By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-13 14:36:23 | Updated at 2024-12-23 23:58:41
1 week ago
At least four commercial airline pilots have encountered mysterious colorful, circular lights “moving at extreme speeds” through the skies above Oregon this past weekend, according to local reports.
Pilots and nearby air traffic control dispatchers discussed the alarming sightings in air traffic control audio archives from Dec. 7, which were obtained by OregonLive.
“Is there any military activity out straight ahead of us?” a United Airlines pilot flying from Denver to Eugene, Oregon, asks in the recording around 8:30 p.m. PT.
The air traffic controller responds that they have not seen anything — but then adds that she received another report of something at 30,000 in the same area. “We’re not sure what it is,” she says.
The pilot says there’s “a lot of movement out here.”
“They’re looking into it,” air traffic control responds.
“We’re seeing three or four targets,” the pilot relays moments later “They’re [at] all altitudes. Up and down. It’s pretty crazy.”
The lights, he said, were “shooting way up” as high as 50,000 feet.
Later in the recording, a second pilot flying an air ambulance reports the lights and tells air traffic control one is moving in “a corkscrew pattern.”
When pressed for more details, the pilot says it looks like “an aircraft strobe” — then says another one showed up.
The pilot says the lights are “zipping towards us and back out towards the ocean, red in color, moving at extreme speeds.”
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” he adds.
Another air traffic controller tells the pilot, “You are cleared to maneuver as necessary left and right to avoid the UFO out there.”
The LifeFlight pilot, 37-year-old Joe Buley, told KGW he and two medics onboard the fixed-wing aircraft reported flying from Aurora, Colorado, to North Bend, Washington, when they saw the orange lights.
“The biggest thing that stood out was it was changing direction. Usually, things don’t change directions unless it’s an aircraft,” Buley told KGW Thursday.
Two Horizon Airlines pilots also reported seeing mysterious lights on Dec. 8, according to an air traffic controller, KGW reported.
Several brief video clips taken by pilots and their crew showed lights in the sky – although objects are difficult to see due to the darkness, according to the outlet.
Each flight continued to its destination without incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that at least one pilot saw the strange lights but did not provide any additional information.
Scientist Douglas Buettner, who led a study examining a case of five pilots who encountered bright lights over the Pacific Ocean in 2022, the outlet the lights are most likely Starlink satellites.
“I’ve had two other people look at it, and they say it is consistent with Starlink,” he said.
Buley says he’s not convinced it was a satellite.
The strange sightings on the West Coast come as residents in New Jersey have been reporting mysterious drones hovering over their skies — with no explanation offered from White House officials.
“They don’t change directions. If they do, not rapidly. Not at this rate of speed,” he told KGW.
Speculation over the origin of the drones ranges from the US military testing out new, secret technology to an Iran “mothership” sitting in the ocean deploying the objects over the Garden State.
