Frequently asked questions...
What are the most interesting cases for ufologists to study?
The most important cases for learning more about UFOs are those with multiple witnesses and reports in which the UFO leaves some sort of physical trace or effect. Physical trace cases involving ground markings or electromagnetic effects are called Close Encounters of the Second Kind (CE-2s). When a UFO is observed visually and picked up by radar simultaneously, this case is cataloged as a Radar-Visual (R-V) sighting.
One of the most famous CE-2 cases occurred in 1971, at Delphos, Kansas, where a teenage boy, Ronald Johnson, saw an illuminated object hover near the ground. After the object flew off, a glowing ring appeared on the spot. Analysis showed that the soil had undergone considerable physical and chemical changes that lasted for several months.
The most famous R-V case took place in 1952 over Washington, D.C., where air traffic controllers tracked UFOs while an Air Force pilot reported strange lights were encircling his aircraft. Air Force intelligence explained that the radar images and the strange lights were caused by temperature inversions, an explanation many scientists reject as improbable.
Another fascinating R-V case occurred on July 17, 1957. An Air Force bomber, an RB-47, was followed by a UFO for 700 miles across four states as it flew from Mississippi to Oklahoma. For an hour and a half the object was seen by the flight crew, detected by the aircraft's electronic gear, and tracked by ground radar. Because of the multiple witnesses, radar confirmation, and the duration of the sighting, most UFO researchers rule out misperception and radar malfunction. The RB-47 case is still unexplained.
Recently, the most significant Radar-Visual cases have come from Belgium where triangular-shaped UFOs were seen by military personnel and civilians and detected on military radar. The Belgian Air Force has publicly aired recordings of radar trackings that show objects making fantastic maneuvers at incredibly high speeds that are far beyond the capabilities of conventional aircraft.
Where and when are UFOs most often sighted?
Are there any UFO sightings near my town?
UFO sightings are a worldwide phenomenon, with reports coming from almost every nation. Some countries, however, have more reports than others. In particular, a large number of UFO reports come from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Russia. By contrast, few reports (considering their large populations) are received from Mexico, Germany, and India. No one is sure why the number of UFO reports varies from country to country, but cultural, religious, and political factors are probably involved.
In the United States, UFOs are sighted in every state, with the greatest number of reports coming from the Northeast and the Southwest. Generally, sightings occur in rural areas, small towns, and near military installations. Statistical analysis indicates that sightings most often occur around 9:00 p.m. with a secondary peak at about 3:00 a.m. UFO reports are evenly distributed throughout the week, with peak periods of reports coming during the summer months, especially July. Since the modern UFO era began, there have been extraordinary numbers of sightings (called waves) in the United States during the years 1947, 1952, 1957, 1966, and 1973.
To find out if there have been UFO sightings near your town will take some investigative work on your part. Ask your relatives and friends if they have seen a UFO. You may be surprised how many people have seen UFOs but never reported their sightings. Some researchers suggest that only one in ten witnesses actually report their sighting. Check your local newspapers, especially editions published during the wave years listed previously, for news reports and articles about area UFO sightings. Most libraries have collections of old newspapers for you to examine. Finally, read as many good UFO books as you can. You may discover a UFO report from where you live.
Are computers used to study UFOs?
Many UFO reports are recorded on a computer database called UFOCAT. The UFOCAT computer database was started by Dr. David R. Saunders as part of the Condon UFO Project at the University of Colorado during the late 1960s. It was continued by Dr. Saunders and CUFOS until 1980, at which time UFOCAT contained about 106,000 entries. The UFOCAT project was inactive for ten years but has recently been reactivated by Dr. Donald Johnson, a former associate of Dr. Saunders and CUFOS board member. Originally stored on a mainframe computer, UFOCAT can now be maintained on a personal computer. Although the database lacks many cases from the 1980s, it is still the largest information base on UFO reports, and efforts are underway to add as many unrecorded cases to the system as possible. UFOCAT has fields to record information on dozens of report parameters, including date, location, weather, number of witnesses, effects on witnesses, type of UFO and size, and UFO maneuvers. It does not record narrative details of a UFO report, but instead codes the report information according to a system devised by Dr. Saunders. UFOCAT has been used by many serious researchers to study patterns in location, time, and types of UFO reports. UFOCAT information is available only to serious academic scholars and researchers.
Of course with the explosion of computers abilities and so many ways of detecting energy and exchanging information and ideas, the computer has become the greatest tool we have for doing serious research.
Is radar used to monitor UFOs?
Although there are cases in which UFOs are tracked by radar (Radar-Visual sightings), radar is not considered a practical surveillance technique for ufology. Radar, including the sophisticated systems of the FAA and NORAD, has many shortcomings that limit its value to UFO research. A UFO may be too low for it to be detected or too fast to appear on the radar screen for more than a few sweeps of the antenna. UFOs that hover or move erratically may be filtered out by a radar's sophisticated computer system as ground scatter or noise. Also, planes with transponders return stronger radar signals than targets not so equipped, and radars are often tuned only to transponder signals. It is also possible that UFOs might not return radar signals at all.
In spite of the inadequacies of radar in the search for UFOs, FAA supervisors do report "unusual air traffic" in their operational logs, and radar confirmation of a UFO sighting can help verify a report and details of a UFO's physical characteristics. A serious problem for ufologists, however, is that the FAA keeps radarscope tapes of air traffic for only two weeks, and computer printouts of this information can be very expensive. As a result, radar data is only available for cases reported immediately.
Although rare, one Radar-Visual case is more significant than dozens of nocturnal light reports for increasing our understanding of the UFO phenomenon.
