agency handles the solid, well-documented reports of unidentified aerial phenomena.
In 2000, at age twenty-four, I was in training to become a military pilot. For my thesis, submitted the following year, I was assigned to pursue research into anomalous aerial phenomena in order to determine their effect and impact on aerospace security. The aviation branch of the Army of Chile, [132] BAVE, had in its files many reports from military pilots describing incidents during flight involving aerial phenomena that did not correspond to normal air traffic. These incidents posed a potential threat to air safety.
One of our most important civil aviation cases occurred in 1988 and showed that unidentified flying objects can be a danger for air operations. A Boeing 737 pilot, on a final approach to the runway at the Tepual Airport in Puerto Montt City, south of Santiago, suddenly encountered a large white light surrounded by green and red. The light was moving toward the airplane, coming straight at it, and the pilot had to make a steep turn to the left in order to avoid a collision. The phenomenon was also observed by the control tower personnel.
More recently, in 2000, the crew of a Chilean plane from the aviation branch of the Army, flying south of Santiago, observed a long cigar-shaped object, a brilliant gray. It flew parallel to the right side of the aircraft for two minutes, very close to it, and then disappeared at an extremely high speed along the mountain coast. This object was detected by the radar of the control center of Santiago, which notified the crew minutes before the incident and confirmed the ensuing pilot observations.
It so happened that the pilot of this plane was the director of military aviation studies and was also my flight instructor during my training to be a military flier. Because of my connection to him, I had access to the full report on this incident, filed within my department by those involved, and I investigated the case further. I was able to interview the other pilots, the flight engineer, and the passengers on the flight who also observed the object.
In this unusual case, the military aviation crew members confirmed the reality of the UFO through careful observation and detailed reporting. Radar simultaneously confirmed the object’s extraordinary movements; the case heightened official interest by Chilean military and aviation personnel in the UAP phenomenon. In fact, this significant event had a major effect on the attitudes and opinions of our military pilots. It was because of my involvement in this pivotal case that I was asked to study the unconventional topic of UAP in order to graduate from my pilot training program.
After conducting this investigation, I concluded in my thesis that UFOs are physically real and their presence in our skies is concrete. However, difficulties arise when we try to study their behavior, because of the complexity of the phenomenon and because of our inability to predict UFO events. I realized that the wide variety of different shapes, structures, colors, and movements of these UFOs meant that they must comprise a larger, more widespread phenomenon than we have understood.
When I became a pilot, I heard stories about encounters with unidentified flying objects, and became aware of the risks they could create, the possible dangers. In Chile there is excellent training provided in aerospace for all types of emergencies, but there is nothing written or taught about UFOs. This means that any reactions during UFO encounters are left up to the discretion of the pilots and will naturally have to be improvised on the spot. While I was engaged in UAP research, a link was established between our BAVE and the CEFAA, and the two agencies worked together to share information and cooperate on cases. Our objective analyses, and the serious regard with which this important phenomenon has been taken, have helped to foster UFO awareness among our flight crews. In cooperation with flight security they now maintain an openness about reporting any abnormal situation, and no longer ridicule the discussion of UFOs.
I have continued to study UFOs with the full support of the CEFAA for my studies of military cases and aviation issues, and cases from the Aviation Army are being sent directly to the CEFAA. To date, I have analyzed twenty-eight cases, nine involving aircraft of the Chilean Aviation Army. These nine well-documented cases have been studied by other officials in the Chilean government and were presented in official reports. We also collaborate closely with some civilian investigative organizations, which provide vast experience in research and which also exchange information with other countries.
Although my official position with the BAVE is not specifically concerned with UFOs, I am the individual whom pilots consult after an observation, before they submit their reports to their departments as required. I seem to be handling this issue more and more frequently, because it has become known that I am a point person for reports and investigations about UFOs.
At present, both the BAVE and the CEFAA are developing additional research methods and are creating an important database for future air operations. We do not keep this information secret. There is real interest in the subject of UFOs. But unfortunately, science does not support experiments or a testing of the evidence, and our current scientific methodology for measuring and verifying data is not easily applied to the study of the UFO phenomenon. As a result, the study of UFOs has attracted too many self-taught investigators promoting unscientific theories that are covered by the mass media. Because of this, in Chile as in other countries around the globe, UFOs are considered to be something standing apart from classical science and are rejected by established scientific institutions. So this makes it very hard to identify these anomalies existing throughout the world’s skies.
Personally, I believe that the UFO phenomenon is the most interesting of all the many phenomena affecting our planet, and it is one that totally defies logical explanation. As of now it seems beyond our ability to comprehend. But new cases continue to be documented by pilots, air traffic controllers, operations staff at the world’s airports, and many others with the proper training to determine whether a flying object is something unusual. Even though the true origin of these UFOs remains unknown, they do affect aviation everywhere, and this must be addressed. Eventually, I believe, we will be able to determine the real nature of this phenomenon if the scientific method is applied.
CHAPTER 20
UFOs in Brazil
by Brigadier General Jose Carlos Pereira (Ret.)
