of this strange plane I saw. I even drew a picture of it so I wouldnt forget what it looked like… i have found NOTHING. I was about to give up and I came across this post.
I by a civilian airport and a marine air wing base. wonder if it is some kind of secret government serveilvance plane. I say this because the wings seemed to be straight high aspect ratio wings (thin and long) normally for high long range planes. Very rare in this type aircraft, normally reserved for experimental and government recon planes. I saw same as you!
The plane was white in color. It had a long narrow fuselage with a small straight rectangle “canard” on the tip of the nose (you said stubby - yes!). The wings were long and thin (straight out - no angle) about 3/4 of the way to the rear (looked like it was flying backwards because the tail is normally what is long). While it had sound no engines were visible on wings or nose. I could see the flat bottom of what may have been a t-tail but it ran along the bottom of the fuselage. I assumed it had one pusher prop mounted at the back because there was no other place it could have been. The one I saw seemed to have two small wingtip fuel tanks.
During my research to find what this was I never once found a pic. The closest thing I could find were the thin long wings of a glider or sail plane. No Canard plane had the canard molded directly in front, as part of the nose itself (not back at all) and did not have the long fuselage. I could go on and on about how strange this thing was. I have never seen anything like it, not even in my hours and hours of research. I’m glad I’m not the only one to see it!
Are you sure yours wasn’t the P180? Small nose-mounted canard; straight, unswept high-aspect-ratio wings; generally painted white. It even has a very small extra wing thingy mounted at the tail below the T-tail.
Old thread, but our niece’s husband is building one of these as we speak. He lives next to an airstrip and has a hangar-sized garage. Cool plane. Built his own engine and designed and built his own instrument panel. The guy is a major gear-head.
Not even close to the p180, way to short. this plane is MUCH longer. Very long and thing. The only thing similar is the nose. Wings are different and engines are not on the wings like the 180.
Not even close to the p180, it is way to short it has engines on the wings. the plane I saw is MUCH longer. Very long and thin fuselage with engine as part of tail assembly. You can get the idea of it from the p180 in terms of the nose and wing position… but only an idea of it. Hope I see it again.
This is going to sound incredibly condescending, given as you guys seem to be people who otherwise know their planes, but is there any way you were simply confused when looking at a CRJ900 (or, unlikely, given the lack of North American operators, a CRJ1000)?
The plane is very long and thin, with relatively straight wings for it’s type that are set very far back. When the nose gear is extended, the doors are very visible and could look a bit like a canard.
Definitely a T-tail and at high speeds the unpaintedmetal nozzle of the CF34 enginemight look like the rotor of a prop? With seating ranges of ~90 and ~100 seats respectively, the CRJ900 and CRJ1000 are kind of large, but somewhat smaller than the 737-200, which seats 97 in a typical two-class configuration.
It’s an incredibly dorky plane to look at, especially if you are more used to seeing CRJ200s…even compared to the CRJ700, the 900 and 1000 look ridiculously long.
I appreciate your questions. Not seeing it for yourself must raise questions and doubts. However, the one I saw was flying very low and directly over my home. I got a really close look albeit directly underneath. The fuselage was very thin and very long. I would even say it was thin enough that it was most likely single pilot and any passangers would almost have to sit single file.
Today I went to our small airport and questioned some “in the know” management and showed them a hand sketched drawing and none of them were familiar with the aircraft and have not seen it on the flight line. Most likely it is an experimental plane… but the possibility still remains military recon. Today I must haved looked at two thousand pics online of all types of aircraft and never saw anything like it. It was a mix between the p180 and a glider. Same basic design as the p180, but much longer and thiner fuselage with long thin high aspect ratio wings. I’m telling you, never seen anything like it before. Very cool and rare sight.
Could it be a BAE Mantis UAV?
ETA: Based on the statement that it first flew in 2009, (also this article), it seems it couldn’t have been sighted in 2007. And it does have a bulge in the front, but no actual canard. Maybe there was a predecessor to it?
Hey flyboy101, pretty sure I saw the exact same plane that you did… Completely white, obvious canards on the front, and was flying near Miramar… I immediately assumed it was a UAV of some kind, but haven’t been able to find anything similar online. The flight path where I am would be very unusual for anything other than military aircraft.
What would it have been doing at a civilian airfield in the US?
2012 and nobody has a cell phone with a camera?
Yes it quite well could have been a UAV and yes it was completely white. I also live near a marine corps air wing base. It is interesting that the design is no where to be found.