Even though there are indications in our books of history, theology, archaeology, geology and folklore that our world has been visited for thousands of years by UFOs, it’s the modern UFO phenomenon that started in the 1940s and has continued till today that holds our attention.

UFOs are generally described by eyewitnesses as round in shape, metallic, with a flat bottom and doomed top. In some cases Cigar and Triangle shaped UFOs have also been seen. They are generally small, 10-foot to 40-foot in diameter, have no wings, tails or visible external engines. They are known to silently maneuver over an area, sometimes at a very low altitude, sometimes they stay still over an area then suddenly take off at extraordinary speed. They are very silent, leave no exhaust but often there is a glow around the object. They have the ability to appear and disappear suddenly both in the visual and electromagnetic spectrum. On some occasions huge spacecrafts have also been observed.

One of the biggest UFOs ever seen appeared over the skies of Chile in 1978. What gives credibility and authenticity to this sighting was highly trained Air Force pilots were involved in this encounter. On December 16, 1978 two Chilean Air Force Fighter jets on a training mission encountered a gigantic UFO. When the UFO appeared on the radar of one of the Chilean Air Force jet its size was estimated to be that of 10 or more Aircraft Carriers which is 3400 metres or 3.4 km. The pilot thinking it must be some radar malfunction asked the pilot of the other jet, who also concurred. When they consulted the ground radar of the nearby airport, they also confirmed the huge size. As the pilots neared the UFO it suddenly took off in great speed and vanished from their sights as well as the radar screens. The Chilean Air Force has acknowledged this UFO encounter.

How did the name flying saucer originate?

On June 24th, 1947 Kenneth Arnold a qualified pilot and deputy federal marshal was looking for a marine transport plane that had crashed somewhere in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. Around 2pm on that fateful day Arnold saw a formation of very bright objects coming from the vicinity of Mount Baker. Arnold calculated their speed to be around 1700 miles per hour. No aircraft in that period had the capacity to reach that speed. Later when discussing the event with a reporter of an Oregon newspaper, Arnold said they didn’t fly like any aircraft that he had seen before instead they flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water. He was only describing the flight pattern of the objects, not the objects themselves, but the press started calling them flying saucers which became famous. Later the term UFO was adopted to describe them.

According to an UN statistic since the 1940s, 150 million people in over 133 countries have reported seeing an UFO. This includes Air Force Generals, Astronauts, Prime Minister of a country (Granada), former American Presidents (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan) Government Officials, Scientists, Military Officers, civilian and military pilots and radar operators, Police officers and Journalists.

The writer is the Director of INSETS-Indian Society for Extraterrestrial Studies and author of ACCIDENTAL APOCALYPSE. He can be contacted at insetsabir@gmail.com

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