An airline pilot films moving lights from the cockpit and describes them to the FBI
February 2024 · Over western Minnesota (in flight) · Sighting · Primary document linked
In an FBI interview in March 2024, an airline pilot said that since October 2023 many pilots had been seeing lights in the sky, typically between midnight and 3 a.m. He had seen them about ten times, first on a Boston-Dublin flight, as one to four white lights that brightened and faded, some still and some moving in straight lines, which he did not think were aircraft, Starlink, satellites or meteors. On a flight in February 2024, east-bound over western Minnesota at about Mach 0.8, he filmed the lights from the darkened cockpit on his phone: sometimes ten or more white lights to the north, moving in straight lines and brightening and dimming. He told the FBI he never felt unsafe and believed the lights were at least 100 miles away. He also described a silent triangular shape blotting out stars over Bagram, Afghanistan, in June 2002.
Era: The disclosure era · Threads: Civil aviation
Why it matters (2/5)
One pilot's account and video recorded by the FBI; it drew no wider attention.
Caveats
This is one pilot's account; the FD-302 records his statements, and the FBI notes that the form contains no conclusions. The video is described but not included in the release. The positions he gives during the flight differ (about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and 40-50 miles northeast of Sioux Falls at a later point in the video), so the map pin is approximate.
Sources
- FD 302 Airborne Lights and Triangle 2002 2023 2024 (FBI-UAP-D024) (Federal Bureau of Investigation (released by the Department of War)), primary