Ian Gregor, FAA regional spokesman, says the agency's policy won't allow controllers to comment even if they want to relate their experience.
Gregor confirmed that "several" air traffic controllers in the tower saw the staggered formation of mysterious lights moving in the sky, apparently over North Phoenix. He says he heard that second-hand, though -- the tower's manager told him about it.
The controllers didn't consider the source of the lights to be a hazard, because nothing was popping up on radar, Gregor says.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Air Traffic Controllers Who Saw UFO Muzzled by FAA
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4 comments:
No surprise here, how would it look if it got around that air traffic controllers see 'UFOs'?
The airline industry is suffering now, imagine if more people stopped flying because they can't trust the people giving guidance and directions to air-passenger pilots?
The problem is that they're too credible as witnesses!
[Via: The Keyhoe Report]
See: http://tinyurl.com/4yml2u for an update to this story--some jerk tied flares to fishing line attached to helium-filled weather balloons to create this fraud. Big joke, huh?
Here's an interview with the bozo himself:
http://tinyurl.com/45b4z6
God, do I hate hoaxers! A local television station in the Phoenix area interviewed the guy, who wanted to remain unidentified. His neighbor, Lino Mailo, confirms the story, as he heard an odd sound, looked over his fence, and saw his neighbor releasing the balloons.
Now, isn't it somewhat illegal, not to mention very stupid, to release flares on helium-filled balloons into the sky, due to the danger of an aircraft hitting one or ingesting one into an engine? The bozo mentioned the movement of the balloons was partly due to nearby jet aircraft turbulence! Or, if the flare burned through the line, and dropped onto someone's house, or a field, causing a fire?
IMHO, this jerk ought to be arrested and charged with creating a potential aircraft hazard or possible ground fire. Wonder what the FAA would say about that? A little visit from the DHS might make this dolt rethink the "wisdom" of what he did. What if a passenger jet had crashed? Good Christ, what a profoundly idiotic thing to do.
There was a somewhat unclear note on the UFO UpDates mail list yesterday which indicated the perp who launched the balloon flares might be brought up on FAA or local police charges for launching incendiary devices.
The FAA is also not very happy that these balloons drifted into the descent path of the local airport, but they may leave it to the local police to deal with the bonehead. I'll update here when I know more.
Intense--
If true, this is good news both for aviation safety and ufology, which might be plagued by fewer balloon-borne fakes. At least one can hope!
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