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UFOs?

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
On deployment a few months ago I was flying out over some pretty remote ocean with a buddy, hundreds of miles from the Boat, land, and anything else, or so it seemed. All of the sudden, just after sunset, a geoup of 30-40 incredibly bright lights went by on the ocean below. Bright like stadium lights being shone directly upward. Very strange. We joked about it being underwater aliens, like something out of The Abyss. So, I reported it to Intel when we got back, mainly out of curiosity.

It turns out to be a Chinese fishing fleet that cruises waters in the Arabian Sea / Gulf of Oman. They have these little boats that are about 100 feet long, and have large arrays of insanely bright lights to lure fish into their nets. In this case, they were well farther away from shore than normal, and right under our route.

It's one of the best examples of a useful answer from Intel that I can possibly share. I was surprised how quickly the SIAC Officer was like "Oh yeah, let me show you a picture..."

As far as this perpetuated UFO story goes, I have to roll my eyes. It's just not worth engaging with some people on the subject of optical illusions and the vast array of aircraft, ships, and satellites in the world.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
It turns out to be a Chinese fishing fleet that cruises waters in the Arabian Sea / Gulf of Oman. They have these little boats that are about 100 feet long, and have large arrays of insanely bright lights to lure fish into their nets. In this case, they were well farther away from shore than normal, and right under our route.

I may have posted this before, so if so, apologies...

"Somewhere" in the Eastern Pacific, we were launched on a double-bag, day-into-night. Towards the end of the first bag, well after sunset and past nautical twilight, we were heading back to Mom and there appeared to be a GIANT city some miles ahead of Mom's PIM. We couldn't find anything specific on radar and asked if the ship saw it, which they confirmed. We weren't aided, so whatever this was, it was BRIGHT. As we headed to Mom to get gas, we all agreed that we needed to fly ahead of Mom and find out what the hell this thing might be.

After getting gas and launching, we informed Mom of our intentions, and there didn't seem to be an ounce of resistance. I think everyone wanted to know what this insane light ahead of us was. We decided to stay unaided, which was a smart move, in hindsight.

We chugged along for another 20-30 miles ahead of Mom (which shows how bright whatever this was, given we could see the bloom some 40 miles behind Mom). Finally we came across a fishing vessel that was lit up like a major city. Looking at it on FLIR showed these little "things" rotating about on the deck edge at equidistant positions, with lines going into the water. It was really weird.

Since it wasn't apparent what we were seeing made any sense, I decided to give them a call on BTB.

"Vessel at <position>, this is US Naval helicopter overhead."

"No....speak...Engrish."

"Roger, habla español?"

"No...speak...Engrish."

"Roger, you guys have a good night."

So, what the hell? Since it was night, we couldn't reliably read hull information, but it looked "local" (which later would mean from Costa Rica). Finally we landed, shutdown, and I went into Mx to do paperwork. My night-check Supe was waiting for me and I described what we saw. He was previously at a Japan squadron with lots of underway time in 7th Fleet.

His response: "Oh, yeah, that's a squid boat."

Me: "Huh?" (and then it was slowly coming together for me with the bright lights)

Him: "Yeah, they have the bright lights to attract the squid."

Me: "Oooohhhh. Yeah, that makes sense."

So, as was normal down there, you had a Costa Rican fishing vessel (probably with a Chinese name in a Maru class vessel), with Costa Rican nationals who were of Chinese descent. But this night, they were out squid jiggin'. It made complete sense.......after the fact.

But it was yet another chapter in the book of why Naval Aviation was an interesting profession.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
"Oh, yeah, that's a squid boat.

"Yeah, they have the bright lights to attract the squid."
star-wars-admiral-ackbar-1559425317.jpg
 

BigRed389

Registered User
None
This news PROVES one thing FOR CERTAIN:

The Navy’s FOIA process is faster than the Air Force’s. Go Navy, beat Air Force.

Also their stories are pretty lame compared to the released Navy ones.

Quadcopters, things that just pop up visually, etc. random flying objects IVO Nevada, aren't terribly interesting.

Something that actually correlated on shipboard and fighter radars using 2 different frequency bands, IR, and visual? Yeah, that's weird.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Also their stories are pretty lame compared to the released Navy ones.

Quadcopters, things that just pop up visually, etc. random flying objects IVO Nevada, aren't terribly interesting.

Something that actually correlated on shipboard and fighter radars using 2 different frequency bands, IR, and visual? Yeah, that's weird.
Why is that weird? Plenty of things flying around these days that are going to be perceived by those sensors.
 

BigRed389

Registered User
None
Why is that weird? Plenty of things flying around these days that are going to be perceived by those sensors.

Guess I could've been more clear.

What is interesting is that there was multi sensor/observer/spectral correlation on an object that was reportedly behaving weird (ie unusual kinematics).

A single observer reporting something weird? Interesting, but not much of a datapoint.
Multi sensor correlation on something unidentified but behaving just like any conventional aircraft? Not interesting.
 

azguy

Well-Known Member
None
Why is that weird? Plenty of things flying around these days that are going to be perceived by those sensors.

I know it sounds tin-foil-hat'y, but I don't know how you can dismiss the CDR Fravor incident. 4 aircrew, 2x APG-73, SPY-1...all telling the same story, later correlated with the famous FLIR video. He's alluded to his wingman, a still-active, female, pilot. Would be incredibly curious to hear her side of the story.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
I know it sounds tin-foil-hat'y, but I don't know how you can dismiss the CDR Fravor incident. 4 aircrew, 2x APG-73, SPY-1...all telling the same story, later correlated with the famous FLIR video. He's alluded to his wingman, a still-active, female, pilot. Would be incredibly curious to hear her side of the story.
If advanced alien life did come to this planet - which is a massive “if” - it would make a lot of sense to harvest resources far out to sea and totally avoid the land. The world is +70% ocean, we humans don’t even go in many parts of it, we don’t guard it like land, and there’s plentiful water, salt, biomaterial, and mineral deposits.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
If advanced alien life did come to this planet - which is a massive “if” - it would make a lot of sense to harvest resources far out to sea and totally avoid the land. The world is +70% ocean, we humans don’t even go in many parts of it, we don’t guard it like land, and there’s plentiful water, salt, biomaterial, and mineral deposits.
Yeah, but they'd miss out on some of the finest land-based tasty treats.


b9WmQ0.gif
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I know it sounds tin-foil-hat'y, but I don't know how you can dismiss the CDR Fravor incident. 4 aircrew, 2x APG-73, SPY-1...all telling the same story, later correlated with the famous FLIR video. He's alluded to his wingman, a still-active, female, pilot. Would be incredibly curious to hear her side of the story.
I don’t dismiss it, I dismiss the idea that what they all saw was of extraterrestrial origin.
 
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Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
What could it be?
I’m sure if someone really sat down and studied it, there would be a long list of things that it could be. The last two entries on that list in order of likelihood would be, “we can’t explain it”, followed by “extraterrestrials.”
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I know it sounds tin-foil-hat'y, but I don't know how you can dismiss the CDR Fravor incident. 4 aircrew, 2x APG-73, SPY-1...all telling the same story, later correlated with the famous FLIR video. He's alluded to his wingman, a still-active, female, pilot. Would be incredibly curious to hear her side of the story.
Why is it relevant that his wingman was female?
 
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