Mexican Air Force pilots film unidentified objects

[Hypes]

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican Air Force pilots filmed 11 unidentified objects in the skies over southern Campeche state, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

A videotape made widely available to the news media on Tuesday shows the bright objects, some sharp points of light and others like large headlights, moving rapidly in what appears to be a late-evening sky.

The lights were filmed on March 5 by pilots using infrared equipment. They appeared to be flying at an altitude of about 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), and allegedly surrounded the Air Force jet as it conducted routine anti-drug trafficking vigilance in Campeche. Only three of the objects showed up on the plane's radar.

"Was I afraid? Yes. A little afraid because we were facing something that had never happened before," said radar operator Lt. German Marin in a taped interview made public Tuesday.

"I couldn't say what it was ... but I think they're completely real," added Lt. Mario Adrian Vazquez, the infrared equipment operator. Vazquez insisted that there was no way to alter the recorded images.

The plane's captain, Maj. Magdaleno Castanon, said the military jets chased the lights "and I believe they could feel we were pursuing them."

When the jets stopped following the objects, they disappeared, he said.

A Mexican Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the videotape was filmed by members of the Mexican Air Force. The spokesman declined to comment further and spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

The video was first aired on national television Monday night then again at a news conference Tuesday by Jaime Maussan, a Mexican investigator who has dedicated the past 10 years to studying UFOs.

"This is historic news," Maussan told reporters. "Hundreds of videos (of UFOs) exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. ... The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."

Maussan said Secretary of Defense Gen. Ricardo Vega Garcia gave him the video on April 22.

 

[Genus]

When did this happen? Do you have a link to the source?

 

[Hypes]

Here's the original article:http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/05/11/mexico.ufos.ap/index.html

 

[Genus]

Thanks man.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The UFOs are back? Swell. I was missing them.

 

[Ahdkaw]

Hehe, I thought this would be posted already...

Here's a link to the video of the lights and accompanying BBC news report:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/40150000/rm/_40150911_ufo_daganskaia_vi.ram

 

[Hypes]

Bah, RealPlayer.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Interesting. From what I understand (things I've heard and read different places) there have been a lot of sightings of UFOs of one sort or another, and a lot of videos taken of them, in Mexico in the past few years.

All this fascinates me. I've been reading books about UFOs and connected phenomena for years (since I was about 9 or 10 years old, actually). I'm not what you'd call a "true believer" in them, and I don't pretend to know what these things might be - and I think they might not all be the same thing. But I do think that there are enough occurrences of such things that haven't been explained adequately that I'm not convinced that all sightings are hoaxes, halluncinations, or misidentifications of mundane objects. Anyway, they are a fun thing to think and wonder about, I think.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I remember reading something Carl Jung wrote about the UFO phenomenon - broadly, he tied these sightings in with sightings of gods and angels in the past and suggested they were manifestations of elements of our collective subconscious, updating itself with the times.

Interesting that Mexico, old and new, is such a focus of UFO sightings - my theory is the aliens love tacos.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I remember reading something Carl Jung wrote about the UFO phenomenon - broadly, he tied these sightings in with sightings of gods and angels in the past and suggested they were manifestations of elements of our collective subconscious, updating itself with the times.

Interesting that Mexico, old and new, is such a focus of UFO sightings - my theory is the aliens love tacos.

I've heard that theory, although I've not read Jung. It is interesting - especially in how past stories about seeing gods, angels, leprechauns, fairies, etc. resemble in some ways more recent reports of UFO experiences, including the so-called "abduction phenomenon". Jacques Vallee wrote a book some time back called "Passport to Magonia" that covers some of this information. It's been a long time since I read it, and I'm not sure if he specifically addresses Jung's theories on the matter, but I recall it as being an interesting book.

As far as the question of "why Mexico?", I thought, rather, that it was the encheladas and maybe the tamales. Although, to be honest, if it was the tamales, we'd have sightings around here every Christmas Eve (the town I live in is predominantly Hispanic) - it's a tradition in the Hispanic community to get the family together and make tamales on Christmas Eve.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I have to admit to ahving given up on UFOs a long time ago - the whole field is so filled with fraud and counter fraud, commercialism, and general misinformation, that I just find it impossible to take seriously anymore.

 

[fiona]

I have to admit to ahving given up on UFOs a long time ago - the whole field is so filled with fraud and counter fraud, commercialism, and general misinformation, that I just find it impossible to take seriously anymore.

I can see your point, Brian. I'm quite fed up with what passes for UFO scholarship these days. I haven't found a good book on the subject in years. Well, there was one, which I can't recall the name of right now, that was written from the point of view of someone outside the community but who did not dismiss all reports out of hand - I guess you could call him skeptical but open-minded about it all. I'll try to find the title and author and post it later.

However, I'm still not willing to completely throw out the idea of there being something to some UFO reports just because the field has been mostly taken over by a bunch of yahoos.

Oh, by the way - this is really littlemissattitude, but I'm on a public computer right now and so I didn't want to use my other log-in due to security issues. I had to get out of the house for a little while to get away from things, so I came down to the library to use the computer. I was having anxiety attacks, so my mom told me to get out and get away for a little while.

 

[dwndrgn]

Ooh, littlemiss, panic attacks aren't fun. Take care of you.

As far as UFO's are concerned. I'm probably similar to the open-minded skeptic spoken of above. In other words, I take each report and decide if it has merit, in and of itself, and don't compare them to others.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Ooh, littlemiss, panic attacks aren't fun. Take care of you.

As far as UFO's are concerned. I'm probably similar to the open-minded skeptic spoken of above. In other words, I take each report and decide if it has merit, in and of itself, and don't compare them to others.

I think I sort of take the same attitude toward UFOs. The logical thing to do, in my opinion, is to look at each case in and of itself to see if it truly is unidentified. Only then is it possible to take those cases that don't resolve themselves upon investigation and try to fit them into some sort of a template that tries to explain the phenomonon.

And, dwndrgn, I'm doing my best to take care of myself. I've had anxiety off and on for years, and I've found that it's just a matter doing what I have to do when I get an anxiety attack, in order to get it under control.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ah...so that is going to be our "incognito" avatar, for second aliases, then?

 

[Ivo]

There was a big broo-ha-ha over UFO sightings in Mexico a few years ago with spherical objects hanging in the sky. These were eventually found to be gasses released by volcanos and cracks in the Earth's surface.

Because of this I'm always a little skeptical of UFO reports from Mexico...but overall unless credible proof comes around I officially want to believe but don't yet. Oh I definitely think their may be intelligent life out in the universe, sheesh, I hope so, however, whether they are actively hanging out in our section of the galaxy is where I have some doubts.

 

[Blue Mythril]

but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. ...

Yet the armed forces have been known to make mistakes
What about the case where an air pilot lost all sense of directionin the dark and discovered a glowing orb that was following him, moving away when he went down, coming towrads him when he went up? Turns out he was flying upside down over a lake and the orb was the moon. Lucky he didn't die, but ti was a very real experience to him, until proven otherwise

 

[Cricket]

My father is an engineer, and says, if they do exist, with what he notices of their behavior, they are not of an other world. He does not say there is not life on other worlds. Only, these are not from the other world.

Instead, he says it could be us. Because of the physics, he says, it is more plausible they are simple dimensional craft from our very own far, far future, returning to study and and influence our present day. Those explaining their strange pattern of flying and appearing during this or that event, such as earthquake, volcano, storm....etc.

 

[Hypes]

Quantum physics, you mean? Glitches in the space/time continuum, and objects/evens leaking through between parallel universes?

Your second paragraph doesn't make any sense at all - could you elaborate?

Having observed Aurora Borealis in person, I am a bit sceptical to the origin of these 'floating lights'. Because most likely that's all they are. Combusting particles incinerating in the atmosphere. It's a pretty widespread phenomenon.

 

[Cricket]

He says if you are going to believe that UFO have actually travelled from other stars, it is easier to believe they are simply the observer, people that is, from our own distant future. They are coming to observe from perhaps thousands of years distant.

Or, they are beings that simply live amongst us, and have always lived amongst us. Sometimes we call them demons, sometimes the fairy, and other times this or that. Like the dolphin, who has no concept of thinking that humans are smarter than they are, or, are the superior beings, we might pass off these contacts with these UFO in the same way any less intelligent being may have of us. It is the truly strange experience, which may in fact have so logical the explanation, one right before our eyes, he says. They live here with us, and have always lived here. He says he is surprised that people interested in this topic have not looked in this direction for answers.

Do apes and dolphins have abduction stories from their experiences at the zoo? Yet, we live amongst them. They pay us little mind otherwise I do believe.