Why not all UFO Sightings can be explained by drones
There’s no doubt that there’s been an increase in UFO sightings since drones began to proliferate in our skies ten years or so ago, but they are not the explanation for all UFO sightings.
In this post, I will describe why some but by no means all of the UFO sightings may have been caused by drones and other forms of UAV. Towards the end of this post, I will mention some of the more startling possible causes of UFO sightings.
Military Drones
Military drones have been flying in our skies for many decades. Quadcopters and other forms of civilian drones have also been available for years. Added to this aerial activity there has been an increase in the launching and testing of new aircraft and spacecraft. Some of these projects have been disclosed to the public while others have been kept very secret.
All this additional aerial activity increases the chance of people filing reports of UFO sightings. Some of these encounters may be due to simple misidentification by the uninformed.
SpaceX Launch
Take for example the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2017. The rocket was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, north of Los Angeles. It was the 18th launch by SpaceX in 2017, so that’s a lot of hardware going into orbit within 12 months.
Some people who saw the glowing cloud as the rocket made its ascent filed UFO sighting reports. To placate public concern the Los Angeles Fire Department issued a statement explaining what had caused the mysterious light in the sky.
Passengers aboard airliners also witnessed the brilliant display in the night sky. Who can blame those who, just for a moment, imagined they were witnessing something caused by the activities of non-human intelligence?
Civilian Drones
Civilian drones have also been the cause of UFO sightings. The most vivid of these reports has been caused by drones flying in formation. With LED lights and intelligent control, the formation of drones in the night sky can have an eerie effect.
Some mischievous drone pilots have colluded for no other reason than to fool people into thinking they’re witnessing a flying saucer fly-by. Other occurrences have been the unintended consequences of a display seen from a distance by those not aware that the event was planned and taking place.
Drone Art or Sky Art
As we have seen at ceremonies and events all over the world, drones can now create 3D art in the night sky. Using AI, drone operators can fly drones in formation to create patterns and shapes that are truly breathtaking. And because the drones are lit up with LEDs, the results are truly spectacular. It’s an amazing new use for drones that is sure to wow anyone who sees it.
Glider with Fireworks
One UFO sighting in 2017 turned out to be due to a nighttime aerobatic display by a glider with fireworks attached to its wings. Seen from a distance and at a certain angle, this display appeared as a spiralling light just above the horizon.
That event was a classic example of misidentification caused by distance and angle of view. I still see images of this event shared on social media to this day.
Astronomical Phenomena & New Military Technology
For decades, many UFO sightings have been explained away as natural astronomical phenomena and the mistaken identification of aircraft and other aerial vehicles. Added to the mix we now have a proliferation of civilian-operated drones and commercial spacecraft.
We also have to consider the fact that many secret military projects, undisclosed to the taxpayers who fund them, account for some of the sightings. In the early 1980s, if you had been the first civilian to catch a glimpse of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter you could be forgiven for thinking it was of extraterrestrial origin.
The same could be said of the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. Even though it is now three decades old it still looks like something from outer space.
The F-117 Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit aircraft were once top secret projects that are now public knowledge. It is logical to assume that there may be current top secret projects testing more advanced technology.
Project SR-91 Aurora & the X-37B
For example, Project SR-91 Aurora was first mentioned in the early 1990s. Over the years there have been reports of unusual sonic booms heard above the deserts of California. The “doughnuts on a rope” contrail supposedly created by Aurora was once caught on camera. The official response is that it is a myth and has never existed. Committed investigators remain unconvinced. After all, the best way to keep a secret is not to disclose anything!
Then there are semi-secret projects like US Air Force’s unmanned reusable spacecraft the X-37B. We know it exists and we know it has a payload bay. But other than that we don’t know what it’s delivering into low orbit.
Are some UFO sightings non-human technology?
Arthur C. Clarke, the renowned British science fiction writer is famous for many things. As well as sparking the imagination of millions with his sci-books he was a science writer, futurist, and inventor. Search YouTube and you can watch an interview with him filmed in 1974 in which he predicts the emergence of the internet.
Here are two of his most well-known quotes:
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Arthur C. Clarke
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke
Referring to that last quote, imagine demonstrating your smartphone to a group of people in the 16th Century. You would probably be condemned as a witch!
If an F-35 suddenly materialised in Medieval England, the best minds of the day might be able to deduce that it’s a flying machine but many years would pass before they would be able to reverse engineer the slightest part of it, if indeed they ever could. It might just remain an eternal mystery for hundreds of years until the technology was invented that could reveal its secrets.
TicTacs and the US Navy
In 2004, a group of US Navy pilots aboard the USS Nimitz had a series of encounters with an unidentified flying object that has come to be known as the “tictac.” The pilots described the object as being oval-shaped, hence the nickname. It was white and had no visible means of propulsion.
The object was observed on several occasions over several weeks, during which it exhibited some remarkably strange behaviour. For example, it would suddenly accelerate to speeds more than 3000 miles per hour, then stop just as abruptly. It also seemed to be able to change direction without turning.
In 2015, a similar object was sighted by pilots from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Once again, the object displayed some bizarre behaviour, such as hovering in place for long periods and then suddenly accelerating at high speeds. The tictac UAP remains one of the most baffling and intriguing sightings of an unidentified flying object in recent history.
Are humans at the top of the food chain?
The mathematical probability that another intelligent life exists in the universe is high, but ask ten different astrophysicists if we’re being visited by aliens and you’ll get ten different sceptical answers.
Aviation on Earth is a little over a century old. It’s in its infancy despite all the advances in that time. Space flight is even younger. Barely six decades have passed since the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1. It’s only 50 years since man first walked on the Moon and it will be some time before humans visit Mars.
Imagine instead an advanced civilisation that has emerged on one of the exoplanets we’ve heard so much about lately. Imagine that it has long since renounced warfare on its home planet. Instead, these beings have harnessed all the available minds and resources for space exploration. They have discovered how to gain access to infinite reserves of free energy in the fabric of space.
For thousands of years this civilisation’s technology has developed and it now understands how to warp space and time. The limitation of the speed of light is no longer a barrier to travelling vast distances across and between galaxies. The intergalactic travellers find our Earth and are both amazed at its beauty and alarmed by the way we humans continue to wage wars, pollute our home planet, and test nuclear weapons.
In an attempt to prevent catastrophe they try to warn us of our folly without alarming the general population. So they try to remain discrete, appearing and disappearing in our skies. Their craft flies in inexplicable ways. They fly manoeuvres that would be impossible in any known type of aircraft.
Could this account for some of the UFO sightings of recent times? Does this sound implausible to you?
Do we share this planet with another species?
There is another theory that has gained traction recently. It has emerged as all the new and detailed evidence about the UAP/UFOs has been collated, and reliable witnesses and investigators have been interviewed.
The theory is that we may be sharing this planet with another intelligent species which is far more advanced in technological terms than we are and that they live in the depths of the oceans and/or in another dimension with portals that open in the seas and skies of Earth.
In the end, you’ll have to decide which of these two possibilities is correct; either we’re alone in the universe, or we are not. What’s your answer, and why do you hold that view?
