Background

A Boeing 757 piloted by Captain Eugene Tollefson and First Officer John J. Waller, was passing near Bovina, Texas. Captain Tollefson left his seat to look [at a line of regularly flashing lights]. As the lightning flashed behind the lights, it silhouetted something that to the observers appeared to be a large, dark, cigar shaped object between 300 and 500 feet in length.

The following article is saved here for archival purposes. It was originally published here, but has long disappeared.

By Roy Lawhon

“Cactus 564” was a routine America West flight that began in Tampa, Florida. The final leg of the flight was from Dallas/Forth Worth into Las Vegas, the ultimate destination.

On the night of May 25, 1995, Flight 564, a Boeing 757 piloted by Captain Eugene Tollefson and First Officer John J. Waller, was passing near Bovina, Texas, just across the state line from Clovis, New Mexico at about 9:25 MST. There were thunderstorms to the northeast, and the lead flight attendant was watching the lightning flashes in the night sky.

This flight attendant was the first to notice a line of regularly flashing lights in the sky to the north and below the airliner. The First Officer then saw them as well, and they observed a horizontal row of eight strobe-like lights, flashing on and off in sequence from left to right.

The lights, which were as bright as aircraft landing lights, were at an altitude of between 30,000 and 35,000 feet, and were bright white with a tinge of blue.

Captain Tollefson left his seat to look, and he saw the left to right sequencing lights also. As the lightning flashed behind the lights, it silhouetted something that to the observers appeared to be a large, dark, cigar shaped object between 300 and 500 feet in length, depending on how far away it was.

After about five minutes of observing the object, Flight 564 called Albuquerque Air Traffic Control to report the object. Albuquerque ATC noted that the position of the object was over a restricted military area called “Tieband.” The controller also noted that the description sounded similar to that of a tethered aerostat except for the large number of strobes. However, the controller contacted sites that would know if an aerostat or any other military aircraft were in the air that night, and was given negative responses all around. The controller contacted other aircraft in the area, but no one else was able to see what Flight 564 saw.

The controller then contacted NORAD, who at first reported nothing on their radar at that location, then called back and said they had an unidentified return in that area, then called back again and said that the radar return had been a common small airplane with a malfunctioning transponder. An air traffic controller later said that there was yet another call from NORAD reporting that they later did have an unknown at that precise location, but this has never been corroborated. There is a transcript of the controller’s radio conversations at UFO Plaza and there is a Real Audio excerpt of the conversations from the “Sightings” TV program at Cosmic Videos

No satisfactory explanation has ever been found for the Flight 564 sighting.

Another article archived here, was written by the Fund for UFO Research or FUFOR.

by Walter N. Webb, Final Report on the America West Airline Case, May 25-26, 1995

Airline Crew Reports Cigar With Pulsing Lights

A cigar-shaped object with a row of brightly flashing lights along its length was observed over the Texas panhandle by the crew of a westward bound America West B-757 airliner on May 25, 1995. The case was thoroughly investigated by Walter N. Webb on behalf of the UFO Research Coalition, who interviewed the crew and air traffic controllers. Webb also obtained a copy of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) voice tapes of conversations between airplane and ground during the sighting.

America West Flight 564 was cruising at 39,000 feet near Bovina, Texas, en route from Tampa, Florida, to Las Vegas, Nevada. First Officer John J. Waller and a flight attendant saw, off to their right and somewhat below their altitude, a row of bright white lights which sequenced on and off from left to right. Waller contacted the Albuquerque FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center while the sighting was in progress and checks were made with military installations in the area, but no explanation could be found.

As the airliner proceeded westward, the lights began dropping behind. Then they observed the phenomenon against a background of dark thunderclouds. When the background clouds pulsed with lightning, they could see the silhouette of a dark, wingless, elongated cigar-like object around the strobing lights.

Though they did not know the object’s exact distance, the pilot and co-pilot estimated its length to be 300-400 feet.

Air traffic controllers said the object was not visible on FAA radar. One of them contacted the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which monitors North American air space by radar, and said that NORAD had confirmed an unidentified radar track in the vicinity. This later proved to be a small aircraft whose transponder was not initially operative.

Next morning the controller said he had checked with NORAD again and was told that they had tracked another, very unusual target in the same general area a short time after the first–something that at first was stationary, then accelerated rapidly and stopped abruptly, repeating this sequence several times. The bursts of speed were computed to be between 1,000 and 1,400 m.p.h. This report, based on the testimony of one air traffic controller, could not be confirmed independently.

Webb filed Freedom of Information Act requests for Government information about the case, and also checked military installations for any activities that might explain the sighting, but no known object or phenomenon could be found that correlated with the sighting.

Audio Transcript of ATC Recordings

The below was archived by UFO Casebook.

** They have not been authenticated officially (obtained from an official source) by The Black Vault, though at this point, there is no direct concern they are fabricated.

9:21pm…
AW-564: “Cactus 564 going direct crow, crow 6 arrival Las Vegas.”
ABQ: “Cactus 564…Albuquerque Center…good evening”
AW-564: “564 at 39,000′”

9:29pm…

AW-564: “Cactus 564…off to our 3:00, got some strobes out there.
Could you tell us what it is?”
ABQ: “Uh, Uh..I’ll tell you what, that’s some, uh..right now
…I don’t know what it is right now. That is a
restricted area that is used by the military out there
during the day time.”
AW-564: “Yeah…it’s pretty odd.”
ABQ: “Hold on …let me see if anybody else knows around here.”

9:30pm…

AW-564: “Cactus 564..can you paint that object at all on your radar
ABQ: “Cactus 564…No I don’t, and in talkin’ to 3 or 4 guys
around here no one knows what that is, never heard about
that.”
AW-564: “Cactus 564…nobody’s painting it at all?”
ABQ: “Cactus 564 say again?”
AW-564: “I said there’s nothing on their radars on the other centers
at all on that (garbled) clear area, …that object that’s
up in the air?
ABQ: “Uh?..it’s up in the air?”
AW-564: “A-FFIRMATIVE!!”
ABQ: “No…no one knows anything about it.”
What’s the altitude about?”
AW-564: “I don’t know, probably right around 30,000 or so. And it’s
uh…there’s a strobe that starts..um, going on counter-
clockwise, and uh…the length is unbelievable.”
(???): “Where’s this?”

(NOTE: The last question above cannot be readily identified as having come
from the Albuquerque FAA controller. Perhaps it was, however since a conversation
with Cannon AFB began just at this point it could well indicate that the conversation
was being monitored. The very next statement heard is the Albuquerque FAA
controller calling to Cannon AFB.)

9:31pm…

ABQ: “Cannon 121?”
CANNON: “Cannon..go ahead”
ABQ: “Do you guys know if there was anything like a tethered
balloon released that should be above ‘tieband’?”
CANNON: “Uh, no, we haven’t heard nothin’ about it.”
(BOTH)” “Uh, ok..(some chuckling), uh, ha..”
ABQ: “A guy at 39,000 says he sees something at 30,000 that’s as,
..the length is unbelievable and it has a strobe on it.”
CANNON: “Uh huh…?”
ABQ: “This is NOT good..(laughing)..okay…”
CANNON: “Uh, wha..what does that mean?:
ABQ: “(laughing)..I don’t know, it’s a ufo or something, it’s that
Roswell crap again!”
CANNON: “Where’s it at now?”
ABQ: “He says it’s right in ‘tieband’.”
CANNON: “It’s right in ‘tieband’?”
ABQ: “Yeah!”
CANNON: “No, we haven’t seen nothin’ like that.”
ABQ: “Okay, keep your eyes open.”
CANNON: “I’ll talk to you (mumbled).”

9:34pm…

ABQ: “Cactus 564…we checked with Cannon and they don’t have
any, uh, weather balloons or anything up tonight. Nobody
up front knows any idea about that. Do you still see it?”
AW-564: “Negative..back where we initially spotted it it was between
the weather and us and when there’s lightning you could
see a dark object…and, uh, it was pretty eerie looking.
This ‘air coptr..(mumbled)’ right here going eastbound…
maybe he’ll see it.”
ABQ: “Okay..”
AW-564: “First time in 15 years I’ve ever seen anything like this.
It’s probably military in that restricted area.”
ABQ: “Cactus 564..you contact Albuquerque Center 132.8,
goodnight.”
AW-564: “132.8 contact 564.”

Just then it sounds like another person in another aircraft breaks
in on the conversation. It is never clear just what type of aircraft this is
but the individual has clearly overheard the recent discussion.

9:35pm…

ABQ: “Aircraft calling..try again!”
(?): “Center…uh..got time for a quick question?”
ABQ: “Okay..would the question stand-by one please?…
…okay..go ahead.”
(?): “(mumbled) 781, what was that cactus guy talking about he
saw?”
ABQ: “I, I don’t know, off your right wing about 15-20 miles.
He’s saying he saw a large object with a strobe that looked
like it was at 30,000 feet.”
(?): “Ah…it’s that secret stuff!”

9:36pm…

AW-564: “Albuquerque…Cactus 564.”
ABQ: “Cactus 564..go ahead.”
AW-564: “(garbled)..that passed us earlier on the right. He’ll be in
the area in a few minutes, is that correct?”
ABQ: “Yeah, he’ll be in there in about 3-4 minutes, at 27,000.
I’ll ask him what he sees.”
AW-564: “..be at his left-hand side between him and the thunder
storm. Thanks alot, we’ll just monitor and listen.”
ABQ: “Okay.”
AW-564: “Three of us up here saw it!!”
ABQ: “Okay.”

After a minute or so Albuquerque Center starts up a conversation
with another aircraft. Again it is unclear at first what aircraft this is as
there was no identification given and this aircraft does not preface
it’s transmissions with any identifier. A bit later a statement is directed
to “Hawk 85” which appears to be the aircraft in question.

9:31pm…

ABQ: “I can’t find…in the next 2-3 minutes. Be looking off your
right side, if you see anything about 30000 feet, we had
one aircraft reporting simething that wasn’t a weather
balloon or anything. It was a long white looking thing with
a strobe on. Let me know if you see anything out there.
(?): “I’ll be careful..(garbled)”
ABQ: “He said it was about 30,000′.”
(?): “(mumbled) I’m searching for ET.”

9:40pm…

ABQ: “Cactus 564…you still up?”
AW-564: “Affirmative! 564”
ABQ: “That was south of your position?”
AW-564: “It was north..”
ABQ: “Hawk 85, let’s make it out the left window then.”
AW-564: “Albuquerque, can we get a chance..Cactus 564.”
ABQ: “You know we’re all up here huddled up talking about it. When
it lightning’d you could see the dark object. It was like a
cigar shape from the altitude that we could see it..and the
length is what go us, a…sort of confused, because it
looked like it was about 300-400 feet long. So I don’t know
if it’s a wire with a strobe on it, but the strobe would
start from the left and go right, counter-clockwise…and
it was a pretty eerie looking site, but a, had the strobe..

At this point in the tape copy I received there appeared to have
been some problem as there was a brief approximately 1/3 second
solid tone like a dialtone. Then there was a strong transmission like
another broadcast trying to cut in. The previous conversation continued
briefly and the tone appears again followed by another request to “Albuquerque Radio”.

9:41pm…

(brief but solid strong tone heard)
(?): “ALBQUERQUE RADIO?…ALBUQUERQUE RADIO?”
AW-564?: “..and it was just in the lightning…”
(?): (solid strong tone heard again)
(?) “ALBUQUERQUE RADIO?”
ABQ: “Yeah…is this one any better?”
(?): “Yeah.”
ABQ: “Oh good! Ha..hey you guys don’t know anything about some
kind of weather balloon or a ufo that’s out in the vicinity
of Fort Sumner tonight do you?”
(?) “I don’t think so…standby.”
ABQ: “Okay..”
(?): “At this point the answer to that question is ‘no’.”
ABQ: “Okay..yeah, this guy sees it up at Tucumcari, says it looks
like it’s 300-400 foot long, cylindrical, some kind of
strobe on it, and everything else.”
(?) “Well…I would call it…I don’t know what it is..yea.”
ABQ: “Yeah, okay…I didn’t know if you were a science fiction
buff or anything.”
(?) “Yea..no, we don’t have, we don’t have any published “high
balls” today.”
ABQ: “Okay..appreciate it.”
(?): “Mmm hmm…bye.”

9:42pm…

AW-564: “Albuquerque, 564…last time…just for our notes we’re
going to take a message. was that in a restricted area..and
that was just basically south of Tucumcari when we reported
it?”
ABQ: “Okay…the way you went through, the only restricted area
was on your south side, nothing to the north side…and
those restricted areas are inactive. There shouldn’t be
anything going on.”

9:44pm…

AW-564: “Albuquerque Center..Cactus 564. Thanks for your help and,
uh, could we get your call sign?”
ABQ: “Cactus 564…say again?”
AW-564: “Albuquerque Center..Cactus564..We’ll talk to you later.
Before we go could we get your call-sign?”
ABQ: “Cactus 564…mine is ‘PP’.”
AW-564: “Was that ‘tango golf’?”
ABQ: “Pappa Pappa.”
AW-564: “Pappa Pappa…thanks alot.”

(End of Side 1, Tape 1..)

9:48pm…

ABQ: “Bigfoot…Albuquerque Sector 87.”
BIGFOOT: “Bigfoot’s on!”
ABQ: “Yea..I’ve got a, uh, something unusual and I was wanting
to know if you’all happen to know of anything going on
out here around Tucumcari, New Mexico,…north of Cannon?
I had a couple of aircraft reported something 300-400 foot
long..cylindrical in shape, with a strobe flashing off to
the end of it.”
BIGFOOT: “Oh..?”
ABQ: “At 30,000 feet.”
BIGFOOT: “Okay…hang on a second.”
ABQ: “Yeah, I didn’t know if you happen to know of anything
going on out there…no balloons in the area, no nothing
reported?”
BIGFOOT: “Okay, where’s this at again?”
ABQ: “It’s at, uh, well ya’know where…it’s in Tucumcar, New
Mexico, it’s about 150 miles to the east of Albuquerque.”
BIGFOOT: “Okay, eh…how far from Holloman?”
ABQ: “Eh, Holloman, it looks like it’s off the zero-three-zero
of Holloman about 220 miles.”
BIGFOOT: “Okay…I think, okay…it’s kind’a hard for us to see here.
Okay, they’ll be zero for about 200. Um…we don’t have
anything going on over there that I know of.”
ABQ: “Yeah…I didn’t know, we’ve tried everybody else and
nobody else is…this guy definitely saw it run all the way
down the side of the airplane. Said it was a pretty
interesting thing out there.”
BIGFOOT: “Okay, it was at 30,000 feet..”
ABQ: “…30,000 feet.”
BIGFOOT: “It was like..long…um..”
ABQ: “Yeah, it’s right out of, right out of the X-files. I mean
definite UFO or something like that, I mean.”
BIGFOOT: “..and..it..ooohh..ya’ll are serious about this (laughing).”
ABQ: “Yeah, he’s real serious about that to, and..uh..he looked
at, saw it, no balloons are reported tonight, nothing in
the area…”
BIGFOOT: “It was strobing off the front he said?”
ABQ: “Uh…I think the strobe was off the tail end of it.”
BIGFOOT: “Okay…strobe tail end.”
ABQ: “He said it was kinda, well it was dark but..(aside to
someone else)..did he say there was lights in it?”
BIGFOOT: “How long did he say it was?”
ABQ: “He said it was 300-400 foot long.”
BIGFOOT: “Holy smoke!!”
ABQ: “..and we don’t have any air carriers out here so…that
strobing along.”
BIGFOOT: “um..the only thing that I can do is , I wonder if any of
our aerostats cut loose or something ’cause we don’t
have any aerostats there.”
ABQ: “Yeah…not that far to the north.”
BIGFOOT: “I mean…to me it would sound like an aerostat, but..I
don’t think ours are that big though.”

The post America West Airlines Flight 564 UFO Case – May 25, 1995 first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post America West Airlines Flight 564 UFO Case – May 25, 1995 appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

By Jorge Moreno (SIPSE)

MERIDA, Yucatan – Cases involving people traveling in commercial airliners and seeing UFOs in flight are not few. In Yucatan there are at least three such reports: In one of these, a pilot was unable to publicly remark on the event due to his company’s strictures, which forbid employees to discuss certain matters on account of privacy and confidentiality.

The pilot remarked that during a flight from Mexico City to Merida, he was about to land at the airport of the Yucatan’s capital city when he suddenly saw an unidentified flying object that could not be seen by the control tower’s radar. “I could see it physically beside the airplane, a sort of flying saucer, similar to the ones shown on videos or even television. I couldn’t believe it, much less that the radar couldn’t pick it up.

I calculate that it was 300 meters distant, and judging by the size I could see, it had a radius of 10 meters at least,” he explained.

He added: “I had already heard other reports from my fellow pilots on other flights, but like many, I wouldn’t believe until I saw one. I had also heard cases in which passengers had reported them, but to tell you the truth, we didn’t pay them much attention. I reject the likelihood that it could have been a bird or any other ordinary object. The technology they have must be impressive to have been so near me, yet undetectable by the airplane’s radar or the control tower’s radar. When it took off, it did so at lightspeed and upward.

“I was quite fortunate to see this. I was moved to tell many people who don’t believe in the UFO phenomenon, but the company does not allow it. Several years have gone by and I don’t work there anymore, so I can say it openly. Without question, there’s another world watching us, as I believe Pedro Ferriz used to say, and we don’t want to realize it,” he concluded.” Airports and UFOs

Airports in Mexico City and all over the world are among the places where many UFO sightings have occurred. However, air traffic controllers, pilots and other personnel working in these facilities are under orders not to make it known to avoid causing panic among the population.

There are cases that have filtered through, or rather, cases in which civilian personnel have been witnesses. One of these cases occurred a little over a decade ago in the airport located at Kaua (Eastern Yucatan) where residents frequently report strange lights prowling these areas.

At first they thought the lights were part of airport operations, but soon realized this was not the case when they spoke with airport personnel, and upon discovering that these lights in the sky were coming closer and closer to the municipality and made no noise whatsoever despite flying at low altitude.

When witnesses are asked to provide descriptions, they point out that these were metallic objects measuring around two or three meters in circumference, making irregular movements, noiseless, and leaving the area vertically at high speed after circling the town. One eyewitness account that bolsters the residents of Kaua comes from retired pilot Martin Campos Faber, currently living in Cancun, and who notes that he had to make some private trips to Kaua a few years ago.

“Shortly before landing, I saw two strange vehicles, some UFOs, surrounding us. I won’t deny that they caused me panic, as I thought the worse about having them so near me. But suddenly, they vanished into nothing. They took off at high speed, approached as if looking for something, or perhaps they made a mistake, and took off immediately. I can’t find another explanation for it,” he notes.

[Translation (c) 2015, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez]

The post Mexico: Airliner on Final Approach Reports UFO first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post Mexico: Airliner on Final Approach Reports UFO appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

Date of Sighting: June 20, 1987
Time of Sighting: 12:15 PM Local Time
Date Reported: April 3, 2006
Duration of Sighting: Unknown
Location of Sighting: Cedar Point, Ontario, Canada (Southern Ontario)
Latitude:  44.8 Degrees North
Longitude: 80.18  Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: One
Weather: Clear Skies.

Description (In Witness’s Own Words):  The sighting occurred near Cedar Point, Ontario, Canada. I was flying my Citabria airplane at 3500 ft. ASL. The dull silver saucer shaped UFO was first sited over Christian Island as I was banking my aircraft to the right on a level turn. I opened my left side window to watch as the UFO passed approximately 500 ft. underneath my plane. I then banked the plane to the left so that I would not lose sight of it. The UFO continued on a straight and level path, and although I was going 110 m.p,h. the UFO’s speed was such that there was no way I could catch up to it. If I had to approximate it’s speed, I would guess at 400-600 m.p.h. As for the size of the UFO, I can’t really say, since there was nothing that I could compare it to. If I had to guess, I would say about 30 to 50 feet in diameter. It happened so quickly, but I did get a very good look at it. There were no windows or any markings on the UFO. The color was a dull silver, almost a grey color. I usually always carry a camera in my side pouch, but this time, it was in a bag behind the rear passenger seat. If I had a passenger with me at that time, I would have been able to get a very good picture with my 35mm camera! Now when I go flying, I always make sure that I have at least two cameras with me at all times.

Addition Information About Airplane Pilot Was Flying: The aircraft was manufactured by Champion Aircraft CO. in the USA.  The model is a Citabria 7ECA.

Investigator’s Notes: This is an example of a credible witness reporting an incredible sighting.  The witness did not report this sighting previously because he was afraid of ridicule.  He got a good look at the craft as it approached close to his aircraft.  The sighting occurred near the middle of a bright sunny day.  Not much more to say: Unidentified!

The post Pilot Recalls Chasing a Dull Silver Flying Saucer first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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Date of Sighting: January 3, 1988
Time of Sighting: 3:30 PM EST
Location of Sighting: Near New Britain, Pennsylvania (See Map)

Description: This (my sighting) happened about 3:30 PM January 3,  1988.  I was flying my private planeabout 1200 Feet above sea level over New Britain, PA when this object came down out of the sky from high above at a tremendous speed & leveled off just in front of my airplane about 500 yards North or so.  I increased power to get as close as possible as it just hovered in one place in front of me. I advanced my throttle to 100% power and as I accelerated the object turned to the SSW (I was heading NNE when I spotted the object “falling out of the sky at high speed.)  I immediately called the nearby Willow Grove Naval Air Base on their frequency and told them what I was viewing.  The tower operator informed me he would do a radar sweep and after doing so he reported to me that there was nothing indicated on his scope.  By this time, the object was traveling quite fast, estimated at about 300 MPH perhaps (I can only do 110-125 in my Grumman) and was about 10 miles SSW of me.  The object then swung around 180 degrees and headed back by my way.  It then came to within 200 yards or so of my right wing at the same altitude I was flying.  I called the military base again and they reported nothing on their radar. Suddenly the object tilted slightly back and then took off straight up in a flash, so fast that I barely saw it depart.  The military tower operator asked me if I wanted to report a “UFO” and I was reluctant to do so.  After some convincing I gave him my airplane’s “N” number and home contact info.  I received a call from a gentleman who described himself as being from the “Government UFO Center” and I gave him the whole story.  I never heard another word from anyone.

Note: Wow! What did this guy see? It doesn’t sound like anything from this world? It is interesting to note that the Navy did not pick up the object on radar. Perhaps the object was too close to the airplane to have painted a separate return?

The post Pilot Recalls Close Encounter With “Unconventional Flying Object” first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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Date of Sighting: May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day)
Time of Sighting: Around 10:30 AM CDT
Date Sighting Reported: May 26, 2008
Duration of Sighting: Few Seconds
Location of Sighting: Few Miles East of Houston, TX International Airport
Latitude: 29.7 Degrees North
Longitude: 95.2 Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: Flight Crew & FAA Tower Personnel
Number of Witnesses Interviewed: None (Report Was Gathered From Media)
Weather: Skies Were Mostly Cloudy (Broken Cloud) at 3,500 Feet & Mostly Cloudy (Broken Cloud) at 25,000 Feet. Visibility Was 10 Miles. Winds Were From the South at 13 MPH.

Description: Shortly after takeoff on Runway 150 Left (towards south-southeast) a Continental Airlines Passenger Jet (Flight Number 1544 – Boeing 737) saw what appeared to be a rocket at his “12 o’clock position” traveling straight up leaving a contrail. The jet was en-route to Cleveland, Ohio. Apparently the FBI has concluded that the rocket was a model rocket. However, interviews with model “rocketeers” has not supported this conclusion. The location is “out-of-range” of most hobbyist-level model rockets. Apparently the pilot took made no maneuvers to avoid collision with the object. According to the second tape below the FAA treated this incident as a “man-pad” event. Man- pad is the abbreviation for “man- portable” air defense and refers to the firing of a hand held (shoulder) fired missile (e.g. Stinger missile).

Listen to Radio Communication of Airline Reporting Incident to FAA

Listen to FAA Supervisor Discussing Incident

Comments: I have completed analysis of the radar data obtained from the FAA. The radar track of the aircraft indicates that the pilot took no evasive action to avoid collision with the object and that the object was not detected by radar. (Detected primary returns were not straight ahead of Continental Airlines #1544. See radar plot above.) The identity of this object has not been determined. Original statements made by the FAA and FBI concluded that the object was a model rocket. However, in the tape above the FAA treated the incident as an act of terrorism. A FOIA filed with the FBI produced a response that “no records were found responsive to your request.” This response was received despite the fact that the FBI public ally originally said that the object was a model rocket. (See later statement by FBI below.) Why the deception? Updates to this case will be posted.

An article about the incident appeared in the July 3, 2008 online issue of rocketyplanet.com (http://www.rocketryplanet.com). To quote from the article: “FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap, who said her agency routinely looks into suspicious activity involving aircraft, said agents have not yet identified what the pilot saw out there.”

The following was published by Channel 5 News Cleveland-Akron, Ohio on May 27, 2008:

CLEVELAND — The FBI is investigating an unidentified object seen near a Cleveland-bound Continental Airlines plane just after it departed from Houston. FBI officials said a Continental Airlines pilot told air traffic controllers that an object with a flaming tail and a trail of smoke flew in front of the plane shortly after takeoff.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation, but officials say they believe the flaming projectile seen by the pilot just east of Houston’s airport Monday was a model rocket. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig says officials are unsure how high the object flew or how close it came to the plane. An FBI representative said the plane wasn’t in any danger, it landed safely Monday.

The Boeing 737 was carrying 148 passengers. The FBI routinely looks into any suspicious activity that involves an airplane.

The post Continental Airlines Flight Passes Close to Unknown Object Near Airport first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post Continental Airlines Flight Passes Close to Unknown Object Near Airport appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

Description: The witness called and reported his sighting on the morning that it happened. He stated that he was on approach with his “Mooney” aircraft on a heading of 240 degrees (southwest) at 3,300 feet, and traveling at 145 knots. He saw a bright neon green object over the west valley near Magoo Naval Air Station in Ventura, California. He said that the object was moving at a heading of 270 degrees (west).

Comments: The witness is an accomplished helicopter mechanic and an experienced pilot. He has been flying for 25 years, has nearly 5,000 hours of flying time, is instrument rated, and he has a multi-engine rating. The only drawback to this sighting is that the witness only saw the object (light) for 1 to 2 seconds. This fact reduces the accuracy of his observation.

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Date of Sighting: December 26, 2010
Time of Sighting: 5:30 PM PST
Location of Sighting: About 20 Miles East of  (See Map)

Description: I am an airline pilot. Shortly after departure from Las Vegas, Nevada we spotted a light in the sky. We were on our departure climb Northwest of Las Vegas around 5:30 PM local time. While passing abeam the town of Pahrump we noticed the light. It was moving from Northwest to Southeast at a speed greater than that of an aircraft, but slower than a meteor. It was larger than an aircraft light and blue-green in color. It traveled along the horizon passing from our 1 o’clock position to our 3 o’clock position. At the 3 o’clock position it stopped moving and appeared stationary for about 3 to 5 seconds and then disappeared as though someone turned off the light switch. It appeared to be at approximately 20 miles from our position and just east of Pahrump, Nevada at an approximate altitude of 20,000 feet. During the whole period, our Nav Display was set at a range of 160 nautical miles and our TCAS wasn’t painting any targets. I have around 8,000 hrs of flying and the pilot I was flying with has over 30,000. We both agreed we had never seen anything like that.

Note: Here is an incredible sighting by credible witnesses. Of course the area where the pilots saw the object (light) is close to the “Infamous Area 51.” More analysis will be conducted regarding this case. Updates will be posted.

Update – Preliminary Radar Analysis – March 27, 2011: A “screening analysis” of radar data has identified the airline that spotted the unknown light and has shown unknown targets in the direction, in the position and the time where the object was reported by the flight crew. The targets were moving very slowly towards the northwest which is not the same direction observed by the crew. However, the object could have appeared to be “nearly stationary” at the point that it was observed the crew because it was moving much slower than the aircraft. The aircraft was flying at around 450 mph towards the northwest at the time of the sighting. The UFO was detected at three points by both radars. Analysis shows that the UFO moved west at 94 mph, then north-northwest at 129 mph and then northwest at 225 mph before dropping of the radar. This is consistent with the report that the object stopped moving (or appeared to stop moving) and then disappeared. The above radar map shows a “zoom” of the area of the UFO returns and shows the direction of movement. The zoomed area also shows the plots from two radars.

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BY ANDREW DANZIGER SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

People love to ask pilots questions. But my favorite, and certainly the most interesting, is “Have you ever seen a UFO while flying?”

The answer is yes. And here’s how it happened.

It was April 10, 1989 and early in my career. I was still a first officer at a regional airline. It was about 8 p.m. and we had just taken off from Kansas City International Airport bound for Waterloo, Iowa. It was a beautiful evening, with a full moon, clear skies and crisp early spring temperatures. The weather forecast for Waterloo was as nice, with clear skies and unlimited visibility.

After a short taxi and take-off, Air Traffic Control (ATC) cleared us to our cruise altitude of 15,000 feet. We established a Northeasterly heading, pointed strait at Waterloo, about 200 miles ahead. There were thin wispy clouds all around us, illuminated by the light of the full moon that shone through the captain’s-side window at our left. Despite the presence of these clearly visible wispy clouds everywhere, we weren’t flying through any of them. There was also a white disc dimly but clearly visible through those clouds just off to our right.

We flew on and I commented to Bruce, the captain, about this dimly visible disc. He said that he’d been watching the same thing since we had leveled off. It looked similar to the moon faintly visible though thin fog, except the two were visible at the same time on opposite sides of our cockpit. We looked down below for search lights, you know, the kind that’s sometimes used for aerial light displays or advertising at a car dealer, but there was no beam of light coming from the ground, no search light from an airport either. The captain and I had cumulatively spent many years flying and were accustomed to seeing — day and night — all manner of airplane, blimp, hot air balloon, satellite and bird. But neither of us had any idea what this disc could be.

We spent 20 to 30 minutes at our cruise altitude, all the while staring at this white disc dimly visible through some clouds that we somehow never seemed to fly through. Within about 40 miles of Waterloo, ATC confirmed the weather, still clear skies and unrestricted visibility at our destination as we began to descend. We got busy with our flying duties and for a short while, maybe for a minute, both of us had looked away from the disc, but when I looked up at it again I saw something that has been burned into my memory.

I yelled to Bruce, “Holy s–t.” He immediately looked over from what he was doing. Above the clouds, where the white disc had been, was a now giant red ball. It was big and bright and just sat there above the clouds. It wasn’t intense enough to illuminate us with a red glow but it was still plenty bright. We sat there in stunned silence. We obviously didn’t want to hit it but quickly saw that it was flying parallel to our course. We weren’t on a collision course and we also weren’t gaining on it. Time became a blur as we continued our descent, this giant, red ball holding its course.

We slowly lost altitude and at around 13,000 feet, the brightly glowing ball began a gradual descent, too. As it did, it slowly started disappearing behind those wispy clouds. In about 30 seconds, like a setting sun but not nearly as bright, it vanished behind the clouds. The instant it fully disappeared, hundreds of lights began flashing from within the clouds.

As I looked on in disbelief, the flashing lights were brighter than ever and I could see that the section of the cloud that the glowing red ball had descended behind was starting to stretch apart like a piece of “Silly Putty,” two halves being pulled slowly apart with the middle getting thinner and thinner. This continued until the halves grew so thin that it tore apart and, pop! Everything was gone. The dimly lit disc, the flashing lights, the thin wispy clouds that we had with us for the last 40 minutes; all of it, gone. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Only the full moon remained off to our left.

Bruce and I just looked at each other. “Oh my God, what the f–k was that”, was all I could muster. My colleague just stared out the windscreen, mesmerized. We discussed whether we should report what we had just witnessed. After a few minutes, I picked up the radio mic and asked the Kansas City Center controller if they had anything on radar. “Nope, nothing but you,” came the response. “No, not right now but a couple minutes ago, at our one to two o’clock,” I replied. “No,” he repeated, “It’s a slow night. I’ve got the entire sector between Kansas City and Waterloo and you’re all that’s been in it for the last hour.” Bruce and I again just looked at each other, completely dumbfounded. “So for the last say 40 minutes or so you’ve had no traffic at all, not at our one or two o’clock?” I asked. “No sir, not at your one or two o’clock, not anywhere, you’re all there is,” he assured us.

A minute or so later, from over the radio came, “Air Midwest , do you want to report a UFO?” We looked at each other for a couple seconds and Bruce nodded his head. “Yes sir, we do,” I finally replied. “OK, take down this number and call when you get on the ground.”

After deplaning we called the number. “National UFO Reporting Center” said the voice from the other end. At the time I didn’t even know such a place existed, but they took collect calls from pilots and air traffic controllers. Bruce told the person on the other end of the line that we wanted to report a UFO. We were interviewed separately, first the captain and then me. When my interview was finished the man on the other end of the line said that we would never hear from him again and would never receive any additional information, this was going to be our first and only contact regarding the sighting. I asked, “Can I ask just one question, do you think we’re crazy, has anyone else ever reported something like this?”

“Oh no, you’re not crazy at all,” he replied. “This very same thing has been reported by pilots countless times.” And while neither of us had any idea what we had saw one thing we were certain of, it wasn’t from here.

Our airline had no official UFO policy (nor did any that I ever worked for), but at the time we were both young with long and promising careers in front of us. We knew through the grapevine that pilots weren’t supposed to talk about UFOs so we swore the station agent on duty to secrecy and agreed not to talk about our incident to any of our co-workers.

That was more than 25 years ago. Today I’m older, wiser and at the end of my career. In my last few years of flying the subject of UFOs occasionally came up in the cockpit. If it was brought up at all, it was usually by a younger, newer first officer who’d say something with much trepidation. More than a few pilots have shared their UFO stories with me, too. I’m not going too far out on a ledge to say that virtually all pilots believe in UFOs. Little green men, “close encounters”, alien kidnappings,… not so much, but with billions of stars and trillions of planets out there, “ya gotta believe”, and almost all of us do.

Andrew Danziger is a 28-year airline veteran, with experience in turboprops and Boeing aircraft. He was an international 757/767 captain for the last 14 years. He has served as an airline ground school instructor and check pilot in both simulators and aircraft and was one of the pilots to fly Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

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By MARIO LEDWITH FOR THE DAILY MAIL

A passenger jet came within 300ft of colliding with an unidentified flying object, an official probe has heard.

Despite an investigation, the UK Airprox Board – which examines reports of near misses – could not explain the ‘blue and yellow’  object which passed under the  Airbus 320.

The incident happened on December 2 last year over Baillieston, 13 miles east of Glasgow Airport, at around 3500ft.

The shocked pilot reported the collision risk as ‘high’.

The A320 was descending into Glasgow in clear conditions with the sun behind, when both the plane’s pilots saw an object around 100 yards away.

The board’s report said: ‘The object passed directly beneath before either of the crew had time to take avoiding action or had “really registered it”, although they both agreed that it appeared blue and yellow (or silver) in colour and was “quite large” with a small frontal area.

‘The controller stated he was not talking to anyone else in that area and nothing was seen on radar.’

In its report, the board dismissed a variety of possible explanations.

It said: ‘In the absence of a primary radar return, it was unlikely that the untraced aircraft was a fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft or man-carrying balloon.

‘It was considered that a meteorological balloon would be radar-significant and unlikely to be released in the area.

‘A glider could not be discounted but it was felt unlikely that one would be operating in that area, due to the constrained airspace and the lack of thermal activity due to low temperature.

‘Similarly, the board considered that a hang-glider or para-motor would be radar significant and that conditions precluded them.

‘Members were unable to reach a conclusion as to a likely candidate for the conflicting aircraft.

The pilot was clearly shocked and reported that there had been a ‘high’ risk of collision following the incident on December 2 last year.

He told his control tower: ‘We just had something pass underneath us quite close. Have you got anything on in our area.’

They replied: ‘Negative. We’ve got nothing on radar and we’re not talking to any traffic either’

The unidentified flying object passed directly beneath the plane before either of the crew had a chance to take action to avoid it.

Both pilots described the object as ‘blue and yellow (or silver) in colour with a small frontal area but that it was “bigger than a balloon”.’

The airline involved has not been identified by the report authors.

Several companies fly in Airbus 320 planes from the airport and they can seat up to 220 people – although the number of seats varies.

The report authors said they had not been able to work out what the object was.

They wrote: ‘The controller stated that he was not talking to anyone else in that area and that nothing was seen on radar. Search action was taken with no result and the A320 pilot stated his intention to file an Airprox.

‘Additionally, a further detailed review of individual radar sources did not yield any conclusive radar data that matched the A320 pilot’s description of the encounter.

‘The Air Traffic Control unit’s own radar replay also showed no surveillance traces in the immediate vicinity of the A320 at the time.’

Once on the ground the A320 pilot gave a further description of the event to the Glasgow Aerodrome Controller.

The pilot said: ‘We seemed to only miss it by a couple of hundred feet it went directly beneath us – wherever we were when we called it in it was within about ten seconds; couldn’t tell what direction it was going but it went right underneath us.’

Asked if he thought it was a glider, the pilot replied: ‘well maybe a microlight – it just looked too big for a balloon.’

But the board ruled out any such aircraft and were baffled.

‘The board initially considered likely candidates for the untraced aircraft. The A320 crew had not been able to assimilate any information regarding the form of the untraced aircraft in the fleeting glimpse they had, reporting only a likely colour,’ it said.

‘Members were of the opinion that, in the absence of a primary radar return, it was unlikely that the untraced aircraft was a fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft or man-carrying balloon.

‘It was considered that a meteorological balloon would be radar significant and unlikely to be released in the area of the Airprox.

‘A glider could not be discounted but it was felt unlikely that one would be operating in that area, both due to the constrained airspace and the lack of thermal activity due to the low temperature.

‘Similarly, The board considered that a hang-glider or para-motor would be radar significant and that conditions precluded them, as they did para-gliders or parascenders.

‘Members were unable to reach a conclusion as to a likely candidate for the conflicting aircraft and it was therefore felt that the Board had insufficient information to determine a cause or risk.’

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The captain of the packed Airbus A320 spotted the silver object heading straight for the cockpit as his plane flew above Berkshire.

He was looking out of the left window a split second before the bizarre incident.

A safety report said: “As he turned to look ahead, he perceived an object travelling towards them at what appeared to be the same level, slightly above the flight deck windscreen.

“Having very little time to focus, he was under the apprehension that they were on a collision course with no time to react.

“His immediate reaction was to duck to the right and reach over to alert the first officer; there was no time to talk to alert him.”

The stunned captain blurted out: “Did you see that?”

But his bemused deputy had not seen the UFO and replied: “See what?”

The pilot’s behaviour made him fear there was a fault with their plane.

“The first officer turned and looked at him thinking some was wrong with the aircraft,” the report revealed.

The captain was so spooked by the incident in July that he reported the sighting to safety watchdogs at the UK Airprox Board , which investigates near-misses in British airspace.

He told experts he saw a flying object shaped like a cigar or rugby ball, which was “bright silver, metallic”.

The “near-miss” happened 20 miles west of Heathrow Airport, according to a report published last week.

An official probe said: “The pilot was subjected to a powerful impression of immediate danger caused by his perception of an object closing rapidly on his aircraft.”

But investigators, who did not reveal which airline was involved, failed to find any unidentified aircraft in the area at the time.

They added: “It wasn’t possible to trace the object or determine the likely cause of the sighting.”

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