Next time you're in an airport, ask a pilot about UFOs

This is exactly what I did. You can normally find them in the restaurants and whenever I spotted one, I was conflicted whether or not to interrupt their lunch with a strange question, but in the instances I did sum up the courage, the results were rather surprising.

"Hi there, I hope you don't mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go ahead"

"Well, this may sound rather strange but.."

I ask if they've ever seen anything "strange" outside their cockpits, and before I finish my question, they'd often stop me right there and give me an acknowledging look. "You know what I'm going to ask, don't you?", and they would nod in the affirmative. What took me back was that they were not surprised by the question although they are never really asked. One of them said he had seen things, and whilst he did believe in intelligent life elsewhere, he hadn't really given it much thought as to whether we were being visited. He didn't dismiss the UFO subject, but shrugged it off as military craft more than anything. He had been flying for 30 years. The second, 20 years and he claims to never have seen anything like that. He too wasn't surprised by my question, and despite the initial vagueness of my wording, understood what I was asking and offered me a wry smile.

The second interesting thing about their responses was that, when asked if they would report seeing a flying disc, they gave a moments pause to think - and answered yes, they would. So I'd like to encourage people here to ask similar things of pilots whenever you see them. Don't be shy, they'll probably have an interesting talk to give their wife later that night on what they were asked today!

i think some pilots are pretty cool people ^_^


peace.

I should imagine asking astronomers would be noteworthy as well!

reply to post by Shino


I think your idea is great! I personally see many people, the four nights I bartend a week, and I ask most of them if they've ever seen UFOs

You would probably get more information from the guy down the road who sits in his backyard having a ciggie . Aircraft windows have a relatively small field of vision and pilots usually spend more time scanning gauges than sightseeing. .Being licensed to fly a plane does not make anyone more credible than the dude out walking his dog.

Originally posted by trysts
reply to post by Shino

 

I think your idea is great! I personally see many people, the four nights I bartend a week, and I ask most of them if they've ever seen UFOs

And what's the answer's?

I would think to ask them when they're alone and not having coffee with a bunch of their coworkers

ETA that came out wrong. To get an honest answer

Originally posted by TechUnique
I should imagine asking astronomers would be noteworthy as well!

I would advise against this, unless you met them at a UFO convention or something. Most astronomers are the biggest skeptics and wouldn't even acknowledge they exist, let alone have a conversation on the topic. You would be setting yourself up for ridicule, as many astronomers love to ridicule the subject and the people who take it seriously.

My brother is a pilot, I never even thought to ask him that question in all my years.

Going to have to ask him that now. lol

I had a pilot tell me once that for a pilot to admit to seeing or to report an UFO was the quick road to the unemployment line. He said "WHAT HAPPENS IN THE COCKPIT STAYS IN THE COCKPIT".

Originally posted by niceguybob

Originally posted by trysts
reply to post by Shino

 

I think your idea is great! I personally see many people, the four nights I bartend a week, and I ask most of them if they've ever seen UFOs

And what's the answer's?

Oh, I've gotten some very interesting responses! I would say though, that not many people have been dismissive. That's rare. It's a great topic of discussion! It helps to have a drink and talk about UFOs at a bar, so long as you show your truthful interest in the subject(without sounding batty lol) I will definitely relate some of the stories people have told me, throughout my stay at ATS

Originally posted by 12voltz
You would probably get more information from the guy down the road who sits in his backyard having a ciggie . Aircraft windows have a relatively small field of vision and pilots usually spend more time scanning gauges than sightseeing. .Being licensed to fly a plane does not make anyone more credible than the dude out walking his dog.

You would think that a UFO flown by intelligent life would know to stay out of the visible path of a plane. Planes fly at at specific altitudes. Not only that they would probably be able to detect other flying objects, at the very least with sonar. But I guess it does not mean its does not happen.

Great thread, and great idea. My brother is an optometrist, and he frequently manages to bring up the UFO topic with his patients in a casual way. Sometimes they bring it up themselves after noticing that he keeps a few books on the subject in his office. He has gotten some really interesting responses from people. One woman was a Phoenix Lights witness. Another guy - a graphic designer or artist of some kind - had a fairly close encounter and actually brought in some excellent color drawings depicting the various stages of his sighting. Many people, my brother notes, seem to be a little reluctant to speak about what they've seen until they realize that he is genuinely interested and is not going to ridicule them. He's relayed a lot of interesting tidbits to me that he has gleaned in this manner. Interesting stuff.

Originally posted by 12voltz
You would probably get more information from the guy down the road who sits in his backyard having a ciggie . Aircraft windows have a relatively small field of vision and pilots usually spend more time scanning gauges than sightseeing. .Being licensed to fly a plane does not make anyone more credible than the dude out walking his dog.

I agree with the credibility thing.

Pilots would have more opportunity to see things in the sky, especially above the clouds on an overcast day. But the dude out walking his dog has nothing to lose by talking about what he sees.

Originally posted by fixer1967

I had a pilot tell me once that for a pilot to admit to seeing or to report an UFO was the quick road to the unemployment line. He said "WHAT HAPPENS IN THE COCKPIT STAYS IN THE COCKPIT".

I can well believe that one.

Originally posted by TechUnique

I should imagine asking astronomers would be noteworthy as well!

A lot of policemen submit UFO reports as well (as I suppose they're out a lot at night) but I've heard it said before that many astronomers just sit at computer screens these days so don't get much opportunity to see the night sky as a whole - in any case, below are some links for astronomer UFO sightings with a good intro from Bluebook scientist (and astronomer) Dr J. Allen Hynek:

See 0:40

One of the great debunker urban myths is that astronomers never see UFOs. But this is simply not true. Tombaugh was just one example. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz had at least two (saucer, green fireball) and also secretly investigated saucer and green fireball reports for the Air Force in New Mexico. Even debunker Donald Menzel had a green fireball sighting.

Prof. Walter Webb had a sighting in 1951. James Bartlett Jr., previously a big skeptic, had four sightings in 1952 (4 discs), 1953 (4 lights emerging from cigar-shaped craft), 1954 (four glowing objects flying in formation), and 1957.

Frank Halstead had a spectacular sighting in 1955, when he and his wife observed a large, 800-foot cigar-shaped UFO pacing their train, then joined by a 100-foot disc, both then rising straight up and disappearing. In 1954 British astronomer H. Percy Wilkins saw three 3 radiant, polished metal discs, "like dinner plates" from his airplane window while flying over the states. And Blue Book consultant J. Alan Hynek snapped two photos of something saucer-like from his airplane window.

Australian astronomer Drs. Bart Brok and A. R. Hogg described a bright light moving erratically across the sky in 1957 which they determined was at least several hundred miles up. A day later, French astronomer Jacques Chapais described seeing a canary-yellow object sweep across the sky twice before disappearing straight up.

There are many more examples. Perhaps the earliest, well-documented astronomer UFO sighting dates back to 1878. E.W. Maunder and other staff members at the Greenwich Royal Observatory reported "a strange celestrial visitor" in the Observatory Reports, which they described as "torpedo" or "spindle-shaped." Years later Maunder wrote that it looked exactly like one of the new Zeppelin dirigibles (the first ones not being built until 1897 or 1898 I believe).

Article

Links/Documents:

A List of UFO Sightings by Astronomers

UFOs and Astronomers - Michael Swords (pdf)

Special report - Air Technical Intelligence Centre - Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

Report on a Survey of the Membership of the American Astronomical Society Concerning the UFO Problem (pdf).

The Amateur astronomer and the UFO Phenomenon - Gert Herb (pdf).

Cheers.

reply to post by Shino


While visiting Wright-Pat Airbase,I did ask where hangar 18 was,
I was told in section B.

I used to live in a big complex near MIA airport. I knew several pilots who lived there. They ALL said they'd seen UFOs. But of course they never report them.

They are up there and looking way more than anyone else. So of course they see way more than the average Joe. When was the last time any of you spent hundreds of hours looking at the night sky?

I was a boat captain for 25 years. I saw lots of weird things, because, once again, I spent thousands of hours just looking at the stars, because I had to stand watch, and they are there. Pilots would be looking as much as I was, and covering thousands of times the miles, so even more likely to see stuff.

Most people just never look up. Never.

I saw a ufo about 2 weeks ago. I was sitting down at the pool looking at the sky and saw a star start to move. At first I thought it was a satellite. But satellites do not make abrupt 90 degree turns and then stop like this one did. Then it slowly faded out. I have no clue what it was. Definitely not an airplane. Airplanes do not turn and stop. Weird.

Originally posted by SoymilkAlaska
i think some pilots are pretty cool people ^_^


peace.

fair enough... but pretty irrelevant to the topic ha.

Anyways, I think I will definitely ask one if I see one who looks a bit older and has some experience. Thanks for the story

reply to post by Shino


Well as an airline pilot for 39 years i have seen strange objects outside my cockpit window.

UFO's? No.

Strange looking and behaving airplanes? Yes.

Experimental airplanes from the former Soviet Union to be more spesific.

And of course on the last leg of the day, strange lights and grey haze, but that's another story.