Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

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TABLE 1.—CATEGORIZATION OF UFO SIGHTING REPORTS 1
Category Number Percent
Astronomical 479 21. 8
Aircraft 474 21.6
Balloon 339 15.4
Other 233 10. 6
Unknown 434 19.7
Insufficient information 240 10.9
Total 2,199 100
1 Data from reference 3. TABLE 2.—QUALITY DISTRIBUTION OF UNKNOWNS 1
Quality Number Percent of
total Unknowns Percent of
group
3
Excellent 213 9.7 71 33.8
Good 757 34.5 188 24.0
Doubtful 794 36.0 103 13.
Poor 435 19. 8 72 16. 6
Total 2, 199 100.0 434 19. 7
1 Data from reference 3.
5. Aren't most of those "unknowns" really sightings for which insufficient
data is available to identify an otherwise conventional object?
Absolutely not. If there was not enough information available about a sighting
it was labelled "Insufficient Information" not "Unknown"—again contrary to
what many people believe about UFOs.
6. Were there any differences between the Unknowns and the knoVvns?
A "chi square" statistical analysis was performed comparing the Unknowns
in this study to all the "knowns". It was shown that the probability that the
unknowns came from the same population of sighting reports as the knowns was
less than 1%. This was based on apparent color, velocity, etc. Maneuverability,
one of the most distinguished characteristics of UFOs, was not included in this
statistical analysis.
7. Weren't most sightings of very short duration, say less than a minute?
The average duration of the sightings labelled as "Unknown" was greater
than that for the knowns. More than 70% of the unknowns were under observa-
tion for more than 1 minute and more than 45% for more than 5 minutes.
8. Isn't it true that UFOs have never been sighted on radar?
No, it is not. Ref. 3 specifically mentions radar unknowns. In ref. 4, Edward
Ruppelt, former head of the official UFO investigative effort, makes specific
mention of not only "Unknowns" observed on radar but of combined visual and
radar "Unknowns". Hynek 5 also mention radar and visual sightings.
9. Where can I get more information about"Unknowns"?
Ref. 6 presents an unbiased description of about 160 "Unknowns". Ref. 7 in-
cludes data on over 700 Unknowns. References 8 and 9 contain many others.
10. Why haven't the worldwide Smithsonian Network of Satellite Tracking
cameras picked up "Unknowns"?
The former head of the film evaluation group concerned with the Smithsonian
sky watch said" that the purpose of the search was to get data on satellite
orbits. If a light source on the film could be shown not to be a satellite then no
further measurements were made. 10% to 15% of the plates showed anomalous
light sources which were not a satellite but were not otherwise identified.
11. How about the other space surveillance radar installations?
Baker in Ref. 11 deals with this question in detail. In summary, the systems
are set up to reject signals which refer to anything other than the objects of
interest—typically ballistic missiles coming from certain directions.
12. Aren't the reported maneuvers of UFOs in violation of existing laws of
physics?
Footnotes at the end bf article.