By William Puckett (Montana State MUFON Director),
6 February 2016
(UFOs Northwest, Helena, Montana)
Quote from the UFO case report:
“Location of Sighting: Near Nephi, Utah
Date of Sighting: January
14, 2016
Time of Sighting: Between
12:12 and 12:13 AM MST
Background: This case
was reported to me by Erica Lukes who is the director of MUFON for the state of
Utah. She knows a radio show host (Pat Daniels) who was scanning communications
between aircraft and the FAA shortly after midnight on January 14, 2016. He
heard a conversation between an airline pilot and Air Route Traffic Control.
The pilot reported seeing an extremely large bright
object that he estimated a mile wide to his right. The air traffic controller
told him that he was looking in the direction of Nephi, Utah. Apparently the
air traffic controller told the pilot that the object was not detected on
radar. The object appeared to keep pace with the aircraft.
A Freedom of Information (FOIA) request was written to
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). About six weeks later we received a
response to the FOIA. The response consisted of radar returns, voice tapes and
tower logs. The FAA is to be commended for their full and timely response to our
request.
Research showed that the aircraft was American
Airlines Flight Number 434 which was enroute from San Francisco, CA to
Philadelphia, PA. The actual sighting time was between 12:12 and 12:13 AM MST
on January 14, 2016. We were able to find segments of the conversation on the
Air Traffic Control archives website, but much of conversation was deleted. One
could hear the controller telling the pilot that Nephi, Utah was off to his
right and the pilot acknowledging the transmission. However, the UFO report was
not on the tape. The ham radio operator did not record the conversation so the ‘UFO
report’ could not be heard. He heard the conversation on the frequency of
127.95 mhz.
Update: March 4, 2016.
The voice tape obtained from the FAA (see above) does fill in some of the
transmission missing from the tape from the Air Traffic Control archives
website. The only thing not included from the original transmission was the
estimated size of the object and the and the conversation where the FAA said
that the object was not detected on radar. The airline crew described the
object as a large orange square.
An animation was constructed for each revolution of
the radar (12 seconds). The radar animation frames are speeded up to one
second/revolution in the animation. (Animation follows voice tape above.) The
animation shows 1 to 3 returns for each revolution of the radar. There are a
few rotations where no returns are detected. This is strange. There is no
detected conventional movement and the returns vary from 0 to 3 over the 7
minute period. The time period is from 12:08 to 12:15 AM MST which is a few
minutes before and after the pilot reported the strange object. One wonders if
the object was moving erratically and perhaps was rotating exposing more or
less radar cross sectional area resulting in no detection or a different number
of returns? The object could have been large considering this type of ‘radar
signature?’
A visual trace of the FAA tape is shown in Figure 1. Pat Daniels (ham radio operator) stated in a radio interview that the aircraft radioed the FAA and inquired whether radar showed anything in the area of their sighting. This conversation was around a minute before the conversation where the FAA told the crew that the town to the right was Nephi, Utah. There was some conversation in this time frame. (See annotation in Figure 1.) However, the conversation has been deleted and only a second or two not ‘redacted.’ The question is why did the FAA redact this conversation? According to Pat Daniels the crew did not announce their flight number when they first sighted the object. So perhaps the FAA didn’t include it for that reason. Or perhaps they did not want the public to hear the conversation? In the recorded conversation starting just after 12:12 AM the crew was talking about their sighting and the FAA responded ‘you mean to the right.’ How did they know that? They knew because they had it on radar.”
A visual trace of the FAA tape is shown in Figure 1. Pat Daniels (ham radio operator) stated in a radio interview that the aircraft radioed the FAA and inquired whether radar showed anything in the area of their sighting. This conversation was around a minute before the conversation where the FAA told the crew that the town to the right was Nephi, Utah. There was some conversation in this time frame. (See annotation in Figure 1.) However, the conversation has been deleted and only a second or two not ‘redacted.’ The question is why did the FAA redact this conversation? According to Pat Daniels the crew did not announce their flight number when they first sighted the object. So perhaps the FAA didn’t include it for that reason. Or perhaps they did not want the public to hear the conversation? In the recorded conversation starting just after 12:12 AM the crew was talking about their sighting and the FAA responded ‘you mean to the right.’ How did they know that? They knew because they had it on radar.”
(ufosnw.com image)
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