National Press Club Conference:

Pilots Speak Out About UFOs

On November 12^th, 2007, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, perhaps the most important public event in ufology took place since Dr Steven Greer’s Disclosure presentation in 2001. Moderated by former governor of Arizona, Fife Symington III, the conference, which was covered by many major media outlets, allowed several international military and civilian pilots, along with intelligence officials and scientists, the chance to speak about their UFO encounters. It was organised by Out of the Blue director, James Fox and Leslie Kean of the Coalition for Freedom of Information.

In all, fourteen men spoke at the press conference, some of them very well known in UFO circles, some not so well known. All of them, though, shared the same goal – to let the public know that UFOs exist and are not only seen by hillbillies out in the boondocks.

First to speak was Wilfried De Brower. Now retired, Major-General De Brower was a leading colonel in the Belgian air force in 1990 when a famous wave of UFO sightings took place. General De Brower said:

“I was Chief Operations in the Air Staff when an exceptional UFO wave took place over Belgium. Indeed, during the evening of 29 November 1989, in a small area in Eastern Belgium, approximately 140 UFO sightings were reported. Hundreds of people saw a majestic triangular craft with a span of approximately 120 feet, powerful beaming spot lights, moving very slowly without making any significant noise but, in several cases, accelerating to very high speeds.”

He concluded: “The Belgian Air Force tried to identify the alleged intruder(s) and, on three occasions, launched F 16 aircraft. On one occasion, two F 16 registered rapid changes in speed and altitude which were well outside of the performance envelope of existing aircraft. Nevertheless, the pilots could not establish visual contact and the investigation revealed that specific weather conditions may have caused electromagnetic interferences and false returns on the radar screens. The technical evidence was insufficient to conclude that abnormal air activities took place during that evening.

“In short, the Belgian UFO wave was exceptional and the Air Force could not identify the nature, origin and intentions of the reported phenomena.”

Dr Claude Poher is a retired astrophysicist and worked with GEPAN, the French study on UFOs, often described as France’s Blue Book. His statement included one notable incident that the group investigated:

“[In] August 1967, two young witnesses were alerted by the agitation of dozens of frightened farm animals at around noon. The witnesses then observed a landed spherical UFO at a distance of 80 yards, with four occupants near it.

“Very high luminosity was reported after slow takeoff, leaving physiological effects on the witnesses’ eyes that were confirmed by the village mayor. The hiss noise described by the two witnesses was also heard by the hunting guard of the village. The UFO acceleration after vertical takeoff was estimated to be about a hundred g’s by GEPAN experts. The occupants were seen floating in the air while entering the craft, from its top, in a hurry.

“Physical traces on the ground from the craft were confirmed by the local police, as well as a sulphur oxide odour. CNES experts in meteorology and space debris worked in the field with the witnesses, along with a judge, a psychologist, an optical engineer and aeronautical engineer. They had full measuring equipment and worked with the police as well.

“The official conclusion of GEPAN in 1979, was that about 15% of cases remained unidentified after careful analysis by our experts. We concluded that the objects, in most of these cases, were compatible with flying machines whose flight physics were foreign to the experts’ knowledge.”

Another French contribution came from Jean-Charles Duboc, a retired Air France captain. He described what he saw in 1994 at 1PM:

“During Air France Flight 3532 from Nice to London, on 28 January 1994, I observed, with my crew, a daylight UFO near Paris. We had few passengers on board and none of them had reported that observation to the crew.

“That object had been identified initially by a steward who was in the cockpit and by the co-pilot as a weather balloon, but when I identified it, it looked quite different.

“It seemed to be a huge flying disc.

“This large object was below us at the altitude of 35, 000 ft (we were at 39 000 ft), at a distance of about 25 nautical miles.

“The colour was red-brown with blurred outlines.

“The apparent diameter of this object could be compared to the diameter of the moon, or the sun. That means that it was about 1000 feet wide.

“The most incredible aspect is that it became transparent and disappeared in about 10 to 20 seconds.

“My co-pilot, chief steward and I quickly realized that what we were seeing did not resemble anything known to us, and we reported our sighting to Reims traffic control.

Simultaneously, the radar of the Operational Centre of the Air Defence (the CODA), registered a one minute spot crossing the track of our plane.”

The final statement from France came from Dr Jean-Claude Ribes, a radio astronomer and associate director of National Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics. He was asked to represent GEIPAN at the press conference. GEIPAN is the current body studying UFO cases for the French space agency, CNES. He also contributed to the famous COMETA report. He said:

“The COMETA report was written mainly by high ranking military people from the French High Studies Institute for National Defence. It analyzes the possible explanations for UFOs and their implications in terms of Defence, with the extraterrestrial hypothesis presented as the most logical one, even if not formally proven. Some recommendations are made, including that all managers of the Army, Police, Politics, and pilots be informed about UFOs; that detection systems be modified to take UFOs into account; and that the French government contact the United States and other allied countries to initiate cooperative action on the subject. So far, these recommendations have not been implemented.

“However, last March, my country took a big step forward. Jacques Patenet, current director of GEIPAN, released the French UFO files to the public. They were posted on a website - more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades. Some cases involved multiple sightings and physical evidence such as burn marks and radar trackings. Others documented UFOs with flight patterns or accelerations defying the laws of physics. M. Patenet told the press at the time that "We do not have any proof at all that extra-terrestrials are behind the unexplained phenomena. Nor do we have any proof at all that they aren't.”

“My personal opinion is that UFOs should be taken seriously and studied without prejudice. There may be several possible explanations, such as rare atmospheric phenomena, but some cases strongly suggest actual flying machines with characteristics well beyond our terrestrial capacities. If these cases could be completely proven as such, then the extraterrestrial hypothesis would probably be the most likely explanation for these advanced craft. Admittedly, it is a fantastic possibility, but not an irrational one, given the data that we have.”

Parvez Jafari is a retired general, formerly with the Iranian air force. In 1976, he was a major and squadron commander and encountered something in the skies above Tehran:

“At about 11 pm on the evening of 18th September, 1976, citizens were frightened by the circling of an unknown object over Tehran, the capital city of Iran, at a low altitude. It looked similar to a star, but bigger and brighter.

“They reported it to the tower and it was seen by the tower man too. He alerted the Air Force command post and Deputy General Yousefi decided to scramble an F-4 jet to investigate.

“The pilot in the first jet lost instrumentation and communications when he got too close to the brilliant object, so he headed back. About 10 minutes later, they scrambled a second jet, which I was piloting. At the time I was squadron commander.

“I approached the object, which was flashing with intense red, green, orange and blue light so bright that I was not able to see its body. The sequence of flashes was extremely fast, like a strobe light.

“We locked on it with radar; it was at 30° left, at a range of 25 miles. The size on the radar scope was comparable to that of a 707 tanker.

“Four other objects with different shapes separated from the main one, at different times during this close encounter.

“Whenever they were close to me, my weapons were jammed and my radio communications were garbled.

“One of the objects headed toward me. I thought it was a missile. I tried to launch a heat seeking missile to it, but my missile panel went out. Another followed me when I was descending on the way back.

“One of the separated objects landed in an open area radiating a high bright light, in which the sands on the ground were visible.

“During my interview at H.Q, after the incident, an American colonel took notes, but after it was over I could not find him to talk with.

“Later, a once-classified document was released here in America through the Freedom of Information Act. The Defence Intelligence Agency documented the event in great detail, and it was sent to NSA, The White House and the CIA. The DIA assessment said “this case is a classic that meets all necessary conditions for a legitimate study of the UFO phenomenon.””

Captain Rodrigo Bravo Garrido is a pilot for the Chilean army. He spoke of his country’s efforts to get a handle on the UFO phenomenon:

“Since the beginning of Chilean history, there have been reports of unidentified phenomena, sometimes called UFOs, observed in our skies.

“Over the years, we have increased our capacity to explain many of the sightings, but some continue to remain without a scientific or logical explanation.

“For that reason, in October of 1997, the Department of Civil Aeronautics, the Chilean equivalent of the American FAA, set up the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, known as the CEFAA. This agency handles the best reports of unidentified aerial phenomena in cooperation with aeronautic specialists.

“In 2000, the Aviation branch of the Army of Chile assigned me to research anomalous aerial phenomena, which they knew were real, and their effect on aerospace security. I then graduated to become a military pilot, and learned that the Aviation Amy had in its files many reports of UFO incidents from military pilots.

“A link was then established between our Army office and the CEFAA, and as a result, nine official cases have been documented. This has helped to create awareness among the flight crews about UFOs, and they now cooperate with flight security to report any abnormal situation.

“One of our most important civil aviation cases occurred in 1988, showing that unidentified flying objects can be a danger for air operations. A Boeing 737 pilot, on a final approach to the runway at “The Tepual” Airport in Puerto Montt City, suddenly encountered a large white light surrounded by green and red. The light was moving in the opposite direction of the airplane, coming straight at it. The pilot had to make a steep turn to the left in order to avoid a collision. The phenomenon was observed by the control tower personnel.

“In 2000, the crew of a Chilean plane from the Aviation branch of the Army, flying South of Santiago, observed a long cigar-shaped object, a brilliant grey. It flew parallel to the right side of the aircraft for two minutes and then disappeared at a very high speed. This object was detected by the radar of the Control Centre of Santiago which notified the crew minutes before the incident.

“New cases are being documented by pilots, traffic controllers, operations staff at the world’s airports, and by many others with the proper training to determine if a flying object is something unusual.

“The true origin of these UFOs is unknown, yet they do affect aviation all around the planet, and this must be addressed.”

Now retired, Oscar Alfonso Santa Maria Huertas was a commander in the Peruvian sir force. In 1980, he witnessed something inexplicable:

“On April 11, 1980, at 7:15 in the morning, 1800 men were in formation at the Air Base of La Joya, Arequipa.

“They all observed a stationary object in the sky which looked like a balloon, at about three miles distance, and approximately 1,800 feet altitude. It was luminous because it reflected the sun.

“My unit commander ordered me to takeoff in my Sukoi -22 jet to shoot down the spherical object. It was in restricted airspace, without clearance, and we were concerned about espionage.

“I approached the object and strafed sixty-four 30mm shells at it. Some projectiles went towards the ground, and others hit the object fully, but they had no effect at all. The projectiles didn’t bounce off; probably they were absorbed. The cone-shaped “wall of fire” that I sent out would normally obliterate anything in its path.

“The object then began to ascend, and move farther away from the base. When I was at about 36,000 ft., it made a sudden stop, forcing me to veer to the side since I was only 1500 feet away. I flew up higher to attack it from above, but just as I had locked on to the target and was ready to shoot, the object made a straight vertical climb evading the attack.

“Two more times I had the object on target, when the object was stationary. Each time, it moved away at the very last minute, when I was just about to fire, always eluding my attack.

“I decided to climb at full thrust to get above the object, but it began to ascend almost parallel to my plane, and when I reached 63,000 ft., it stopped.

“At this point, I came to within about 300 feet of the UFO. It was about 30 feet in diameter. It was an enamelled, cream-colored dome, with a wide, circular, metallic base. It had no engines, no exhausts, no windows, no wings or antennae. It lacked all the typical aircraft components, with no visible propulsion system.

“It was at that moment that I realized this it was not a spying device, but that it was a UFO, something totally unknown. I was almost out of fuel, so I couldn’t attack or manoeuvre my plane, or make a high speed escape. I was afraid. I thought I might be finished.

“When I had calmed own, I radioed for another plane to come and have a look, trying to hide my fear. They said no, it’s too high, just come back. I had to glide part way down due to lack of fuel, zigzagging to make my plane harder to hit, always with my eyes on the rear-view mirrors hoping it wouldn’t chase me. It didn’t.

“I had spent 22 minutes manoeuvring with this object. After I landed, the object remained stationary in the sky for two hours, for everyone at the base to see.”

Dr Anthony Choy is a founding member of the Peruvian air force’s official study into UFOs, the Office of Investigations of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (OIFAA), set up in 2001. He said:

“I am the author of Project 33, the first integral study on the UFO phenomenon in Peru. I travelled all over my country for about three years, speaking with witnesses, obtaining audio-visual information such as photographs and videos, and collecting data for this study.

“On October 13, 2001, in the northern city of Chulucanas, and before hundreds of people, eight spheres of light, of an intense red-orange colour, were recorded on video. We were the first ones to obtain this video and we gave it to the air force. These objects were suspended in the air for over five hours, moving in an apparently intelligent manner, and in absolute silence until they disappeared.

“A few days later, on October 25th, the luminous tear-shaped object of some 25 meters diameter (approx. 80 feet), was recorded over the countryside near the city. Within a few minutes, the apparent “landing” of light spheres in the woods was also recorded.”

Officially tasked with investigating the case, Choy said:

“The preliminary conclusion was that the sightings, although being physically real, had no explanation. The case remains open, and the investigation continues independently.”

Captain Ray Bowyer is a pilot with Guernsey-based airline, Aurigny. UFO DATA Magazine reported his sighting last year. Here is some of what he said at the conference:

“I have been invited here due to my sighting last April of multiple as yet unidentified objects over the Channel Islands region of the English Channel. This encounter lasted for 15 minutes with the first object being visible from 55 miles distant.

“On nearing the object a second identical shape appeared beyond the first. Both objects were of a flattened disk shape with a dark area to the right side. They were brilliant yellow with light emanating from them. I estimated them to be up to a mile across.

“I found myself astounded but curious. But at 12 miles distant these objects were becoming uncomfortably large, and I was glad to descend and land the aircraft.

“Many of my passengers saw the objects as did the pilot of another aircraft 25 miles further south. There is also possible radar information still being investigated.

“I have taken note of the differences between the British and U.S. reporting system. It appears that attitudes on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean are very different when it comes to the required reporting and recording of this type of event.

“Air Law stipulates quite clearly that if an operating crew of an aircraft see another aircraft in a place that it should not be, then at the earliest opportunity the whole scenario is to be reported to the relevant authority. In my case the British Civil Aviation Authority knew within 20 minutes of the sighting what was seen, as described in the flight log faxed directly to the relevant CAA office. The military were informed by Jersey Air Traffic Control at the same time. This is not an option; it is an obligation that crews react in this manner.”

He notes that US pilots and airline staff are often afraid to come forward for fear of ridicule or job security. He went on:

“I would have been shocked if I was told that the CAA would obstruct an investigation, or if the CAA told me that what I had seen was something entirely different. But it seems that pilots in America are used to this kind of thing, as far as I can tell.

“I would urge all aircrew to report whatever they see as soon as possible, and to stand up and be counted. It is only when crucial witnesses, such as professional pilots, make reports that the authorities will be kick-started into a broader investigation of these phenomena.”

UFO DATA Magazine contributor, Nick Pope, was next. We all know Nick as ‘the Man from the Ministry’ and he spoke of his experiences while working there:

“Since 1950 the British Government has received over 10,000 UFO reports. Responsibility for this subject rests with the Ministry of Defence, whose remit is to look for evidence of any potential threat to the UK, or anything else of any "defence significance". From 1991 to 1994 I was the desk officer responsible for these investigations.

“Most UFO sightings turned out to be misidentifications of things such as aircraft, satellites and meteors, but in around 5 per cent of cases no explanation could be found. These cases include incidents where reliable witnesses such as police officers and pilots reported structured craft performing speeds and manoeuvres significantly in excess of anything they had seen military jet aircraft perform. Other cases included in this category involved UFOs tracked on radar and incidents where photos or videos were produced and where the MoD's technical experts found no evidence of fakery.

“The MoD takes no position on the nature of the UFO phenomenon but I and some of my colleagues were privately convinced that whatever was going on, there were important defence, national security and flight safety issues involved.

In March 1993 I investigated a case where a UFO was seen by about 60 witnesses, including military personnel at two air force bases. Witnesses included a patrol of air force police, together with a meteorological officer with 8 years experience. This latter witness described a triangular-shaped craft midway in size between a C-130 and a Boeing 747. He said that it was emitting a low frequency humming sound and he said it moved slowly at first, before accelerating away many times faster than a military jet. My Head of Division's brief to the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff concluded: “In summary, there would seem to be some evidence on this occasion that an unidentified object (or objects) of unknown origin was operating over the UK”. The case file - published on the MoD website - also mentions related enquiries from the US authorities, asking if the UK had a black programme that might explain some UFO sightings involving large triangular-shaped craft. That's interesting, given the US government's public position that UFOs are no longer investigated.”

Jim Penniston was the senior security officer at the US air base, RAF Woodbridge in 1980:

“Shortly after midnight on the 26th of December, 1980, Staff Sergeant Steffens briefed me that some lights were seen in Rendlesham Forest, just outside the base. He informed me that whatever it was didn’t crash… it landed. I discounted what he said and reported to the control centre back at the base that we had a possible downed aircraft. I then ordered Airman Cabansag [and] AIC Burroughs to respond with me.

“When we arrived near the suspected crash site it quickly became apparent that we were not dealing with a plane crash or anything else we’d ever responded to. There was a bright light emanating from an object on the forest floor. As we approached it on foot, a silhouetted triangular craft about 9 feet long by 6.5 feet high came into view. The craft was fully intact sitting in a small clearing inside the woods.

“As the three of us got closer to the craft we started experiencing problems with our radios. I then asked Cabansag to relay radio transmissions back to the control centre. Burroughs and I proceeded towards the craft.

“When we came up on the triangular shaped craft there were blue and yellow lights swirling around the exterior as though part of the surface and the air around us was electrically charged. We could feel it on our cloths, skin and hair. Nothing in my training prepared me for what we were witnessing.

“After ten minutes without any apparent aggression, I determined the craft was non hostile to my team or to the base. Following security protocol, we completed a thorough on-site investigation, including a full physical examination of the craft. This included photographs, notebook entries, and radio relays through airman Cabansag to the control centre as required. On one side of the craft were symbols that measured about 3 inches high and two and a half feet across.

“These symbols were pictorial in design; the largest symbol was a triangle, which was centred in the middle of the others. These symbols were etched into the surface of the craft, which was warm to the touch and felt like metal.

“After roughly 45 minutes the light from the craft began to intensify. Burroughs and I then took a defensive position away from the craft as it lifted off the ground without any noise or air disturbance. It manoeuvred through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed. It was gone in the blink of an eye.”

In 1980, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Halt was deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk. He described what he saw in December, 1980:

“ In late December 1980 I was called upon to investigate a strange event that was distracting our Security Police from their primary duties. Early on the morning of December 26, 1980 our police patrolmen discovered strange lights in the forest east of the back gate of RAF Woodbridge. Three patrolmen were dispatched into the forest to investigate. They reported discovering a strange triangular craft sitting on three legs. The craft was approximately 3 meters on a side. The craft had multiple lights. It rapidly manoeuvred and quickly left the area. I was not immediately aware of the details only being told of strange lights and assumed there was a reasonable explanation.

“Two nights later the family Christmas party was interrupted by the on duty police commander. He told of strange events and claimed “it” was back. Since my boss had to present awards I was tasked to go out and investigate. I fully expected to find an explanation. I took two senior Security Police, a Disaster Preparedness expert and the reporting On Duty Police Commander. At the site we found the three 1 ½” indentations in the ground in a triangular pattern.

“We discovered mild radiation, and evidence including broken branches. We suddenly observed a bright red/orange oval object with a black center. It reminded me of an eye and appeared as though blinking. It maneuvered horizontally through the trees with occasionally vertical movement. When approached it receded and silently broke into five white lights which quickly vanished. We moved out of the forest into a pasture and observed several objects with multiple lights in the Northern sky. They changed in shape from elliptical to round.

“Several other objects were seen to the South. One approached at high speed and sent down a concentrated beam near our feet. Another object sent down beams into the weapons storage area. The whole time we had difficulty communicating with the base as all three radio frequencies kept breaking up. This activity continued for about an hour.

“During this entire event I had my pocket recorder and taped the event as it unfolded. A copy of the tape was released without my knowledge. This is the original recorder and tape. I have no idea what we saw but do know whatever we saw was under intelligent control.”

John Callahan was Division Chief for the Federal Aviation Authority’s (FAA) Accident and Investigation Branch in Washington DC in the 1980s. His testimony follows:

“In early January of 1987, I received a call from the Air Traffic Quality Control Branch in FAA's Alaskan regional office, requesting guidance on what to tell the media personnel who were overflowing their office. The media was requesting information about the UFO that chased a Japanese 747 across the Alaskan sky for some 3 minutes at flight levels between 3,000 and 35,000 ft. on November 7, 1986.

“Japan Air Lines flight 628, a cargo jet with a pilot, co-pilot and one crew member, was just north of Anchorage, and it was about pm when the pilot first reported the UFO. He described it as a huge ball with lights running around it. He said it was about 4 times bigger than a 747, and he saw it with his own eyes. So did the other two crew members.

“Over the course of 3 minutes, the UFO jumped miles in a few seconds, changing places to different spots around the 747, in one sweep of the radar scope.

“After receiving the data from Alaska almost two months later, I briefed my boss Harvey Safer and the FAA Administrator Admiral Engen, and Safer and I went to the FAA Tech Centre to observe the playback. The FAA had developed a program capable of recreating the traffic on the controllers' scope, or plan view display. I instructed the FAA specialist to synchronize the voice tapes with the radar data so we could hear everything the controller and pilot said. I video taped the radar display. Later that day, I requested that the FAA automation specialists plot the radar targets along the route of flight and explain what each target was doing. I videotaped the resulting chart.

“The print out and radar play back displayed primary targets in the vicinity of the 747. These target returns were displayed about the same time and place as the pilot advised viewing the UFO. Both the radar and manual controller observed the primary target. The military controllers also viewed the primary target on their radar and identified it as a “double primary”. The pilot and crew viewed the target on their radar and were able to see the huge UFO at the same time as it approached their aircraft.

“If this craft had been a Learjet or military aircraft at the wrong altitude, that would have been clear. The FAA has procedures that cover tracking unidentified aircraft violating another's airspace - but it has no procedures for UFOs.

“Back at FAA headquarters, I gave Administrator Engen a quick briefing and showed him the video. He set up a briefing with President Reagan's scientific staff, and told me my function was to give them a dog and pony show and hand this event off to them, “since the FAA does not deal with UFO's.” I brought along a copy of the video and all the data print outs available at the time. One of the scientists asked a number of questions, such as, what is the range of the radar, what is the frequency of the radar, what is the band width, what is the formula for the height equipment, etc.

“I was impressed with the response from the FAA experts. At the end, one of the three people from the CIA said, “This event never happened. We were never here. We’re confiscating all this data and you are all sworn to secrecy.”

“Some time after the briefing, the detailed FAA report which included extensive interviews with the pilot and crew, the chart prepared at the Tech Centre; and facility voice tapes arrived at my office and were placed on a small table waiting for the CIA to request more data. The material stayed there until I retired 2 years later, and I've had it ever since. Most people including FAA controllers really aren't familiar with how the FAA radar system works and why all aircraft travelling through our airspace are not caught on radar or displayed on the controllers PVD. But I am. The system and organization of the FAA is not configured to identify and track these types of performances.”

Conference moderator, Fife Symington, then gave his own statement:

“In 1997, during my second term as Governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality. I witnessed a massive delta-shaped craft silently navigating over the Squaw Peak, Mountain Preserve in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking.

“To my astonishment this apparition appeared, and it was a solid structure; dramatically large with a very distinctive leading edge including embedded lights. It was travelling through the Arizona sky. I still don’t know what it was. As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man made object I'd ever seen. And it was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don't fly in formation. The incident was witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands of people in Arizona and my office was besieged with phone calls from very concerned Arizonians. The growing hysteria intensified when the story broke nationally. I decided to lighten the mood of the state by calling a press conference where my chief of staff arrived in an alien costume. We managed to lessen the sense of panic but at the same time, upset many of my constituents. I would now like to set the record straight. I never meant to ridicule anyone. My office did make inquiries as to the origin of the craft, but to this day, they remain unanswered. Eventually the Air National Guard claimed responsibility stating that their pilots were dropping flares. This is indicative of the attitude from official channels. We get explanations that fly in the face of the facts. Explanations like weather balloons, swamp gas and military flares. I was never happy with this silly explanation. There might very well have been military flares in the sky later that evening, but what I and hundreds of others saw had nothing to do with that.

“I now know that I am not alone in witnessing something extraordinary. There are many high ranking military, aviation and government officials who share my concerns; some of them have joined me here today. There is absolutely no doubt as to the veracity of what these men have told you. They have fought in wars, guarded top secret weapons arsenals and flown countless passengers throughout the world’s skies.

“Incidents like these are not going away. One year ago, Chicago's O'Hare airport experienced a UFO event that made national and international headlines. Pilots and many other airline employees observed a metallic disc hovering over the United Airlines terminal for several minutes. It then shot straight up and cut a hole in the clouds. The FAA did not investigate, dismissing the sighting as “weather.”

“We want the US government to stop perpetuating the myth that ALL UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth, conventional terms. Instead, our country needs to re-open its official investigation that it shut down in 1969. The US government can no longer shun an international dialogue about this, and we invite the government to work in cooperation with the countries represented at this table.

“When it comes to events of this nature dealing with the great unknown, we deserve more openness and a serious pursuit of the facts by our government.”

Despite a lot of press coverage (for what is basically a UFO story), with pieces appearing on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News to name but a few, there has been little reaction to this event. Much the same happened with the Disclosure Project Press Conference in 2001, but that event was soon overshadowed by 9/11.

If a group of highly credible individuals cannot stir up some interest among the general public and mainstream media with their experiences, what is it going to take to push ufology from the ‘loony pages’ to the headlines? Would even a flying saucer landing on the White House lawn be enough, I wonder?

The full transcripts of the witness statements can be read at www.freedomofinfo.org/national_press.htm