Is This Real? UFO Investigator Separates Fact from Fiction
By ISAAC GROVES/Times-News
2008-02-17 03:03:00
Start talking about UFOs and one of two things generally happen: People scoff, or they talk about the weird thing they saw in the sky that time.
Sometimes they do both.
Jim Dilettoso is really interested in those stories. For nearly 30 years, he has made a sideline of looking at the photos and video that sometimes accompanies these stories to pick out the fake ones, so people can wonder about the rest.
“I find some fakes, but good fakes are hard to do,” said Dilettoso, who splits his time between Graham and Arizona.
You won’t learn that much about how he authenticates photos here.
A lot of his explanations of pixels, spectrum analysis and lines per frame mean next to nothing to a small-town reporter who spends a lot of time at city council meetings. A lot of it has to do with how to tell the size of an object by the amount of light reflected from its surface and its relationship to other objects in the frame.
Once he can say the picture has not been altered, it gets relatively simple. Dilettoso says he has a database made up of images of things seen in the sky from airplanes to meteorites. He compares those images to the ones in the photos. If he gets a match, then the photo is explained.
“If I don’t get a match, it’s an unknown,” Dilettoso said. “It’s not an alien spacecraft, it’s an unknown.”
Dilettoso does see video and pictures he thinks are fakes — just visit www.azfamily.com/ontv/teased/stories/KTVKExtra20050617.1ca0 e0fc.html to read an account of Dilettoso analyzing a video he did not trust.
But not jumping to conclusions does not mean Dilettoso does not believe in strange things in the sky or even extraterrestrial visitors. He saw something in the sky once himself on Aug. 17, 1979, while traveling with fellow investigator Wendell Stevens on a rural road in California.
“I saw a huge illuminated boomerang and I thought it was the end of the world,” Dilettoso said. “I thought everybody in the world must be seeing this it was so big and so bright.”
Dilettoso said he could see it in the air for about 10 minutes and then it stood on its end in the air and shot straight up into the sky. He was so overwhelmed, so sure this was doomsday, he didn’t even get the two cameras out of the car to take a picture.
“I didn’t think there would be a photo shop open tomorrow,” he said.
In the late 1970s, Dilettoso says he was producing tours for rock bands. He had a background in film and when the Moody Blues tour he was running wrapped up for the winter, two men named Jim Lorenzen and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Wendell Stevens, both well-known UFO researchers, contacted him about testing some pictures.
He had a background in computers and video, too, very cutting-edge stuff in the late 1970s, and he started spending his winters looking at pictures of things in the sky.
Not everyone is impressed with Dilettoso’s methods. Put his name into an Internet search engine and see a comprehensive list of the ways one human being can impeach the character of another. It’s not skeptics attacking him for the most part; it’s other UFO researchers.
“A lot of the UFO research community is really vicious toward each other,” Dilettoso said. “If MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) says ‘this looks good’ another group will come in and dump on it.”
He does have friends in the field — a lot of them. Peter Davenport, who runs the National UFO Reporting Center in Davenport, Wash., says Dilettoso does great work. He especially praised Dilettoso’s work looking at pictures of a 1997 UFO sighting in Phoenix, Ariz.
A lot of people apparently saw it and CNN reported on it several months after the fact. There is an account, amateur video and still of a virtual reality model of the incident Dilettoso worked on at edition.cnn.com/US/9706/19/ufo.lights/.
Dilettoso says there are patterns to sightings. For example, he says, every five or six years there will be a reported sighting of an egg-shaped object. One was reported in Graham in 2001.
A few months after that, there will be a report of a cigar or boomerang-shaped object in the same state or region and a few months after that, there will be a report of a cluster of lights not far away.
Something like that was also seen in Graham in 1961. It was not reported until 2003.
Reports come from all across the United States, according to a monthly report of UFO sightings from MUFON, which is about the biggest and best-known of the many UFO research organizations in the country. But the vast majority of reported sightings are in the United States.
In MUFON’s January monthly report, for example, out of 606 reported sightings, 556 were in the United States, 15 were in Canada, six in the United Kingdom and 29 other reported sightings spread across 18 countries.
Within the United States, Texas led other states in reported sightings with 159, some of which made the news. North Carolina had 12 sightings reported.
Dilettoso says that in his conversations with Davenport he has learned there are reports from every county in North Carolina, although there seems to be a blackout over Fayetteville with its huge military bases.
Dilettoso said it could be that Americans want to report these things and have organizations and a relatively trusted government to report them to.
“Large numbers of unidentified objects could be flying around the Ukraine and there’s nobody to report them to,” Dilettoso said.
California, Dilettoso said, has the largest number of UFO investigators and the largest population and came in second in the January report with 75 reported sightings.
Dilettoso found four reports filed from Alamance County since 1998, one of which the Times-News reported in November, 2003.
“... ? people across the county were talking up the big boom that rattled windows and woke up even sound sleepers. At church and over lunch, people described jumping out of bed and looking out the window, expecting a hole in their roof or a blazing fire at the neighbor’s house.”
The Times-News never got a good explanation for what caused that boom or booms. The paper went so far as to file a freedom of information act request. The Navy wrote a letter saying there were no military planes in the area and commercial planes don’t go that fast, so this is indeed unidentified.
It does not take much reading about UFO investigations to hit talk of government conspiracy. In some cases, the government is accused of working with aliens or some Zionist conspiracy in some of the more extreme theories.
Dilettoso says he has never run into government interference.
“In all the work I’ve done, I’ve never had someone come to me and say, ‘You better cut that out or we’re going to kill you,’ ” Dilettoso said. “I wish they would; it would make me feel like some of what I’ve done had some meaning.”
While Dilettoso does not seem to jump to conclusions in his investigations, he does have beliefs.
“Aliens are looking at us because we’re more advanced with our free will and spirituality.”
ACCOUNTS OF AREA REPORTS
These are UFO reports files with the National UFO Reporting Center. Director Peter Davenport says he does not give out the names of the people who report sightings.
This Nov. 16, 2003, incident was reported on Nov, 17, 2003. The Times-News also reported it. “OK many people in Mebane heard it over a wide area, car alarms went off and folks all over were awakened Sunday morning at about 1:10 a.m.
“It was one very loud sonic boom followed about three to five seconds later by another not quite as loud, which leads me to believe it was more than one object. I ran outside and that’s when I heard the jet engines (or jets) heading south southwest from where I live — 1 mile north of I-85/40 and Buckhorn Road. I believe the engine sounds were from fighter-type craft not commercial transport planes.) I’m pretty sure it was more than one due to the two very separate sonic booms. There was a cloud ceiling so I never saw any lights. Don’t want to get any of our Air Force pilots in any trouble, but it did startle a lot of people.”
This Jan. 10, 2001, sighting in Graham was reported the same day. “I had contact with Peter Davenport as to a questionable sighting of circular or egg-shaped objects in southern sky shortly after noon, our time.
I did the same with almost the exactly same time and weather conditions today. I have now obtained digital photographs of same type of objects taken today 01/10/01. One photograph even shows northeasterly commercial jet traffic to verify size (small) of objects and direction of travel.
If this is some natural phenomenon, I would like it explained. I will have to get my daughter to download and send as soon as possible. I do not know how to download these pictures. Thank goodness for computer generation kids.
In the picture containing the commercial jet, there was no interference between the object and the jet and the object appeared to be much higher than the jet. (estimated at 30,000 feet) This occurrence has been very questioning to me.
I have over 4,000 hours as a private pilot and I have never witnessed anything of this nature.”
This April 15, 1971, a sighting in Burlington was reported in 2003. “While riding home from middle school in the back seat of a Volkswagen Beetle, I was gazing out the rear window of the car when I saw a silvery perfectly round object that resembled a full moon rising steadily against a gray overcast sky. There was no rain occurring, just a dry overcast gray day.
At that time, I was 13 years old. I knew that what I saw was not a weather balloon, due to the fact that my father, a small aircraft pilot, had taken me numerous times to the local airport to view weather balloon launches, and I was very familiar with all that weather balloons involve, both visually and mechanically.
While watching this object for about 30 seconds, I felt that I was not intended to see it, and I made what I felt was a conscious decision to never discuss what I had seen. I noticed the object ascending from the East, and I watched it with apprehension until the vehicle in which I was riding turned a corner and went down a hill toward my home, and my view was blocked by landscape and trees.
When I first noticed the silver circle, it was about 20 degrees above the visible horizon, when I lost sight of it 30 seconds later, it was in what I would consider the 11 a.m. position, but not overhead, still east of me. To the east of my sighting location there was no developments, airports, cities, etc. — just rural area. The object seemed to be very close in proximity and relatively the size of a full moon, and metallic — silver in color. Twenty-seven years later, I can still visualize and feel exactly what I witnessed in 1971, and I still have an eerie feeling when I think about it, which is mostly all the time.”
This Oct. 1, 1961, sighting was reported in 2003. “Three flat, large white lights in delta pattern, no sound, flying at treetop level at 35 to 40 mph.
As I exited my car and was walking toward my front door, I glanced up to the sky and was surprised to see three large circles of white light in a triangular pattern sailing treetop level over some trees in my side yard. I walked out into the yard for a better view and didn’t feel fearful since “it” was flying away from me in a southwest/northeast direction at approximately 35 to 40 mph.
The light was a flat-type with no projection. Perhaps the strangest thing I noticed, in addition to the whole scenario, was the absence of any sound. I didn’t see any structure around the lights but they were in a triangular/delta pattern. I watched it until it disappeared, then went into the house and called my boyfriend who lived 1 to 2 miles away in the direction that the UFO was traveling. He looked out but saw nothing. For a day or two, I watched the newspaper for any other reported sightings, but saw none. All I can say is, I know what I saw and I don’t care if anybody believes me or not.”
This video was taken sometime in May, 2007, on my friend's phone and I just got a hold of it now. This is an unmistakable UFO sighting, although most people around didn't believe it.
This was taken in Annaikatti, close to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. You can see the "lights in the sky" split and rejoin and even one apparently making a landing. You can also see the traffic passing by and hear my friends' comments.
This video was taken by Sanjana Soman on her Sony Erricson phone.
source and references:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_TubIwaV1Sg
Was Giant UFO from Another Dimension?
by Ed Casson, Maghull and Aintree Star
Feb 21 2008-THE following strange intriguing story stems from numerous emails and letters I’ve received from readers of this column over a space of five years.
Stephen Hodges now runs a successful business in Yorkshire, but he was 22 years of age in March 1977, unemployed, and squatting in a flat with no gas or electricity, atop of the St George’s Heights tower-block, Everton.
It was Thursday, March 17, at 1.30pm when Stephen glanced out of his window and saw something his mind couldn’t take in for a few moments.
A gigantic cigar-shaped object, which seemed a mile in length, was hanging among the low clouds in the east, over the Fairfield district.
The object looked grey and had no discernible features upon it, and remained in the sky for about ten minutes before it vanished into thin air.
Earlier, a teenage Army cadet named Martin, was walking towards his barracks on Botanic Road when he also witnessed the awesome spectacle of the colossal UFO, which, in his estimation, seemed to be suspended in the air over Green Lane, Stoneycroft. Martin saw other people in the street gazing up at the UFO, which looked ominous because of its huge dimensions.
He detected a faint low throbbing sound emanating from the aerial visitor, and also believed he could see faint pinpoints of light on the surface of its under-belly. After around fifteen minutes the elongated cigar in the sky faded away, along with the low-frequency humming sound it had generated.
Chris Harris is in his seventies now, but in 1977 he was a 45-year-old plumber, and he vividly remembers the enormous UFO over Edge Lane: “I was in my van at the traffic lights on Edge Lane at the junction of Durning Road and Holt Road. Suddenly I noticed this long grey cylindrical object with rounded ends, high in the sky over St Cyprian’s Church.”
Chris eventually drove on down Edge Lane but pulled over by Laurel Road and got out of his van to take another look at the UFO, which he believes was hanging in the sky over Old Swan.
“It was the grey colour of lead piping. I kept wondering how something which would have weighed over a million tons could stay airborne.
“I drew the attention of a passing priest to the cigar and he looked up and said, “Oh, Good God,” and smiled.”
John Kelly, a medium who lived on West Derby Road, was walking his dog in Newsham Park that day in March, when he felt an overwhelming urge to look directly overhead.
He said: “I saw this greyish long craft, at least a thousand feet in length, just stationary in the sky.
“The dog began to whimper, and I experienced a tingling sensation in my head. I got the impression that someone in that UFO – or whatever it was – wanted to be seen in the sky.
“I felt that there was someone up there with a huge ego, and I felt he had not come from another world, but another dimension, another plane of existence. It dematerialised and not long afterwards and went back to the world it belonged to.”
Email me at tom@slemen.com if you saw this UFO or have had any supernatural experiences.
Photograph-Fort MacArthur Museum volunteers Thomas Minton, left, and Andy Grant stand with equipment to be used during Saturday's re-enactment. (Bruce Hazelton/Staff Photographer)
Questions still abound over the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942. What was it that showed up on military radar screens the night of Feb. 24, 1942, prompting authorities to order a blackout and unleash an hourlong anti-aircraft barrage? Could it have been enemy aircraft like those that attacked Pearl Harbor less than three months earlier? Was it just a weather balloon? Might it have been a UFO?
"What have we learned? Not much," said Steve Nelson, curator of the Fort MacArthur Museum in San Pedro, which housed some of the artillery used to protect the West Coast during World War II.
Decades later, it's difficult to imagine the tension gripping residents of Los Angeles and the rest of California. They were still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor and worried about a similar assault on the U.S. mainland.
Their fears were realized on Feb. 23, 1942, when a Japanese submarine surfaced and fired on an oil production facility near Santa Barbara. Reports circulated that the sub then headed south, in the direction of Los Angeles.
According to historical accounts by the California State Military Museum, U.S. naval intelligence issued a warning on Feb. 24 that an attack was expected in 10 hours, but the advisory was later lifted.
Then, early on Feb. 25, radar picked up an unidentified target 120 miles away from Los Angeles.
At 2:15 a.m., anti-aircraft gun batteries were alerted and were ready to fire minutes later.
At 2:21 a.m., the regional controller ordered a blackout. Information centers were flooded with reports of enemy planes "even though the mysterious object tracked in from the sea seems to have vanished," the museum's Web site said.
At 2:43 a.m., planes were reported near Long Beach and one coastal artillery colonel spotted "about 25 planes at 12,000" feet over Los Angeles.
At 3:06 a.m., a balloon carrying a red flare was seen over Santa Monica and four batteries of anti-aircraft artillery opened fire.
Reports of what happened afterward vary.
"Probably much of the confusion came from the fact that anti-aircraft shell bursts, caught by the searchlights, were themselves mistaken for enemy planes," the museum's Web site states.
Among those anti-aircraft batteries responding were the crews at Fort MacArthur who, according to veterans' reports, fired about seven rounds of 3-inch shells from guns mounted on the upper reservation, near where the Korean Friendship Bell stands today, Nelson said. The number and type of aircraft reportedly seen over various parts of the Los Angeles area widely varied from one to 220 and from airplanes to balloons to a blimp. Some eyewitnesses said that there were no planes.
And some people, in later years, have claimed that the objects were UFOs.
"Although reports were conflicting and every effort is being made to ascertain the facts, it is clear that no bombs were dropped and no planes were shot down," the Western Defense Command said in a Feb. 25, 1942, Associated Press story.
Those conflicting reports included the military.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced that as many as 15 aircraft, "possibly piloted by enemy agents," had flown over Los Angeles the morning of Feb. 25, according to an Associated Press report.
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said that "reports reaching him indicated the incident was a false alarm and that extensive reconnaissance had disclosed no evidence of planes," the same story said.
Whether an enemy aircraft flew over American soil, there were several casualties due to blackout conditions.
One occurred in Long Beach, where a police sergeant driving to headquarters was killed in a head-on collision with another driver, who had just come off duty at a shipyard.
Another death was attributed to a heart attack. A third man died of injuries suffered when he walked into an automobile while trying to catch a Pacific Electric train in heavier than normal morning traffic after the all-clear was sounded.
Despite the uncertainty over the cause of the events, public officials praised the efficiency of civil defense officials, air raid wardens and anti-aircraft batteries in response to the perceived threat.
Daily activities resumed after the all-clear was signaled at 7:21 a.m. although not without some glitches.
Newspaper reports noted pupils absent from school and employees late to work that day while others went hunting for souvenirs - anti-aircraft shrapnel.
February 21, 2008-You can probably recount several of the “crazy” conspiracy theories you’ve heard in your lifetime. When listening to conspiracy theorists it is important to realize the possibility of reality behind seemingly far-fetched tales. There are those out there who want you to think that all conspiracies are far from fact, when in reality many conspiracies are closer to the truth than any of us will ever know.
In January of 1996, an ex-U.S. government geologist and structural engineer by the name of Phil Schneider was found dead in his apartment. His good friend and co-conspirator Ron Rummel had been found dead in a park three years prior to Schneider’s death, due to a gunshot wound to the head. Cause of death: suicide.
Prior to their deaths, Schneider and Rummel had worked for the federal government for 17 years, after which they began to publish a magazine called “The Alien Digest.” The magazine received wide circulation, but was soon brought to a halt in 1993 with Rummel’s death.
Phil was convinced that his friend had not committed suicide, and had in fact been murdered. Subsequent to Rummel’s death, Phil quit his job and toured the country for the next two years, lecturing on the secrets he had been privy to during his work for the federal government.
As Schneider began his lecture tour he made clear that he was going to be targeted for revealing government secrets and probably would not live long. Schneider revealed that he had been working with the U.S military to build thirteen underground military bunkers across the United States.
Schneider’s story was particularly interesting because he was the first man with such a high level of security clearance – Rhyolite, one of the highest levels attainable – to spread classified information. He made claims ranging from the pernicious intentions of the United Nations to the government development of the AIDS virus. Most importantly, he spoke about the U.S. government’s extraterrestrial relations.
Schneider maintained that the U.S. government has had relations with extraterrestrials for more than half a century. He attested that in 1954 the extraterrestrials signed the Greade Treaty, arranging an exchange of extraterrestrial technology for the rights to test extraterrestrial implanting techniques on U.S. citizens and livestock.
Schneider went into details about his first and only encounter with the aliens in August of 1979 while he and a crew of military government employees were working on a new underground military base in Dulce, New Mexico. After their drilling machines repeatedly broke down, Schneider and others were sent into a subterranean orifice to collect rock samples.
Upon entering the hole Schneider distinctly noted a repugnant smell unlike anything he had ever experienced. After reaching the bottom of the shaft, Schneider found himself in an opening with what appeared to be some kind of humanoid creature. Schneider was naturally startled and began to reach for his pistol. He fumbled for several moments, trying to free his pistol from his bulky suit, when he made out the distinct figure of what appeared to be an extraterrestrial humanoid soon joined by other similar creatures.
Schneider shot and seemingly killed two of the extraterrestrials, and the military personnel also began shooting the creatures. After two extraterrestrials had been shot, a third made some kind of rubbing motion across its stomach and Schneider was blown backward.
The blast from the creature had split Schneider’s chest open, destroyed several fingers, burned off his toenails and severely burned his bones. He was in radiation/isolation therapy for more than four hundred days and later discovered that he was only one of three men who made it out alive. Sixty-six others had perished in battle with the humanoids.
Schneider was found dead seven months after giving a lecture on his story. Cause of death: suicide. All of his research and collected evidence of extraterrestrial mineral samples were missing from his apartment. His blood and urine samples sent to medical examiners were conveniently lost.
Was the U.S. government responsible for Phil Schneider’s death? If so, does this lend validity to Schneider’s claims? Although his story sounds outlandish, we have to consider the possibility that Schneider might have known something that our government does not want us to know.
On January 28, 1994, at the beginning of the afternoon, the crew of Air-France flight AF-3532 (Nice to London) observed an unusual phenomenon. UFOCOM asked some questions to the pilot and commander of the flight, Jean-Charles Duboc.
INTERVIEW OF COMMANDANT DUBOC:
You were a flight commanding officer at AIR France and on January 28, 1994, you have encountered an unusual phenomenon as you were doing the Nice to London flight 3532. Could you tell what you witnessed?
I was indeed commander of flight AF-3532 of January 28, 1994, with copilot Valerie Chauffour, and 24 passengers on board.
I have kept a copy of the "OCTAVE", which is the data-processing follow-up of the flight and I can specify that above the Paris area at the altitude of 11700 meters (FL 390), the outside temperature was of minus 59 Celsius degrees, and with a wind from the North-West had a speed of1 80 km/h (311°/101 kts). The visibility was of more than 300 km (150 Nm) and the cloud cover consisted of altocumulus. The flight encountered no air shakes. The navigation was under excellent weather conditions, in spite of the facing wind of almost 130 km/h (70 kts). That gave us a ground speed of 650 km/h (350 kts). The takeoff hour in Nice was 00h56PM UT and the arrival hour in London 02:13PM UT.
It was a particularly calm flight, without particular problem. We arrived above Coulommiers when a steward who was in the cockpit noticed an object which he thought could be a weather balloon. This object was then seen by the copilot and myself a few moments afterwards.
According to their description it seemed to have a variable form and to come very quickly across our road. I first identified it like an aircraft facing us, at approximately 45 km (25 Nm), at an altitude of approximately 10500 meters (25 Nm) and at an angle close to 45°. I found this slope absolutely abnormal because aircraft are not inclined at this altitude beyond 30 degrees without risking to fall down. This object seemed to us then absolutely abnormal by its size which seemed immense, its dark red color and of the fuzzy edges. I had the impression to observe a gigantic lens in evolution. It did not resemble anything we had seen in our flying careers.
This object, this phenomenon, remained motionless while we left it on our left side, still at an approximate distance of 45 km. We observed it during a good minute, conscious that we were seeing something utterly anomalous. We continued to observe it when it gradually merged with the environment. We saw it becoming translucent, transparent, diluted in space. That was absolutely amazing.
After some interrogations we contacted the control center of Rheims to announce this unidentified object to them, as we are required by air transportation regulation.
Was this "object" tracked by your instruments? What about he black box of flight 3532? Were the communications between your aircraft and the control center in Rheims recorded?
Our ON BOARD instruments are not intended to locate other aircraft.
The airborne radar is only intended to locate storms in order to be able to avoid the air movements ascending and descending, associated with them, characteristic of these clouds, the cumulonimbus. During this event the radar was not in operation, as it is only necessary in instrument flying (IFR).
In the same way, the black box cannot in any case detect aircraft or phenomena far away from the plane. On the Airbus 320 there is a first recorder which is the Quick Access Recorder (QAR). It records only flight parameters, speed, altitude, mechanics, engines, electric, etc. It is analyzed by the maintenance service.
The second recorder, the DFDR, has the same recordings but must support the constraints of an accident. This recorder is analyzed only if a crash occurs or on request of the crew. As no parameter of our flight has been modified, the tapes were not analyzed because it would have been pointless. The UFO was at nearly 45 km of our aircraft, and there has been no electric or magnetic disturbances.
On the other hand this UFO was approximately 10 km above Paris, and the Parisian people, under layer of clouds, were much closer to the UFO than we were. If there had been electromagnetic disturbances, a few million people would have noticed it.
The communications were always preserved, and it is the same for the main TV and radio shows!
Which were the continuations of this affair, at a professional and personal level? Have you been interviewed by the civilian or military authorities?
In the immediate, the continuations were non-existent, because I did not submit a written report to avoid being ridiculed. It was three years later, as I read an article from Paris Match, which described how a UFO has been detected above Paris, that I made the connection between this UFO and that what I had seen.
I then submitted a report to the Gendarmerie Nationale (French police, having an SOP for collection of UFO reports).
Was your testimony transmitted to the SEPRA? Which were the continuations brought by this branch of the CNES?
My report was transmitted by the Gendarmerie to the SEPRA, and the UFO Committee, was created within the framework of the Association of the Former Auditors of the Institute for the High Studies of National Defense (IHEDN). I was heard during nearly one hour and half by the group chaired by General Denis Letty. After discussing about the observation, we concluded that the object was approximately 300 meters in diameter.
I took note of the radar recordings by the CODED (Operational Center of Air Defense). There is a very curious characteristic for the trajectory of the UFO, as it shows that it would have almost collided with us. The minimal distance on the recording is less than 1 Nm, that is to say 10 seconds of flight.
This kind of observation is traditional in electronic war. The modern military aircraft are furtive, and at the same time able to synthesize a virtual image of themselves by delaying the radar echo. If a missile had been drawn on this UFO, which was above Paris, it would be our A320 which would probably have been hit by the missile.
I think that it is not desirable to shoot fire at this kind of phenomenon.
Did you speak again of your observation with your colleagues of flight 3532? Which is, now, their feeling about this affair?
I never found the steward who was in the cockpit. My various requests to find the list of the crew for this flight were left unanswered by the of the commercial flight crew personal management (PNC). I had indeed four crew in two days, and I did not keep the lists of the members with me, because they are on the on board documentation.
On the other hand I have reexamined the case several times with the copilot who has a very precise memory of the event, and who wrote a report for the gendarmerie (police) of the Charles De Gaulle Airport.
I can only suggest you asking them about their feeling now.
During your pilot career, have you heard from colleagues or other air personal, of similar phenomena?
I barely speak about this encounter, and I had the surprise to note that about one out of ten pilot had observed a unidentified flying phenomenon.
Your testimony appears in the COMETA Report, page 11, which has been published in a special edition of the VSD magazine, this summer 1999. Were you interviewed by this association? What do you think of this report, from a general point of view?
As I said, I was actually auditioned by the above mentioned UFO Committee, which took shape in an association named COMETA. I have recently met Mr. Denis Letty along with a friend who is flight commander on the Concorde, responsible for the training of pilots at the General Management of Civil Aviation (DGAC), in order to study a regulatory possibility to have a reports form for UFO observations on the board of all French airliners.
Their report seemed to me extremely well conceived, written by high level personalities, and constitutes a reference for UFO question. It still has some restricted diffusion because this subject is still one of the three great taboos of aeronautics.
The first taboo is the cosmic radiation on aircraft. From May 2000 on, the flying personal will have to carry a dosimeter and the amount of radiation received each year will be measured and calculated according to the recommendations of the project SIEVERT which is developed by the General Management of Civil Aviation, the Institute of Protection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN), the Office of Protection against radiation Ionizing (OPRI), and the Observatory of Paris-Meudon.
Flight crew of aeronautics, as well as astronauts will be soon classified among the people who receive amounts of radiations on their workplace. The amount of cosmic radiation received by passengers or members of flight crew during a Europe to US trip and return trip is similar to a lung radioscopy, and this fact is carefully hidden to the crews and the passengers since nearly 35 years. Indeed, a recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), back in 1964, requested that the airlines take measurements of on board radiations on airliners. A modification of the European regulation in May 2000, European directive 96/29 of May 13, 1996, divided by five the maximum amount of radiation applicable to the public, which will be able to take only 1 millisievert per year, instead of five. The airline pilots, hostesses, steward receive between two and five MVS per year, which is more than the majority of the workers in nuclear power plants.
This taboo will disappear when the information circulates in the general public.
The second taboo is the suicide of the airline pilots as they fly, and it will be shattered by the accident of the EGYPTAIR 990 flight, if the assumption of the suicide of the copilot is to be confirmed.
The third taboo is the UFO phenomenon UFO, and in particular the 220 visual observations confirmed by radar, among them is mine. We can thank the COMETA team which, by the quality of its members, its knowledge, its overview, its hypothesis, makes it possible to start to discuss seriously about the sightings from all points of the planet.
On December 7, 1999, TV viewers have an occasion to see you in the "Why? How?" show, animated by Sylvain Augier and Julie Bhaud, for the France3 channel. As I took part myself in the recording of this show, I had the pleasant impression that the questions were not "oriented." The "And CO" team (producing the show) seemed opened, although skeptic, and very sympathetic. If the editing does not suppress it, do you think that this kind of show can have some utility for general public? What do you think about the attitude of the medias, in general, as for their editing of UFO related information?
As I wrote above, there are several taboos in aeronautics, and the reporters who dare to face these interdict risk to be ridiculed, but also to have trouble finding a job. This type of show require curiosity and courage, and the journalists know that they risk negative reactions, or aggressive reactions, and derision.
This type of emission is very important for it makes it possible to give previously confidential information to the public. Information must pass gradually, whereas we must know that there will be all sorts of reactions.
The bottom line of this problem is the maturity of the public.
Is the public ready to receive the information?
The social psychologists can consider the consequences which an official meeting with an extraterrestrial civilization would have, if they have several million years of technological advance. Which upheavals would be induced? Will there be panic in the population? Which disappointed hopes? Will we find the best, the worst, or both? Which information should be given to the public?
Today, do you think that the origin of the UFO phenomenon is not our planet?
The immensity of the universe, its beauty, its unknown features, the current technological progress, the space travels, the orbiting stations, and what I saw, can only convince me that we are not alone in the universe and that we will take part, if we do not destroy ourselves, in the community of the species which travel across the galaxy.
The true current problem of our planet is not the existence, or not, of extraterrestrial civilizations but all the problems caused by pollution, the accumulation of the weapons of destruction, fanaticism, totalitarianism, the overcrowding of our planet.
Source & References:
UFOCOM CG), November 22, 1999
http://www.ufologie.net/htm/duboc01.htm
(last update, 02-24-08)
California-Two Triangles
12-08-08-San Diego-There has been an ongoing flap which I believe began late last year, (as observed) and continues to this day. I live in the Ocean Beach area. Yesterday I saw 2 silver triangles that appeared to have telescopic booms on them.
Then later that night myself, my wife and a bunch of neighbors saw a flaming golden one that has been showing up regularly between 7:30-8:00 PM. Will-source: www.ufocasebook.com
Colorado-Triangle Spotted
02-08-08-Early Friday morning, I had just filled my second cup of coffee, and wondered out on my back deck to gaze at the stars noticing how beautiful Venus and Mars look in their morning cycle. It was getting cold, so just as I started to head in I gazed directly overhead noticing a rather large triangular "something" cruising through the skies.
It had three bright lights on each corner, and no stars were visible within the triangle, telling me what I was seeing was a solid craft. I then quickly grabbed my camera, and as I headed back outside I saw the craft quickly jog to the north, then stop. That's when I saw a smaller triangular craft rise up from behind a hill. It trailed some kind of plasma exhaust as it rose to meet the larger craft.
Just then the larger craft shot a beam towards the smaller craft. This lasted about 9 seconds, and then the smaller craft shot off into the night unbelievably quick. Almost at the same time the larger craft disappeared. To my surprise when I examined my snapshot I had captured the event.
There has been strange events happening over the skies of Evergreen for two weeks prior to this event-lights appearing in one location, disappearing, and reappearing in another spot. Lights hovering then slowly drifting around to then disappear.
All along in the back of my mind, I'm saying to my self, "What's going on"? Then my event occurred. It left a strange feeling over me, not knowing what next to do.
So now I have an excellent digital picture for your examination. Chad Eckdahl-www.mufon.com
Iowa-Object Vanishes
02-09-08-I have reported this object to you guys before but I have seen it for a second time tonight in Ankeny outside of the Dmacc campus as I was heading towards my car I noticed a bright white light in the sky at first the object was heading north but as I was observing it started to come my way {west} then the flashing light died out then after a few seconds it came back on but this time it started flashing very slowly and then the object started glowing red it also looked stationary.
I was walking with a fellow student at the time but I didn't want to sound stupid and point out the craft in the sky with this object to I felt like I was being observed because the object wasn't moving very quickly at all what was weird also was when I got in my car the object vanished just gone out of sight that's why I felt like I was being watched because once I was out of sight the craft left very strange things have happened lately. source: www.mufon.com
Texas-Car-like Object
02-02-08-I finally saw a daytime UFO. Saturday morning 02-02-08 about 9:30 AM. I live 3 miles south of Oglesby, TX along FM 107. The craft came from the Neff Park area NW toward my house at about 2000 ft altitude.
It looked like a car. (no wheels). It was copper colored. It was going about 130 to 140 kts. It went over me and then turned (skidding... no bank) west and proceeded toward Gatesville. It had no wings or tail section. I am a pilot and I know what I saw. It was not an airplane as we know them. Tim F. source: www.ufocasebook.com
Texas-Box-like Object
02-09-08-El Paso-Just a note to you because I saw my first UFO today after being interested in this field for some time. I live in El Paso and while
standing in the lot of a local car dealer waiting on my truck to be inspected I was looking up as I do frequently these days. I was curious about the absence of any lingering contrails. Anyway I saw a shape which seemed to be reflecting the sunlight fly by in a wide arc heading south to Juarez from the west.
It was about 10:00 AM, and the sky was as clear as it could be. The object I saw seemed to change shape as if it were a box that was tumbling through the air. It was escorted by a smaller dot of light. I looked and couldn't make out any wings or fuselage but eventually turned away. About 5 minutes later I checked for it again and it was across the border and apparently over Juarez, Mexico.
Now, however, it was escorted by about approximately 12 smaller dots of light that seemed to move independently of it. I watched for a few minutes longer until all the lights disappeared. I've been reading about and watching clips on UFOs for over a year now and I don't get real excited by them. I just accept that they are here. source: www.ufocasebook.com
Canada-Two Objects Seen
02-10-08-British Columbia-My husband came to the door yelling for me to come look outside. There two bright, white lights about the size of a street light if you were a block away from one, slowly descending from the sky. They were coming from the south heading north. One was slower than the other. One eventually blinked out to where we couldn't see it any more.
The other continued to descend then leveled out and continued making a turn then straight again. We watched it for about 5-10 minutes when the light blinked very dull then it went behind a cloud. My mother called for me to bring the binoculars to her house. Three of them were watching it too.
At approximately 8:45 PM, down at the lake a large glowing object was moving fast from west to east if I have my directions right. It was a bit smaller or further away than the earlier ones but was bright white as well. My youngest son saw one around the same time at a different location heading northwest. source: www.mufon.com
By ISAAC GROVES/Times-News 
by Ed Casson, Maghull and Aintree Star
By Stephanie Walton, Staff Writer
Among those anti-aircraft batteries responding were the crews at Fort MacArthur who, according to veterans' reports, fired about seven rounds of 3-inch shells from guns mounted on the upper reservation, near where the Korean Friendship Bell stands today, Nelson said. The number and type of aircraft reportedly seen over various parts of the Los Angeles area widely varied from one to 220 and from airplanes to balloons to a blimp. Some eyewitnesses said that there were no planes.
BY BEN VAN ZEE | THE PRICE OF IGNORANCE
On January 28, 1994, at the beginning of the afternoon, the crew of Air-France flight AF-3532 (Nice to London) observed an unusual phenomenon. UFOCOM asked some questions to the pilot and commander of the flight, Jean-Charles Duboc.