“Remember that this is basically how the UFO movement keeps chugging along. Something is seen that looks odd, no immediate explanation can be found, officials state the fact that there’s a perfectly natural explanation... and many conclude that there is now evidence of alien craft and a government cover-up.”
Like JAL 1628, where multiple ground-based radar (civilian and military), the involved pilots, and at least one other plane’s pilots imagined the exotic-movement unidentified flying object doing things no tech on earth is known to be able to do?
Your help with understanding the radars involved being subject to the same hallucination as the pilots would be appreiciated, this one has always stumped me.
I'm not saying anyone imagined anything. In that or any other incident. I'm certainly not saying that anyone 'imagined' something that looks like a missile was over CA yesterday. My point is that odd, sometimes very difficult or impossible to explain things occur rather frequently. Using logic, the best available evidence, and being impartial in examining it is the best course if you really want the truth. Not being able to explain something, as in the case of JAL1628, does not mean its actual explanation defaults to the most implausible choice. I've seen things that I cannot explain in my line of work (I fly often, sometimes 200+ flights per year.) Just because I cannot explain them, nor can anyone else, it doesn't mean that a race of super intelligent beings travelled many light years just to buzz around in a craft in defiance of the laws of physics and then go home.
Is that possible? Yes. Is it the most likely explanation? No way.
And I don't mean to be sarcastic at all. Your point is a good one, that very seemingly odd things happen a lot around air travel. Things that sometimes there isn't a good explanation for. My point is that a lot (not all) UFO research is done from the point of view of wishing to prove a theory true, and events or images that defy explanation are then easy to proclaim as 'evidence' of that theory.
When I saw that video of the CA mystery, I personally wanted it to be a missile. Because that's interesting. But looking at all the evidence and the comparative images, as well as the plausibility of various scenarios, I have concluded that it is not a missile. Even though I initially thought it was (and kind of feel let down that I now think otherwise.) But that's where the evidence has led me - the best and most logical conclusion. Happy to buy you a beer if I'm wrong...