UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (32 page)

Now, as of early 2010, I have returned to my post as director of the CEFAA. We have three full-time investigators and many new cases to study.

In summary, I am convinced that UFOs exist and are a reality that cannot remain unacknowledged by governments. The phenomena are evident in all parts of the world and no efforts in their study should be neglected. Toward this end, international cooperation is vital to generate standards for protocols and policies for data analysis. Personally, according to my best judgment, I am in agreement with the findings of the French COMETA Report: There is a high probability UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin. However, until that hypothesis can be either confirmed or disproved, we should abstain from falling into the domains of either philosophy or religion. On the other hand, we should not discard that hypothesis just because it may sound harebrained. We need to put it through rigorous scientific analysis so we can come to viable conclusions.

Thirty-three-year-old Captain Bravo is the youngest of our contributors, and the only one currently on active duty in the military. I had a chance to spend a few days with him in late 2007, when he spoke at our Washington press conference with the permission of the Chilean authorities. Though Captain Bravo has never had a UFO sighting himself, he has become a meticulous investigator of pilot reports and an authority on this subject in his country
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II. Captain Rodrigo Bravo Garrido

Since the beginning of Chilean history there have been reports of unidentified phenomena, sometimes called UFOs, observed in our skies. Over the years, we have increased our capacity to explain many of the sightings, but there continue to be others without a scientific or logical explanation. In 1997, defense-related analysis was conducted within the telecommunications industry that touched on the issue of anomalous phenomena and their effects on electromagnetic fields. Cases were noted where there was a blockage of radio communications concurrent with the presence of a UFO near an aircraft.

Recognizing the potential impact on aviation safety, in October 1997 the Department of Civil Aeronautics, which is under the direct oversight of the chief commander of the Chilean Air Force, set up the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, known as the CEFAA. In cooperation with aeronautic specialists, this agency handles the solid, well-documented reports of unidentified aerial phenomena.

In 2000, at age twenty-four, I was in training to become a military pilot. For my thesis, submitted the following year, I was assigned to pursue research into anomalous aerial phenomena in order to determine their effect and impact on aerospace security. The aviation branch of the Army of Chile,
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BAVE, had in its files many reports from military pilots describing incidents during flight involving aerial phenomena that did not correspond to normal air traffic. These incidents posed a potential threat to air safety.

One of our most important civil aviation cases occurred in 1988 and showed that unidentified flying objects can be a danger for air operations. A Boeing 737 pilot, on a final approach to the runway at the Tepual Airport in Puerto Montt City, south of Santiago, suddenly encountered a large white light surrounded by green and red. The light was moving toward the airplane, coming straight at it, and the pilot had to make a steep turn to the left in order to avoid a collision. The phenomenon was also observed by the control tower personnel.

More recently, in 2000, the crew of a Chilean plane from the aviation branch of the Army, flying south of Santiago, observed a long cigar-shaped object, a brilliant gray. It flew parallel to the right side of the aircraft for two minutes, very close to it, and then disappeared at an extremely high speed along the mountain coast. This object was detected by the radar of the control center of Santiago, which notified the crew minutes before the incident and confirmed the ensuing pilot observations.

It so happened that the pilot of this plane was the director of military aviation studies and was also my flight instructor during my training to be a military flier. Because of my connection to him, I had access to the full report on this incident, filed within my department by those involved, and I investigated the case further. I was able to interview the other pilots, the flight engineer, and the passengers on the flight who also observed the object.

In this unusual case, the military aviation crew members confirmed the reality of the UFO through careful observation and detailed reporting. Radar simultaneously confirmed the object’s extraordinary movements; the case heightened official interest by Chilean military and aviation personnel in the UAP phenomenon. In fact, this significant event had a major effect on the attitudes and opinions of our military pilots. It was because of my involvement in this pivotal case that I was asked to study the unconventional topic of UAP in order to graduate from my pilot training program.

After conducting this investigation, I concluded in my thesis that UFOs are physically real and their presence in our skies is concrete. However, difficulties arise when we try to study their behavior, because of the complexity of the phenomenon and because of our inability to predict UFO events. I realized that the wide variety of different shapes, structures, colors, and movements of these UFOs meant that they must comprise a larger, more widespread phenomenon than we have understood.

When I became a pilot, I heard stories about encounters with unidentified flying objects, and became aware of the risks they could create, the possible dangers. In Chile there is excellent training provided in aerospace for all types of emergencies, but there is nothing written or taught about UFOs. This means that any reactions during UFO encounters are left up to the discretion of the pilots and will naturally have to be improvised on the spot. While I was engaged in UAP research, a link was established between our BAVE and the CEFAA, and the two agencies worked together to share information and cooperate on cases. Our objective analyses, and the serious regard with which this important phenomenon has been taken, have helped to foster UFO awareness among our flight crews. In cooperation with flight security they now maintain an openness about reporting any abnormal situation, and no longer ridicule the discussion of UFOs.

I have continued to study UFOs with the full support of the CEFAA for my studies of military cases and aviation issues, and cases from the Aviation Army are being sent directly to the CEFAA. To date, I have analyzed twenty-eight cases, nine involving aircraft of the Chilean Aviation Army. These nine well-documented cases have been studied by other officials in the Chilean government and were presented in official reports. We also collaborate closely with some civilian investigative organizations, which provide vast experience in research and which also exchange information with other countries.

Although my official position with the BAVE is not specifically concerned with UFOs, I am the individual whom pilots consult after an observation, before they submit their reports to their departments as required. I seem to be handling this issue more and more frequently, because it has become known that I am a point person for reports and investigations about UFOs.

At present, both the BAVE and the CEFAA are developing additional research methods and are creating an important database for future air operations. We do not keep this information secret. There is real interest in the subject of UFOs. But unfortunately, science does not support experiments or a testing of the evidence, and our current scientific methodology for measuring and verifying data is not easily applied to the study of the UFO phenomenon. As a result, the study of UFOs has attracted too many self-taught investigators promoting unscientific theories that are covered by the mass media. Because of this, in Chile as in other countries around the globe, UFOs are considered to be something standing apart from classical science and are rejected by established scientific institutions. So this makes it very hard to identify these anomalies existing throughout the world’s skies.

Personally, I believe that the UFO phenomenon is the most interesting of all the many phenomena affecting our planet, and it is one that totally defies logical explanation. As of now it seems beyond our ability to comprehend. But new cases continue to be documented by pilots, air traffic controllers, operations staff at the world’s airports, and many others with the proper training to determine whether a flying object is something unusual. Even though the true origin of these UFOs remains unknown, they do affect aviation everywhere, and this must be addressed. Eventually, I believe, we will be able to determine the real nature of this phenomenon if the scientific method is applied.

CHAPTER 20

UFOs in Brazil

by Brigadier General José Carlos Pereira (Ret.)

Most North Americans are not aware that Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world, occupying most of the eastern continent of South America. It has spawned many dedicated UFO researchers and field investigators over the decades, earning it the dubious reputation of being a “hotbed” of weird UFO events. It also has a rich history of official involvement and Air Force reports. The Brazilian military has been investigating UFOs for many years, as shown by government documents
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For example, Brazil made a significant contribution in its release of one of the most important series of photographs in UFO history. Only a few clear UFO photographs have been taken by official sources, subjected to extensive laboratory analysis that verifies their authenticity, and then released to the public. Four images from Brazil, known as the Trindade photographs, are among the best, most valuable photos ever taken. The Brazilian government was involved with the release of these photos over fifty years ago
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At around noon on January 16, 1958, a retired Brazilian Air Force officer, Captain José Teobaldo Viegas, and Amflar Vieira Filho, chief of a group of submarine explorers, were the first—among many officers, sailors, and others—to sight an unusual object from the deck of a Brazilian Navy training ship. Almiro Barauna, a professional submarine photographer on board, managed to take a series of successful pictures over nearby Trindade Isle, despite the commotion on deck caused by the throng of excited observers. Captain Viegas later stated: “The first view was that of a disc shining with a phosphorescent glow, which, even in daylight, appeared to be brighter than the moon.” About the size of the full moon, “it followed its path across the sky, changing to a tilted
position; its real shape was clearly outlined against the sky: that of a flattened sphere encircled, at the equator, by a large ring or platform.”

The Brazilian Navy Ministry endorsed the Trindade photographs. A report from United Press International stated that “Navy Minister Adm. Antonio Alves Camara said, after meeting with President Juscelino Kubitschek in the summer Presidential Palace at Petropolis, that he also vouched personally for the authenticity of the pictures.” Kubitschek ordered them released to the public, and the House of Representatives demanded an investigation by the Navy, which compiled a report.
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The original photos and negatives were analyzed by both the Navy Photo Reconnaissance Laboratory and the private Cruzeiro do Sul Aerophotogrammetric Service, both confirming their authenticity. Later, civilian experts in America conducted further analysis
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It was only recently, in 2008 and 2009, that the Brazilian government began its release of numerous previously secret UFO files and stated that it would gradually release them all in groups by decade, one decade at a time. As of this writing, documents, photos, and drawings from the 1950s through the 1980s have been made public—more than 4,000 pages—many of them concerning the Air Force’s “Operation Saucer,”
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involving extensive military investigations of UFOs in the Amazon region in 1977
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A. J. Gevaerd, coordinator of the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers, a prominent civilian group, and his colleagues have been instrumental in bringing about the release of these government files. Gevaerd was also the first to interview four-star Brigadier General José Carlos Pereira (Ret.), the highest-ranked Brazilian official ever to speak out about UFOs. Brigadier General Pereira has contributed an original piece on the handling of UFO events in Brazil at the highest levels, including his personal thoughts about the phenomenon, for this book. At his request, some of the material included in his piece was excerpted from a transcribed interview with Gevaerd, while some of it was written specifically for this piece. All was translated from Portuguese
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The general begins his essay with a description of a spectacular series of sightings involving military pilots and radar on May 19, 1986, which has come to be known as “official UFO night in Brazil.” It was not until late in 2009—after Brigadier General Pereira completed his piece “UFOs in Brazil”—that any documentation was made
public about this case. The newly released five-page “Occurrence Report” about the 1986 incident was written by the acting commander of the Brazilian air defense command to provide the Minister of Aeronautics with “information provided by the air traffic control and air defense, as well as the interceptor pilots involved in this event.” The once-classified report states that radar readings on both the air defense system and intercepting jets were recorded simultaneously, while, also simultaneously, the pilots observed the objects through the cockpit window. Such an “achievement” is quite rare: to capture a UFO on ground radar and airborne radar while pilots observe it, all at the same time. This is what the Belgian Air Force hoped to accomplish through its launch of F-16s a few years later, as described by General De Brouwer
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