UFO FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Roswell, Aliens, Whirling Discs, and Flying Saucers – What Is a UFO?
The question posed above seems absurdly simple. A UFO is an unidentified flying object. Yes, but just what does that mean—and what does it imply? The meaning is basic: a skyborne object (usually on the move) or phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified. In other words, it is not anything a witness can identify at a glance, such as a hot-air balloon, a Cessna 172, high-flying geese, quickly moving clouds, or a Frisbee.
The implications raised by the term “UFO” are more complex, involving secret military aircraft, abduction, horrific medical experiments, presumed human-alien hybrids, warring/colluding governments, secret bases on the dark side of the Moon, and a lot more.
Once, though, a UFO was just an unidentified flying object. A secret October 28, 1947, memo by United States Air Force Brigadier Gen.
George F. Schulgen, chief of USAF intelligence, established UFO-identification guidelines that remain valuable today. General Schulgen crafted the memo after reviewing the particulars of UFO reports that arrived as a torrent following the thoroughly reported account of businessman Kenneth Arnold’s June 1947 encounter with “flying saucers” over Washington State. Schulgen and his staff looked at the Arnold account, and others, as well as at various burn areas and other physical evidence, radar records, and accounts of military and commercial pilots. Schulgen expressed interest in the materials used in construction of unidentified aircraft, and noted “retractable domes” and other features.
So what are UFOs? General Schulgen discussed eleven pertinent points, writing:
1. An alleged “Flying Saucer” type aircraft or object in flight, approximating the shape of a disc, has been reported by many observers from widely scattered places, such as the United States, Alaska, Canada, Hungary, the Island of Guam, and Japan. This object has been reported by many competent observers, including USAF rated officers. Sightings have been made from the ground as well as from the air.
2. Commonly reported features that are very significant and which may aid in the investigation are as follows:
a. Relatively flat bottom with extreme light-reflecting ability.
b. Absence of sound except for an occasional roar when operating under super performance conditions.
c. Extreme maneuverability and apparent ability to almost hover.
d. A plan form approximating that of an oval or disc with a dome shape on the top surface.
e. The absence of an exhaust trail except in a few instances when it was reported to have a bluish color, like a Diesel exhaust, which persisted for approximately one hour. Other reports indicated a brownish smoke trail that could be the results of a special catalyst or chemical agent for extra power.
f. The ability to quickly disappear by high speed or by complete disintegration.
g. The ability to suddenly appear without warning as if from an extremely high altitude.
h. The size most reported approximated that of a C-54 or Constellation type aircraft. [Author note: The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engine, prop-driven transport aircraft derived from a civilian airliner, the Douglas DC-4. The Skymaster’s wingspan measured 117 feet 6 inches, Total length was 93 feet 5 inches, with a height of 27 feet 7 inches. The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was a four-engine, prop-driven airliner that was adapted for military use. The military variant of the Constellation was called the Lockheed C-69 Constellation. Its wingspan measured 123 feet. Total length was 95 feet 2 inches, with a height of 23 feet 8 inches.]
i. The ability to group together very quickly in a tight formation when more than one aircraft are together.
j. Evasive action ability indicates possibility of being manually operated, or possibly by electronic or remote control devices.
k. Under certain power conditions, the craft seems to have the ability to cut a clear path through clouds—width of path estimated to be approximately one-half mile. Only one incident indicated this phenomenon.
Since 1947 and General Schulgen’s memo (which was declassified in 1985 under the Freedom of Information Act), UFO sightings and investigation have grown enormously more varied and complex. Even the memo itself grew more complex over time: in 1997, an indefatigable UFO researcher named Robert G. Todd claimed that the Schulgen memo was faked by whomever obtained it in 1985. (General Schulgen died in 1955, too soon for him to comment on his memo’s contents.) Since 1947, the traditional flying saucer shape has been joined by cylinders, deltas, lenticulars, and so-called Saturn shapes with an obvious equatorial ring.
Some photographs and videos show faceless cubes and rectangles. A minority of UFOs are as bright and decorative-seeming as Christmas ornaments. Luminosity is a commonly reported characteristic. Other reports suggest highly reflective surfaces that interact with ground light.
Most UFOs are symmetrical, and exhibit no wings, tail assemblies, or other obvious design concessions to avionics. Regardless, the craft fly, swoop, flip upside down, and reverse course with apparent effortlessness. Speeds are difficult to judge at distance, and without the near presence of other, recognizable objects, estimation of a craft’s size are mere approximations or sheer guesswork. Still, enough experienced aviators have seen UFOs to suggest that in-flight atmospheric speeds as great as ten thousand miles per hour may be possible.
In classic UFO scenarios, the crafts are crewed. Another opinion is that many, if not all, UFOs are remote controlled via technology (much like our drone aircraft) or by long-distance mind control. A few UFOlogists suggest that the craft may be organic, or part organic, rather than wholly inorganic. Around 2010, researcher Trevor James Constable proposed that UFOs are what he called “biological forms”—“plasmic, living organisms native to our atmosphere.” [emphasis added] Under this model, UFOs are not merely alive, but are indigenous to Earth.
An alternative theory holds that the craft are not from space but from other dimensions, and can slip in and out of our reality at will.
Since the early 1950s, many unhappy witnesses have encountered UFOs at distances close enough to cause irritated eyes, a sunburn-like insult to exposed skin, and even trace radiation. Unpleasant chemical odors and intense, sometimes painful sounds assail some witnesses. And over about the past fifty years, a significant proportion of UFO experience and research has focused on abduction of witnesses—the most unnerving aspect of the UFO phenomenon.
Conspiracy theorists sometimes insist that UFOs are joint alien/human endeavors launched to dominate the Earth; others feel that the craft are of human design, and exist to serve the military and/or to frighten or distract the general population from faltering national economies and other pressing problems.
Acting in opposition to all of the above is the assumption that because humans haven’t the technology to travel between stars, no one else does, either. Particularly hardheaded skeptics refuse to investigate claims of UFOs; they elect not to be empirical.
UFOs, then, are many things, and arouse a variety of reactions. They may be as real as the jetliner that takes you on vacation. Or they may simply be whatever individuals—believers and skeptics alike—want them to be. But we know this: by definition, unidentified flying objects exist.