Dec. 13, 2024
At least four commercial airline pilots have encountered mysterious, colorful, circular lights
“moving at extreme speeds” through the skies above Oregon this past weekend, according to local reports.
Pilots and nearby air traffic control dispatchers discussed the alarming sightings in
air traffic control audio archives from Dec. 7, which were
obtained by OregonLive.
“Is there any military activity out straight ahead of us?” a United Airlines pilot flying from Denver to Eugene, Oregon, asks in the recording around 8:30 p.m. PT.
The air traffic controller responds that they have not seen anything — but adds that she received another report of something
at 30,000 feet in the same area. “We’re not sure what it is,” she says.
The pilot says
there’s “a lot of movement out here.”
“They’re looking into it,” air traffic control responds.
“We’re seeing three or four targets,” the pilot relays moments later
“They’re [at] all altitudes. Up and down. It’s pretty crazy.”
The lights, he said, were
“shooting way up” as high as 50,000 feet.
Later in the recording, a second pilot flying an air ambulance reports the lights and tells air traffic control that one is moving in “a corkscrew pattern.”
When pressed for more details, the pilot says it looks like “an aircraft strobe” — then says another one showed up.
The pilot says
the lights are “zipping towards us and back out towards the ocean, red in color, moving at extreme speeds.”
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” he adds.
Another air traffic controller tells the pilot, “You are cleared to maneuver as necessary left and right to avoid the UFO out there.”
The LifeFlight pilot, 37-year-old Joe Buley,
told KGW he and two medics onboard the fixed-wing aircraft reported flying from Aurora, Colorado, to North Bend, Washington, when they saw the orange lights.
“The biggest thing that stood out was it was changing direction. Usually, things don’t change directions unless it’s an aircraft,” Buley told KGW Thursday.
Two Horizon Airlines pilots also reported seeing
mysterious lights on Dec. 8, according to an air traffic controller, KGW reported.
Several brief video clips taken by pilots and their crew showed lights in the sky — although objects are difficult to see due to the darkness, according to the outlet.
Each flight continued to its destination without incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that at least one pilot saw the strange lights but did not provide any additional information.
