F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region

Washington Post ^ | July 27, 2002 | Steve Vogel

[steveo]

"It was this object, this light-blue object, traveling at a phenomenal rate of speed," Rogers said. "This Air Force jet was right behind it, chasing it, but the object was just leaving him in the dust. I told my neighbor, 'I think those jets are chasing a UFO.' " Click link to read the rest of the story.

[harpseal]

My guess and it is a guess is that an advanced recon aircraft whose existence is still secret was in the airspace and there had been a communications foul up. I note that smoething Mlike Mach 5 would do the job nicely.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[TheLurkerX]

I have a friend who was a strike eagle pilot, and he encountered the Aurora in flight. They had hell intercepting it, and it was outmaneuvering them and jamming their instrument readings. He said he lost it visually, but finally got a reading and took off after it. This time the pilot let him get close enough to see him through the canopy, and he realized he was a fellow air force pilot. It then left him in the dust. He said it gives of blue colored exhaust with a string of pearls kind of trail, and believes it was using the much rumored pulse engine. When he and his wingman got on the ground, they were met by jeeps and personnel who spent a couple of hours debriefing them and convincing them it didn't happen. He said the craft resembles the models and mock ups on the net. It's got a sort of diamond shape to it. That's what he said anyway. The plane's been rumored to be flying since the late 80's, early 90's.

[_Jim]

One oldster I know was a radar officer on a destroyer in the Med in the late '50s. He swears that he watched an unidentified blip hover, then shoot straight up

Hmmm pretty impressive feat considering the following -

- how was the target originally acquired? (Height-finder RADARS aren't used in search mode - but *may* be used to determine a target's height once detected on (or appearing on) the primary *search* RADAR ...

See, a horizontal scanning (rotating) "search" RADAR won't paint/detect overhead targets - and this is assuming that 50's destroyers were equipped with height-finder RADARs ...

[Mad Dawgg]

"F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region..."

Damn and I am low on Reynolds Wrap!!!

Anyone got an Extra Case I can Borrow????

[hergus]

Confirmation of UFO's...what will those pol's do next to take our eyes off of them? {G}

I guess that's what Homeland Defense is really all about...tin foil hat's....ON!

[mikrofon]

Yeah, probly a former K-Mart exec high-tailing it out of the country before the SEC catches up with him ...

[null and void]

LOL! Good point!

[_Jim]

They had hell intercepting it, and it was outmaneuvering them and jamming their instrument readings.

"instrument readings" - like airspeed, altitude and magnetic-compass heading indicator?

Or just the RADAR (air-to-air mode)?

[andy_card]

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call ... THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

[usadave]

... a nearly full moon (as was last night), a little optical troposphereic ducting (owing to air-masses with differing humidity and temperature conditions) ... and it happens every time (ufo reports) ...

Now if we can just come up with an explanation for all of the UFO's that have been seen in broad daylight in just about every country around the world by countless persons on the ground, including law enforcement officers, military personnel, and numerous other well respected and rational members of society.

[cynicom]

Trust your government at all times. They will not lie to you.

[Joe Hadenuf]

The slight movements of the balloon as it sways in the breeze will appear on radar as though the UFO, perceived to be far away, is darting back and forth at incredible accelerations.

Sorry, but this explanation is more unbelievable than a actual UFO. Oh, and we did the plastic bag thing as a kid, and no one would think it was traveling at a high rate of speed to the point of leaving fighter jets in the dust, as this witness observed.

[mdittmar]

They like to buzz the Whitehouse every 50 years for laughs:)

One of the most frequently asked questions by sceptics is "If UFOs exist then why don't they land on the Whitehouse lawn?" Well, in 1952 they nearly did. There was a unprecidented UFO activity in what has been termed the great "Washington flap" of 1952. At its height in July 1952, radars at both Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base picked up UFOs and there were so many witness accounts that questions started to be asked at The Pentagon, culminating in a press conference being held on July 29th at which a reporter asked the Director of Air Force Intelligence, General John Samford, "Is it some very highly secret new weapon that we're working on that's causing these flying saucer reports?" to which Samford replied "We have nothing that has no mass and unlimited power!"

[galt-jw]

thats right, I forgot about that. This sighting occured on the same day as the others for fifty years....just a weather balloon, though.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Trust your government at all times. They will not lie to you.

Oh, I'am sure it was swamp gas, or uh, party ballons or something.

[_Jim]

... UFO's that have been seen in broad daylight in just about every country around the world

A simple "sight" or an image as perceived by humans or as captured by film (by electronic or other means) is proof of an an image only does not provide proof in and of itself that said *image* is caused by an actual object ...

(Shadows are an obvious example of this "effect".)

by countless persons on the ground, including law enforcement officers, military personnel, and numerous other well respected and rational members of society.

Confirmation of said perception of said image by individuals of purportedly impeccable reputation does nothing to further a contention that the image is actually a the result of the presence of an object -

- an object that is more often than not purported to be something as nefarious as a "U.F.O.".

[niteowl77]

My dad was a USAF intercept technician on Okinawa when the Korean War broke out, and he has told me that they would occasionally guide a/c (I think they were F-82s out of Naha) out to a "blip" over the ocean, and when the crew would get to the area, whatever was there would then take off at unbelievably high rates of speed.

And my Dad has never been one for hyperbole.

[Sam Cree]

I agree that most UFO's may not be alien spacecraft, at least it remains unproven. However, it seems more than likely that alien civilizations exist, and they may well have technology that exists outside of our understanding of physics. So the possibilities are open ended.

[SamAdams76]

When is the government just going to admit that yes, flying saucers do exist, they have been watching us for years, and that there is nothing to be alarmed about. They intend to do us no harm. They just want to observe as we observe ant colonies and beehives.