A term even more vague than UFO. The might not be objects, they might not be flying but they are unidentified.
Turns out the Tom DeLonge of "popular beat combo", Blink 182 is a bit a a UFO nut and has been investigating. He's got hold of some military videos. And the US Navy has described the sightings as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xw8 ... -phenomena
Of course there's a world of difference between we can't identify it and identifying it as alien. Also the authorities not identifying it and not being able to identify it are two subtly different things. Anyone want to engage in idle speculation? I'm going with Dragons.
Matt
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
-
Tony.Williams
- Posts: 1317
- Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:05 am
- Location: Still somewhere in England
- Contact:
Re: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
My attitude to such reports is influenced by an incident which happened some decades ago. I made a note of it, as follows:
Many years ago there was a programme on UK TV concerning a UFO sighting. A passenger on an internal flight had a cine camera and had been filming out of the window. When the film was developed, he had a shock: a small dot in the distance rapidly enlarged to a lens-shaped object which briefly hovered alongside the plane before rushing away again at incredible speed. The film was shown on TV and it was extremely convincing; the image was sharp and clear, and there were irregular white markings which could not be identified along the rim of the object. The cameraman was entirely credible and was shaken by it himself. I was also rather shaken, because I've never seen such convincing evidence for what looked like an alien craft.
Fortunately the programme producer had an enquiring mind and was not disposed to jump to conclusions. He borrowed the man's camera, loaded it with the same type of film, and gave it to a professional cameraman who sat in the same seat of the same aeroplane following the same route, and started playing about with the camera. It wasn't long before he saw the same thing, and he discovered that he could make it come and go just by shifting position slightly.
A close inspection of the window revealed what was happening: the window glass had a bevelled edge, and this was refracting a distorted image of the tailplane, making a section of it appear to be detached and floating in mid-air. The white markings around the rim were just where the paint had worn off on the leading edge of the tailplane. So as the camera lens was moved slightly to one side of the bevelled area, the "UFO" could be made to appear and disappear.
That was a real object lesson, both in not believing what your eyes appear to be showing you, and in how to investigate such reports.
Many years ago there was a programme on UK TV concerning a UFO sighting. A passenger on an internal flight had a cine camera and had been filming out of the window. When the film was developed, he had a shock: a small dot in the distance rapidly enlarged to a lens-shaped object which briefly hovered alongside the plane before rushing away again at incredible speed. The film was shown on TV and it was extremely convincing; the image was sharp and clear, and there were irregular white markings which could not be identified along the rim of the object. The cameraman was entirely credible and was shaken by it himself. I was also rather shaken, because I've never seen such convincing evidence for what looked like an alien craft.
Fortunately the programme producer had an enquiring mind and was not disposed to jump to conclusions. He borrowed the man's camera, loaded it with the same type of film, and gave it to a professional cameraman who sat in the same seat of the same aeroplane following the same route, and started playing about with the camera. It wasn't long before he saw the same thing, and he discovered that he could make it come and go just by shifting position slightly.
A close inspection of the window revealed what was happening: the window glass had a bevelled edge, and this was refracting a distorted image of the tailplane, making a section of it appear to be detached and floating in mid-air. The white markings around the rim were just where the paint had worn off on the leading edge of the tailplane. So as the camera lens was moved slightly to one side of the bevelled area, the "UFO" could be made to appear and disappear.
That was a real object lesson, both in not believing what your eyes appear to be showing you, and in how to investigate such reports.
Re: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Nope, dragons. Pretty sure they can breathe fire too.