UFO sightings are no laughing matter, group says

afp ^ | 11/12/07 | afp

[mdittmar]

UFOs may be fodder for comedians and science fiction but there was no joking Monday when a group of pilots and officials demanded the US government reopen an investigation into unidentified flying objects.

The 19 former pilots and government officials, who say they have seen UFOs themselves or been involved in probes of strange flying objects, told reporters their questions can no longer be dismissed more than 30 years after the US case was closed.

"We want the US government to stop perpetuating the myth that all UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth, conventional terms," said Fife Symington, former governor of Arizona and air force pilot who says he saw a UFO himself in 1997.

"Instead our country needs to reopen its official investigation that it shut down in 1969," Symington told a news conference.

Symington read an appeal on behalf of the group of who came to Washington to recount their sightings of UFOs.

"We believe that for reasons of both national security and flight safety, every country should make an effort to identify any object in its airspace," the statement said.

The group included a retired pilot from Air France who said he saw an enormous flying disc during a flight from Nice to London in 1994, an Iranian pilot who tried in vain to fire on a UFO in 1976 and a former US official from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who claims a probe into a UFO seen over Alaska in 1987 was squelched.

"'Who believes in UFOs?' is the kind of attitude of the FAA all the time," Symington said.

"However, when I asked the CIA person: 'What do you think it was,' he responded 'a UFO.'"

When Symington suggested the government tell Americans about a UFO, the CIA official allegedly told him: "'No way, if we were to tell the American public there are UFOs they would panic.'"

The subject of UFOs came up in a recent debate among presidential candidates, with Democrat Dennis Kucinich saying he saw a UFO.

Skeptics say UFO sightings are merely aircraft or meteors re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

[Psycho_Bunny]

When Symington suggested the government tell Americans about a UFO, the CIA official allegedly told him: "'No way, if we were to tell the American public there are UFOs they would panic.'"

You can always tell these "Government official told me" lies because they always say "people would panic".

No.  They wouldn't.  Most everyone would think it's pretty cool.

[myprecious]

Bump for later reading. Too much to wrap my brain around tonight. Thank you for posting.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Thanks Dave. One of these days I shall post my cattle mutilation story. Have a houseful of grandbabies right now. Popcorn, cocoa and “Bambi” seem more important.

[dragnet2]

And since your post was #2, what specific discussion were you referring to?

The 19 former pilots and government officials

Oh, so you and the book guy are only referring to these 19 people only, not the tens of thousands of other credible people that claimed to have seen these objects. And all 19 saw military craft. OK.

And here I thought you and your book guy had an explanation for all these other sightings over the years, and were implying that all these sightings were military craft, when in fact they could very well be something else.

I can go with that.

[Popocatapetl]

Let’s put UFOs into perspective.

The nearest star to Earth is Alpha Centauri. It is four years away at the speed of light. The nearest habitable planet is probably over 100 years away at the speed of light.

The age of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 13.6 billion years. The age of our Earth is about 4.5 billion years. Life has existed on Earth for maybe 1 billion years or so, most of that time as microbial life only.

Intelligent life, in any way similar to us, is maybe 50,000 years, with modern intellect say 10,000 years. Our modern technology began about 200 years ago.

So how long will we last? If we stay exclusively on Earth, perhaps 30,000 to 50,000 years before some disaster or disasters wipes us out or reduces the few survivors to a primitive state, from which we may not recover.

So, let’s say this is not an unusual course of evolution for intelligent species, and that they last about 100,000 years.

This is just a tiny bit of time in our galaxy. Vast numbers of intelligent species might have evolved and died out in the past.

Some may exist today. But what are the odds they would be just 100 light years from us? From one side of the galaxy is between 70,000 and 100,000 light years. We are about 26,000 light years to the galactic center.

There are between 200 and 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, most of which are red dwarfs that would not support life.

So the bottom line is that a UFO would most likely have to cross an immense distance in space, even though they would have no idea where to look, other than for habitable planets. Nothing out there is close enough to have received any transmission we have made.

So I’m not holding my breath.

[dragonblustar]

These clips are on that UFO sighting in Alaska.

UFO Files: Black Box UFO Secrets Revealed ( part 1 of 5 )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVWKRUCM9s8

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvNiBfkuWEo

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8CChInUvQ8

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDb-l5wGz50

Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mcZPe_RUCY

[dragonblustar]

Let’s put UFOs into perspective.

A hundred years ago most people used horses to travel.

[Kevmo]

Then, as you have seen on the other thread, the original values for #4 were 10^-3, whereas the Coppedge numbers show that to be off by several hundred exponents.

Here, plug them in for yourself. I was using 1% for #4, one thousand years. Let’s just start with something.

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/drake/default.asp

[Kevmo]

He has His purposes.

[Kevmo]

Oh, so you and the book guy are only referring to these 19 people only, not the tens of thousands of other credible people that claimed to have seen these objects. And all 19 saw military craft. OK.
***You seem to have a problem with perception. I am referring to those 19 people, and you have used that as an opportunity for straw argumentation to extend it to EVERY flying saucer case, EVER. You wouldn’t know if “the book guy” is referring to one or the other, so you’ll need to put your argument from silence on hold until you read the book.

And here I thought you and your book guy had an explanation for all these other sightings over the years,
***You really have a fixation on straw argumentation. What is it that compels you to argue against something that you have never read? You don’t even know what the book says. Read it.

and were implying that all these sightings were military craft, when in fact they could very well be something else.
***Yes that is what I imply, and will stick with that contention until you educate yourself and read the book.

I can go with that.
***You’re just looking for a place to argue rather than come up to speed. Stop proceeding from ignorance. Read the book.

[Kevmo]

According to the book, “The UFO Controversy in America” the first real good flap of UFOs was in the 1890s.

Secret projects in aeronautics have been part of our history from the beginning. That is, unless you’re going to suggest that flying at 140 miles per hour is evidence that we were being visited by aliens at that time.

[Duke Nukum]

I’d like to see The Invaders on DVD.

[Quix]

Those who saw and handled the wreckage directly

INSISTed

OTHERWISE.

Dr Marcel who handled wreckage pieces at age 11 agrees with his dad OTHERWISE.

Our technology didn’t come close at the time.

Such assumptions as postulated just don’t match up with the facts of such craahed craft; with the arial behavior of such craft; nor with history.

[Quix]

Thanks.

19 black ops and pilot sorts. Good number of people.

Any transcript available yet?

[Quix]

YUP.

And none of them are nuts, per se.

[Kevmo]

We can have that discussion on a separate thread. In the meantime, open your mind to Occham’s Razor. Is it more likely that aliens would fly all the way across the galaxy with super-advanced technology only to crash, or is it more likely that a military experiment crashed near a military base and was covered up by military personnel?

I have talked to someone who was in Roswell at the time. She saw nothing that would point to alien life forms, but she did see some military folks around at the time.

I sent in my theory and predictions to Art Bell when he had the Art’s Parts pieces from Roswell, proceeding from this evidence. And all of my predictions came true. The metal was mostly aluminum, available in 1947, and sinterized. The 2nd set of pieces had more whizbang properties, characteristic of 1990’s technology and were a disinformation effort.

[RansomOttawa]

Man. I remember that show from when I was a kid. The infamous episode with the horse-headed aliens gave me the heebie-jeebies when I was 7.

[dragnet2]

Yes that is what I imply, and will stick with that contention until you educate yourself and read the book.

Thanks Kev. You're a barrel of laughs. I mean it. I'll run out and purchase the book right away. Back in a few.

:o

[Kevmo]

It’s actually an enjoyable read. He’s a good writer.

[Desron13]

If there were really alien civilizations technologically advanced enough to reach us from light years away, would they not be sufficiently advanced to control our governments like we control rats in a maze? :-)