Odd article for the New York Times - UFOs

[jmcquate]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/unidentified-flying-object-navy.html
Wasn't he the Skipper of VFA-41 in the PBS series?

 

[wlawr005]

VFA-14

 

[ChuckMK23]

WTF is this? NYT is the gold standard for journalism - how is this just now making news?

What’s the scuttlebutt on this in the Hornet community?

 

[Griz882]

Maybe it was Kratos screwing around with one of their super-toys.

 

[Farva01]

VFA-41. Everything in the FLIR looks nefarious.

 

[nittany03]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn . . .
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn . . .
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn . . .

 

[BACONATOR]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/unidentified-flying-object-navy.html
Wasn't he the Skipper of VFA-41 in the PBS series?

Yes, and coincidentally the Skipper to ex-CNATRA Admiral Bull in the series, when he was XO.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Huh? Author says there were two pilots flying two F variant Hornets, but then only names two pilots and doesn’t mention any WSOs. Did the author get the variant wrong? Was there just one Hornet instead of two?

 

[Brett327]

Standard.

 

[Brett327]

For the VFA guys who have watched the flir video, what’s your assessment? Some kind of artifact from the optics in the pod? I don’t have a flir on my jet, but it seems to be tracking awfully smoothly, and “rotating” when the aircraft rolls. When the audio mentions “a whole fleet of them on SA” that makes me think of the somewhat standard manner in which the 79 will display a bunch of false tracks, usually at close range right in front of you. Thoughts?

 

[Treetop Flyer]

For the VFA guys who have watched the flir video, what’s your assessment? Some kind of artifact from the optics in the pod? I don’t have a flir on my jet, but it seems to be tracking awfully smoothly, and “rotating” when the aircraft rolls. When the audio mentions “a whole fleet of them on SA” that makes me think of the somewhat standard manner in which the 79 will display a bunch of false tracks, usually at close range right in front of you. Thoughts?

I’ve never used an ATFLIR but I’m not seeing any rotating or any roll by the hornet.

 

[wlawr005]

VFA-14

I apologize, I misspoke. One of the DHs in the series went on to command VFA-14.

 

[wlawr005]

For the VFA guys who have watched the flir video, what’s your assessment? Some kind of artifact from the optics in the pod? I don’t have a flir on my jet, but it seems to be tracking awfully smoothly, and “rotating” when the aircraft rolls. When the audio mentions “a whole fleet of them on SA” that makes me think of the somewhat standard manner in which the 79 will display a bunch of false tracks, usually at close range right in front of you. Thoughts?

The aircraft doesn't roll...it's in a constant left hand turn. The FLIR is automatically tracking the moving target as it apparently stops its forward motion and "rotates" 90 degrees.

 

[pourts]

New York Times says: "Zero articles remaining this month, loser!"

 

[Brett327]

The aircraft doesn't roll...it's in a constant left hand turn. The FLIR is automatically tracking the moving target as it apparently stops its forward motion and "rotates" 90 degrees.

It does roll very slightly back toward the right when the "rotation" occurs. The object also stops tracking across the clouds in the background. Note that the "rotation" coincides with the flir azimuth reaching zero degrees L/R of ADL. Again, I don't fly with these pods, but I think that's significant and possibly indicative of an optical artifact as it's tracked across the ADL. It looks a little bit like a lens flare. It's obviously not an alien craft, so I'm just spit-balling at other plausible explanations.

Time 2:44 below