I've Seen Through The Looking Glass, Outside The Fishbowl

Monday, November 18, 2013

Pilot Encounters “A large, round, silver, metal object”

As we all know, UAP reports made by pilots are some of the most desirable. They are trained observers and are experienced in knowing what the skies look like.

July 4, 1981 - South central Lake Michigan

Captain Phil Schultz, 54, was flying TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport, New York (on autopilot control) and was at cruise altitude (FL370) at 280 kts airspeed (540 kts. ground speed) in an L-1011 heavy jet.

The sky was generally clear over Lake Michigan with a high, thin layer of cirrus over much of the southern part of the lake and some scattered mid-level clouds at about 10,000 feet. The sun was still high in the sky (41 deg. above the horizon) and behind the aircraft.

Silver, Metallic Object Descends

Then the high altitude encounter (FL370) happened. In the captain's own words, "A large, round, silver, metal object descended into the atmosphere from above and to the left of my airplane to about 40,000 feet overhead and passed off to my left."

After an extensive reconstruction of this event in the cockpit of his aircraft, more important facts about this event were found. A thorough investigation was done by a person trained in evaluating airplane mishaps. (The person who did this reconstruction is not listed). I surmise it might be Dr. Richard Haines, Chief Scientist at NARCAP.

Pilot's Report

Taken directly from Pilot Report Form.
The object traveled very smoothly during the five or six second-long encounter.
The UAP was about 2.5 times wider than thick with six jet black perfect circles ("portholes") aligned and equal-spaced around its circumference. Centered on the bottom surface of the circular disk was a single, jet-black circle.

The UAP traveled along an approximately parabolic course and performed a high-speed turn (calculated to be approximately 20 g) relatively near the aircraft before departing in a gradual climb to the north and leaving a dark wavy trail behind in the sky.

Its approach and departure speed was calculated to be about 1,000 mph. No shock wave or turbulence was felt at any time.

Capt. Schultz remembered seeing a fan-shaped region extending outward from behind the object which was "of a much darker blue than the rest of the sky." (What this fan-shaped region was is not explained by Schultz).

The aircraft's autopilot remained coupled throughout the encounter and no electromagnetic effects were noticed. The flight officer saw approximately the final two-thirds of the event, but the flight engineer did not see anything due to his position in the rear of the cabin.

Crew Does Not Report to Chicago Center

When Captain Schultz called Chicago Center to ask about other possible traffic in the area he was told there was none. He did not report what they had just seen.

Before this sighting Capt. Schultz did not believe in UFOs at all. His extensive jet combat experience during the Korean War and afterward had left him with the strongly held belief that such objects "simply do not exist."

This encounter instantly changed his view and, when asked him what he thought the object was he quickly replied.

"Both pilots were very concerned about a mid-air collision and began to brace themselves for an impact"
Thanks to Ken Pfeifer, MUFON Investigator for relating the basic facts of this most interesting case.
Courtesy of Billy Booth

I’ve Seen Through The Looking Glass, Outside The Fishbowl


T. Blank