The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

# SECTION V

# PILOTS & AVIATION EXPERTS

If UFOs had not been reported by pilots of scheduled airliners, and military pilots in operation all over the globe, there might be some justification in writing off reports of ground observers as mistaken observations. For, if unknown objects are maneuvering in our skies, pilots would be among the most likely to see them. (Others whose professions cause them to spend many hours watching the skies, such as General Mills Corporation balloon trackers, also have reported numerous UFOs. [1])

Airline and military pilots are among the most experienced observers of the sky. Their profession requires them to spend hundreds of hours per year in the air. Few, if any, occupations require more practical knowledge of weather, other aircraft, and unusual activity such as missile tests. Undoubtedly, few groups of observers have seen more meteors or watched planets under a wider variety of sky conditions. In addition, professional pilots normally are trained in rapid identification of anything which may endanger a flight. Therefore, it is significant that airline and military pilots have reported a large number of totally unexplained UFO sightings.

Recognizing that airline pilots have special training and are in a unique position for observation, the Defense Department includes them in the military system of reporting vital intelligence sightings (CIRVIS), as detailed in the Joint Chiefs regulation JANAP-146(D). [See Section IX.] In 1954, the groundwork for CIRVIS reports was laid by meetings between representatives of the airlines and Military Air Transport Service (MATS) intelligence branch. The reason? "The nation's 8,500 commercial airline pilots have been seeing a lot of unusual objects while flying at night, here and overseas," Scripps-Howard reported. "But," the report continued, "there hasn't been much of an or-

organized system of reporting to military authorities. . . [the airlines and MATS] agreed to organize a speedy reporting system so that a commercial pilot spotting strange objects could send the word to the Air Force in a hurry. The Air Force could then send jet fighters to investigate." [2]

With a few exceptions, most UFO reports on record from military pilots have come from the World War II and Korean War eras, or from recently retired officers. Military pilots, naturally, are restricted from discussing the sightings freely while they are on active duty. But airline pilots (although in recent years sometimes under pressure from their companies not to discuss sightings) have contributed some of the best reports on record.

There had been scattered reports by airline pilots previously but "In the Spring of 1950," the former Chief of the Air Force UFO project reported, "the airline pilots began to make more and more reports -- good reports. . . In April, May, and June of 1950 there were over thirty-five good reports from airline crews." [3] That June, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker said in an interview: "Flying saucers are real. Too many good men have seen them, that don't have hallucinations." Flying magazine, July 1950, published a roundup report on pilot sightings, giving them very serious treatment (as did other aviation journals in later years; for example, see RAF Flying Review, July 1957).

When NICAP was formed in 1956, four airline pilots (two of whom had personally sighted UFOs) joined the NICAP Panel of Special Advisers. Federal Aviation Agency personnel, aviation industry engineers, and other aviation experts also related their sightings and offered their services. Why are UFOs taken so seriously by professional pilots and aviation experts?

## WHAT THE PILOTS HAVE SEEN

This chart lists over 100 UFO sightings by pilots (AL=Airline pilot; M=Military; P=Private), the majority of whom reported typical geometrical objects such as discs and ellipses. The resulting patterns of the observations, and their strong similarity to reports by other reliable witnesses, are readily apparent.

Code	Date	Location	Witness	Description
M	8-10-44	Sumatra	Capt. A.M. Reida, USAF bomber pilot	Spherical object with halo paced B-29 during mission; maneuvered sharply, climbed away vertically. [Section III]
M	12-44	Austria	Maj. W.D. Leet, USAF bomber pilot	Amber disc followed B-17 across Austria. [Section III]
M	8-1-46	nr Tampa, Fla.	Capt. Jack Puckett, USAF 4-engine pilot	Cigar with "portholes" approached C-47 head-on, veered across path. [Section III]
P	6-24-47	Mt. Ranier, Wash.	Kenneth Arnold, businessman, pilot	Nine flat shiny objects in line, zig-zagged. [4]
AL	7-4-47	nr Portland, Oregon	Capt. E.J. Smith, United Airlines; Ralph Stevens, Co-pilot	Two groups of discs.
M	7-6-47	Fairfield-Suisan AFB, Calif.	Pilot (name deleted by Air Force)	UFO sped across sky "oscillating on lateral axis." [5]
M	7-8-47	nr Los Angeles, Calif.	F-51 pilot (name deleted by Air Force)	Flat, light-reflecting UFO passed above fighter. [6]
P	7-9-47	nr Boise, Idaho	Dave Johnson, pilot & aviation editor; others on ground	Large disc, maneuvered erratically. (Section VII)
M	8-47	Media, Pa.	W. Boyce, USAF fighter pilot	Hovering disc. [7]