Richard Haines discussing the bizarre incident This fascinating aerial encounter involved Charlie Little, pilot of a Piper-Twin Commanche PA-30 (N7942Y). He was multi-engine rated and a flight instructor. Two other commercially rated pilots, and a passenger were also on board. Having taken off from Opa-Locka, FL to Morristown, NJ, they were headed ENE at 8,000 feet altitude in uncontrolled airspace under an IFR flight plan but were in radio contact with Jacksonville ARTCC for safety reasons. Stars were visible in the dark sky. Ground control helped them maintain a correct heading when their two VORs apparently displayed significantly large angular deviations toward the east. About half-way between Jacksonville and Charleston, SC over the ocean at least three of the occupants saw a light moving across the sky and interpreted it to be a commercial flight at high altitude bound for Miami. But the light began to descend and approach their airplane. The pilot radioed radar control to inquire if any other traffic was seen in their vicinity (now at their one o'clock position high and seemingly southbound). The answer was negative. Little turned his landing and taxi lights on. He said (later), As the light came closer and closer, it was very apparent that we were going to pass very close and that the aircraft was not making any move to avoid us. He then asked for permission to descend immediately... We may need all the way to the deck immediately. He received permission to do so even though permission was not legally required. Under the circumstances, he was probably trying to set an example of extra-safe procedures for the benefit of the other two pilots on board. Little then disengaged the autopilot, pulled the throttle back and pushed the wheel forward ...trying to avoid a head-on collision. We descended to 6,500 feet but the lights came closer and closer. Then they saw not one but six, huge, round, bright, white lights in a (horizontal) row. A collision seemed imminent. Panicking, I yelled, 'We can't get away from him!' The situation seemed hopeless; there was no way to avoid him. We were all going to die because the pilot in the other craft wasn't paying attention. Little had to shield his eyes with his hands the lights were so intense. Suddenly, a soft green light was all over our cockpit. At the very instant of collision, ...the craft made an unbanked 180 degree turn, remained ahead for a few seconds and then took off and disappeared like a flash bulb. At least two of the witnesses agreed that the huge object was a gray equilateral triangle, each side at least 200 feet long and twenty feet thick. Its outer edges were very smooth and sharply defined (with no rivets, doors, antennae, windows, etc.) while at its center there was a triangular-shaped opening or hole large enough to fly through. It flew with one side directly forward. As a pilot, I did not believe in UFOs but we had just had a near mid-air collision with one! When Little told radar control what had just happened he was met with ridicule. Later he recalled, I became very angry and threw the microphone on the floor instead of hanging it on the clip... We all knew we had just seen a UFO but we didn't know what to say. We were afraid that if we told anybody we would lose our pilot's licenses. This was very important to us because we were all hoping to become commercial airline pilots. It could be the end of our careers. Investigator Smith also discovered that Little was told by radar control that a United B727 captain allegedly had just reported the same shaped object over Washington (about 535 miles away)! I could not locate any record of this other claimed sighting which isn't surprising given the continuing attitude of derision shown toward air crew by authorities on the ground and the understandable reticence to report bizarre aerial sightings. ` One final word is appropriate. Is it possible that Jacksonville radar was actually tracking the UAP and not the aircraft when the several clock-wise deviating VOR events were taking place? It isn't clear whether the aircraft had a transponder (they were relatively expensive at the time) so that ground radar might have had only a weak return from the aircraft's skin paint. Indeed, broadband radar in the 1960s wasn't particularly effective when it comes to a non-transponder equipped aircraft. The far larger radar skin paint return from the triangular object might have been significantly larger than that of the aircraft. If true, this would explain the progressive clockwise deviation of the ground radar's track that also corresponded with the south-bound movement of the UAP before it apparently changed its heading to approach the aircraft. (Smith, W., A huge open triangular UFO, International UFO Reporter, Pp. 4-6, Sept./October 1984, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois). Link - http://www.rense.com/general5/midairufo.htm

• published: 07 Feb 2012
• views: 8901