Now, to muddle the waters a bit:
1. The “government” (whoever that is supposed to be) don’t scoff at reports of UFO’s, they merely look first towards what would be the most logical explanation. . .as this usually accounts for over 95% of reports. The remaining reports may be classified as “unresolved.” But, no matter, the USG is not in the business of taking UFO reports anymore. NIDS (National Institute of Discovery Science (
http://www.nidsci.org/) has that mission, as described in FAA manuals.
2. As a Forward Air Controller with the 101st Airborne Division, in Saudi back in August of ’90, I was in a OH-58 helicopter, playing radio relay during an exercise we were conducting. It was almost noon and a clear day. I saw a rapidly approaching (800-1,000kts) shadow approaching from the southeast, moving northwest. That was all I saw---a shadow---and it was elliptical in shape (parallax error?). Anyway, the shadow was dark and sharp, indicating the object must be close to the ground. However, neither the pilot nor I could actually see the object casting the shadow as it passed our location within a half-mile or so. Strange, and we talked about it and forgot about it.
Then, about 15 minutes later it came back on reverse course. Now, this time we saw it early enough to react, and we did what any fighter-type guys would do (the helo pilot was also an Apache pilot and I was, at that time, an A-10 pilot). We put ourselves on an intercept course to get in front of this shadow. As we approach the intercept point the shadow stopped---instantaneously---and the helo pilot instinctively banked the helo to the left to fly towards it, and as we rolled out, the shadow was instantly at full speed and went by us, disappearing to the southeast.
We looked at each other and wondered, “What the h*ll was THAT?!” Now, I don’t know what it was that caused that shadow, but I am not going to call it “alien” or anything like that. It is simply something I can’t explain. That is all.
When we landed about 45 minutes later we went to the TOC to de-brief the training mission, and let me tell you, all that B.S. about pilots swearing never to talk abvout such things as we saw, no way did that happen. . .We told EVERYBODY we could find. This, my friend, led to some other stuff. . .but that is for another time and place. . .
When it comes to UFO sightings and such, Occam’s razor usually works best. Basically the simplest explanation is best, and stories of super-secret double-inverted conspiracies and shadow governments are nothing but nonsense, as the US government can’t keep secrets worth a darn, especially something as complicated and involved as “the alien conspiracy.”
Carl Sagan and a Russian astronomer long ago wrote a book about the probability of "alien" (extraterrestrial) life. Their conclusions (arrived at long before any planetary systems other than our own were demonstrated) were the result of ... mainly ... guesswork, albeit highly educated guesswork. The number they settled on was 10,000 advanced civilizations in the visible universe. The formula to arrive at this was simple, just a multiplication of all the various probability estimates. They were careful to use conservative "guesses" for all the factors, resulting in a very conservative number.
Their definition of "advanced technical civilization" was one that had progressed at least to radio. They pointed out that many of the ten thousand civilizations would be tens of thousands of years old. Consider that we are very young. When was it that Marconi sent the signals? Although Sagan was a lifelong poo-pooer of the UFO phenomena, he did a great job of convincing the reader that visiting life was likely, if only a means of transport could be conjured. Now try and picture yourself explaining the space shuttle to General Robert E. Lee.
Considering how far our civilization has progressed since the invention of the radio, how short a time that has been, how old many of the civilizations must be, and the improbability that life is unique to the earth ... considering all of this, it seems to me that the burden of proof is on those who insist that we are and have been alone. I am very comfortable with my "belief" that we are probably life in a universe teeming with life. I don't lay awake thinking about it any more. It never surprises me to hear stories of strangeness in the sky, though I have a strong curiosity about the stories and the stories behind the stories. I believe in God, and I'm not sure how my acceptance of the size of the biosphere figures with that belief. I do not try to reconcile them.
I long ago lost interest in pursuing the phenomena called UFOs. I didn't lose interest. I lost interest in pursuing them. If you encounter an anthill during a walk in the woods, do you stoop and try to talk to the ants? Of course, the other possibility is that the entire culture clash on this planet is only a seventh graders social studies project. If someone could explain to me the things I observed, I would be embarrassed, but I would probably still believe that WE ARE NOT ALONE. And I would still believe in God. So go figger. :) That's all for me tonight...time to turn in.