UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record

by Leslie Kean

  Several samples of the red residue on the Cargomaster were analyzed using a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy device. One red sample was found to be most similar to reference material consisting of tere- and isophthalate polymer with the “possible presence of inorganic silicate compounds.”12 Another sample of bare metal from the wing was found to be most similar to reference material consisting of “epoxy materials with some inorganic silicate fillers.” While certain segments of metal from a U.S. Air Force unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were also subjected to the same analysis for comparison, little has been said of these findings except that their composition was “significantly different” from the red residue marks. The nearest Air Force base flying UAVs is Tyndall at Panama City, Florida, some 150 miles to the ESE.

  If something struck this airplane, it certainly qualifies as a UAP until it is positively identified.

  Considering the many kinds of UAP flight maneuvers that have been reported, it is clear that whatever the phenomenon is, it appears to be able to outperform high-performance aircraft in virtually every respect. This same conclusion was made in a recently unclassified report from the United Kingdom.13 In most of these pilot reports the aircraft appears to be the focus of “attention” of the phenomenon; this conjecture has been supported by many hundreds of high-quality foreign pilot reports as well.14 Hundreds of reports in my files suggest that the variety of phenomena are associated with a very high degree of intelligence and deliberate flight control.15

  The majority of pilot reports indicate that UAP tend to approach aircraft during darkness. At night, it is possible to see the readily discernable colors either within relatively small, localized regions (similar to individual light sources) and/or more diffusely over their entire surface. The appearance of the UAP’s lighting patterns takes many different forms; they might be interpreted as some type of aircraft anticollision or navigation lights, even though intense blue lights, generally not permitted in America, are reported in some cases.

  Most pilots understand that they will experience a wide range of visual phenomena in the atmosphere over the course of their flying career, but they do not expect that some will remain unexplained after considering all known natural phenomena and man-made objects. When this happens, each witness is left with a lingering uncertainty, a doubt about the core identity of what was seen, and must wrestle with a decision about whether or not to report the event.

  Most likely, he or she will not do so. Pilots know how people are treated when discussing or reporting strange sightings, and they are not inclined to risk ridicule or job security. I call this the “law of diminishing reports”—a negative feedback effect that inhibits more and more people from saying anything about what they’ve seen. The long-term effect of this is that less and less reliable data becomes available for serious study, and the whole subject of UAP slides farther into the realm of myth and societal humor. Since this has been going on for many decades, airline administrators and government bureaucrats can validly claim that there is nothing to investigate or take seriously because pilots are not reporting anything. And scientists who rightly claim that they cannot study a phenomenon without having reliable data are justified for not becoming interested! Already rare “anomalous” phenomena seem to become even rarer, reinforcing the mistaken belief that these events don’t occur in the first place.

  Air traffic controllers are often aware of these unreported encounters with UAP, since they are normally the first to receive radio calls from the cockpit crew about the UAP, or pick up the targets on radar. But they, also, do not report many incidents. A controller at Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center wrote, “In my six years at the Center, I have personally been part of three bizarre encounters, non-military and non-civilian. I’m just one of 15,000 controllers, too, so there have to be many more that go unreported … In a fourth incident I was present for (in the area but not at the actual sector), the controller told the supe about the encounter, and after both determined there was nothing on radar, they just kind of shook their heads and rubbed their chins, and that was that. This I believe is what typically happens. Nobody knows what to do, really.”16

  Based on surveys and pilot interviews conducted by myself and associates at NARCAP, we estimate that only about 5 to 10 percent of pilot sightings of UAP are reported. Unless we implement policy changes, aircrew will continue to remain silent.

  History is filled with accounts of previously ridiculed subjects that have turned out to be important to mankind, as a study of the history of science confirms. We must not simply overlook UAP because we are uncomfortable with the mere thought of them. Neither society’s current prejudice toward UAP nor its abiding ignorance about them is likely to prevent their continued appearance, nor do such responses prove that they don’t exist. These phenomena simply won’t go away.

  CHAPTER 6

  Incursion at O’Hare Airport, 2006

  On November 7, 2006, something unimaginable happened at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport during the1 routine afternoon rush hour. For about five minutes, a disc-shaped object hovered quietly over the United Airlines terminal and then cut a sharp hole in the cloud bank above while zooming off. Hardly anyone heard about it until the story broke on the front page of the Chicago Tribune on January 1, 2007, almost two months later, which precipitated a flurry of national coverage on CNN, MSNBC, and other networks. With over a million hits, the Tribune’s story quickly achieved the status of being the most-read piece in the entire history of the newspaper’s website, but then faded from the media radar screen. No official assessment was ever provided to a fascinated but alarmed frequent-flying public or to the employees of United who were directly involved.

  It was an ordinary, overcast day, with visibility of about 4 miles and winds at 4 knots. Between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. on that afternoon, pilots, managers, and mechanics from United Airlines looked up from their ground positions at the terminal and saw the strange object hovering just under a cloud bank, which began at 1,900 feet above the ground. According to these witnesses, the metallic-looking disc was about the size of a quarter or half dollar held at arm’s length. Based on the collection of eyewitness testimony, the UFO is estimated to have ranged in size from about 22 to 88 feet in diameter, and was suspended at approximately 1,500 feet over Gate C17 at the United terminal.

  A pilot announced the sighting over in-bound ground radio for all grounded planes; a United taxi mechanic moving a Boeing 777 heard radio chatter about the flying disc and looked up; pilots waiting to take off opened the front windows to lean out and see the object for themselves. There was a buzz at United Airlines. One management employee received a radio call about the hovering object, and ran outside to view it for himself. He then called the United operations center, made sure the FAA was contacted, and drove out on the concourse to speak directly with witnesses there.

  Reports show the event lasted from about five to fifteen minutes. Then, with many eyes now fixated on it, the suspended disc suddenly shot up at an incredible speed and was gone in less than a second, leaving a crisp, cookie-cutter-like hole in the dense clouds. The opening was approximately the same size as the object, and those directly underneath it could see blue sky visible on the other side. After a few minutes the break in the cloud bank closed up as the clouds drifted back together. “This was extremely unusual, according to the witnesses,” Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch told television news after interviewing the United witnesses for his story. “Airplanes just don’t react like this. They slice through clouds.”

  This was definitely not an airplane, the observers said, and many seemed shaken by what they had seen. Some were awed; others afraid. “The witness credibility is beyond question, and safety was a big concern,” Hilkevitch said during a phone conversation. He noted that all observers independently described the same thing: a hovering disc making no noise as it shot up and left a clear hole in the clouds. “The only discrepancies were their size estimations and that some said
it was rotating or spinning,” he told me.

  Sadly, every one of these highly credible aviation witnesses to the O’Hare UFO—and there were many—has chosen to remain anonymous, due to fears for job security. One United employee told me he could otherwise be perceived as “betraying” his company. Witnesses do not want to be “caught talking to the media since the airline had officially claimed that nothing happened,” he wrote in an e-mail. These witnesses to something that’s not supposed to exist—something laughed at by their colleagues—were left alone with their unsettling observations. “I realize this is a controversial position, but with my extensive knowledge of modern aviation technologies, I know this UFO probably wasn’t created on this planet,” one told me a few months afterward.

  The FAA and United Airlines at first denied having any information about the incident, but both had to acknowledge the sighting when a tape of a United supervisor’s call to the air traffic control tower was released by the FAA.

  I have listened to those tapes.

  “Hey, did you see a flying disc out by C17?” asked the supervisor, giving her name as Sue. Laughter is audible from tower operator Dave and a second person nearby. “That’s what a pilot in the ramp area at C17 told us,” she continues. “They saw some flying disc above them. But we can’t see above us.” The laughter continues nervously, and Dave replies, “Hey, you guys been celebrating the holidays or anything, or what? You’re celebrating Christmas today? I haven’t seen anything, Sue, and if I did I wouldn’t admit to it. No, I have not seen any flying disc at gate C17.”

  About fifteen minutes later, Sue calls back again, this time reaching operator Dwight. The conversation is as follows:

  Sue: “This is Sue from United.” (laughter)

  Tower: “Yes.” (serious tone)

  (12 second pause)

  S: “There was a disc out there flying around.”

  T: “There was a what?”

  S: “A disc.”

  T: “A disc?”

  S: “Yeah.”

  T: “Can you hang on one second?”

  S: “Sure.”

  (pause, 33 seconds)

  T: “Okay, I’m sorry, what can I do for you?”

  S: “I’m sorry, there was, I told Dave, there was a disc flying outside above Charley 17 and he thought I was pretty much high. But, um, I’m not high and I’m not drinking.”

  T: “Yeah.”

  S: “So, someone got a picture of it. So if you guys see it out there—”

  T: “A disc, like a Frisbee?”

  S: “Like a UFO type thing.”

  T: “Yeah, okay.”

  S: “He got a picture of it.” (laughs)

  T: “How, how, how high above Charley 17?”

  S: “Well, it was above our tower. So …”

  T: “Yeah.”

  S: “So, if you happen to see anything …” (she continues to laugh)

  T: “You know, I’ll keep a peeled eye for that.”

  S: “Okay.”

  Unfortunately, the photograph Sue referenced has never been located. Also, due to the way the towers were constructed, the operators were not able to see the UFO; its location in the sky was not within their visual field through the glass window because of the roof overhang, so it hovered in what amounted to the tower’s blind spot. Planes full of passengers were landing and taking off while the “UFO type thing” sat poised in the sky overhead, and no one knew what this thing was, why it was there, or what it might do next. This taped exchange, which includes giggling, Sue’s need to proclaim she wasn’t “high,” and Dave’s admission that he wouldn’t admit it even if he had seen the disc, is a glaring commentary on the UFO taboo that infects aviation personnel even in the midst of an ongoing, possibly dangerous incident being reported by trained observers of aircraft.

  Dave might have reacted differently if the flying disc had been picked up on radar, but it wasn’t. Perhaps the object had some kind of stealth capability, but at the same time we know that airport radars are not configured to register stationary objects such as this, or, at the other extreme, extraordinarily high-speed motion, because such behavior is outside the norm. The O’Hare incident is not the only example of this. Unidentified objects are often not detected on radar, even when physically present and seen by multiple witnesses, and obviously this doesn’t mean they aren’t there. In many other cases, radar tracks are captured, providing valuable data on the object’s movements. What determines this variability in detection is unknown.

  Fortunately, a team of experts from Dr. Richard Haines’s group NARCAP spent five months rigorously investigating the incident and its safety implications, and analyzing all possible explanations for the sighting. Their 154-page report was co-authored by Haines; meteorologist William Pucket, formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency; aerospace engineer Laurence Lemke, also previously with NASA on advanced space mission projects; Donald Ledger, a Canadian pilot and aviation professional; and five other specialists.2 They concluded that the O’Hare disc was a solid physical object behaving in ways that could not be explained in conventional terms. It had penetrated Class B restricted airspace over a major airport without utilizing a transponder.

  The NARCAP study stated:

  This incident is typical of many others before it in that an unknown phenomenon was able to avoid radar contact and, thus, official recognition and effective response. When combined with the deeply entrenched bias pilots have against reporting these sightings, the FAA seemingly had justifiable grounds for ignoring this particular UAP as non-existent.3

  And indeed the FAA tried hard to ignore the incident despite its safety implications, but pressure from the Chicago Tribune and others forced a response. Initially an FAA spokesperson attempted to explain the incident as airport lights reflecting off the bottom of the cloud ceiling. However, the event occurred in daylight and the airport lights hadn’t been turned on yet! In a second try, a different spokesperson wrote the whole thing off as a “weather phenomenon.” Obviously, these United pilots and airport employees know how to recognize airport lights on clouds and unusual weather conditions, though it was a normal overcast day. They would not have described a flying disc, each providing the same independent description from different vantage points, if some strange weather was unfolding, and to suggest otherwise is an insult to those doing their duty by reporting the incursion.

  Transportation expert Hilkevitch, who routinely covers the much less exciting, mundane events that occur on a regular basis at O’Hare Airport, was mystified by the FAA disinterest in the incident. “If this had been a plane, it would have been investigated,” he told me. “The FAA treats the smallest safety issue as very important. It will investigate a coffeepot getting loose in the galley and falling while a plane is landing.” Brian E. Smith, a former manager within NASA’s Aviation Safety Program, told me that “managers should want to hear about such vehicle operations before they become accidents or disasters.” He said the safety implications of anything operating outside the authority of air traffic control at a major airport are obvious, no matter what type of vehicle it is.

  The NARCAP experts concurred:

  Anytime an airborne object can hover for several minutes over a busy airport but not be registered on radar or seen visually from the control tower, it constitutes a potential threat to flight safety. The identity of the UAP remains unknown. An official government inquiry should be carried out to evaluate whether or not current sensing technologies are adequate to insure against a future incident such as this.4

  So, what exactly was going on here?

  I decided to call FAA spokesperson Tony Molinaro and ask him for more details about the bizarre “weather” that he said United Airlines pilots mistook for a physical object—weather so freakish that it was able to cut a round, sharply defined hole though a thick cloud bank in a split second. Such a phenomenon would certainly be worthy of study by scientists in the age of climate change, and is actually even more of a novelty than hoverin
g or speeding discs, which have made the news since the 1940s.

  “In the absence of any kind of factual evidence, there is nothing more we can do,” Molinaro said in a phone interview, in response to my asking why the FAA chose not to investigate this. But was there factual evidence for his newly discovered weather phenomenon? Weather is the best guess, he said, and then pointed to a specific natural phenomenon that isn’t really weather: a “hole-punch cloud,” as it is colloquially called. After all, he stated, such a cloud hole is in “a perfect circular shape like a round disc” and has “vapor going up into it.” In other words, witnesses mistook the cloud hole for a disc (even though the disc was seen for many minutes before the hole was created), and the ascension of vapor, somehow moving up in defiance of gravity, was what witnesses believed to be the disc shooting upward through the clouds.

  Doesn’t this sound ridiculous, if you stop and think about it? It’s the kind of response that has typically been provided for decades when officials are pressured to say something. And even if Molinaro hedged his explanation by qualifying it as a “guess,” this kind of subtle understatement is quickly lost to the mass media and the general public.

  And was his guess at all reasonable? I contacted weather experts and scientists specializing in cloud physics, something the FAA would have been wise to have done before issuing its explanation. No, this could not possibly be what witnesses saw, I learned.

  Hole-punch clouds are formed when ice crystals from a higher cloud deck fall onto a lower one. The hole is formed by ice crystals falling downward, not upward as Molinaro postulated. Super-cooled water droplets in the lower cloud adhere to the crystals, enlarging them and leaving a space around them in the cloud. The crystal mass accumulates weight and then falls farther, below the second cloud, evaporating when it hits warmer air.