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Several times throughout the night commercial pilots con-firmed the targets as "unusual lights." Shortly after midnight, the pilot of a Capital Airlines flight reported a fast-streaking UFO off the right side of the plane. It too was detected on radar. Over a period of 14 minutes the pilot reported six additional sightings. At one point the pilot reported that they were following him at "eight o'clock level." The following weekend, on July 26 at 10:30 Pvt. controllers at the Washington National Airport detected slow-moving unidentified targets traveling in an arc from Herndon, Virginia, toward Andrews Air Force Base. Controllers at ARTC detected the UFOs on their short-range scopes as well. One hour later, at 11:30 PM., officials at nearby New Castle County Air Force Base in Delaware dispatched two F-94 jet interceptors. Civilian air traffic was told to clear the area. When the jets began their intercept of the UFOs the targets disappeared from radar. The jet pilots never made visual con-tact with the UFOs and returned to base. However, visual con-tact was made by numerous witnesses on the ground who began to call nearby Langley Air Force Base to report the mysterious light that was "rotating and giving off strange colors." Moments later, controllers at Langley tower sighted the object and called the Air Defense Command, who scrambled another F-94 interceptor. This time the pilot made visual contact. However, when the pilot approached the object, it vanished! Additional F-94 interceptors were directed toward another set of UFOs, and the pilots made visual contact. Each time the pilots approached the objects, they sped away. Eventually one of the UFOs did remain stationary. However, when one of the pilots approached the object, he found himself surrounded by the UFOs. Then while the pilot radioed to ask whether he should open fire on the unidentified flying objects, the UFOs instantaneously disappeared from sight and radar. During his analysis, Rupelt researched the question of whether or not the radar signals could have been due to weather anomalies such as a temperature inversion. While such anomalies can cause a radar blip, the controllers at Langley, Washington National, and Andrews were convinced that the objects they detected showed a distinct radar pattern of solid, metallic objects. In addition, there were visual confirmations on the ground by civilian and military personnel. Confirming reports from hundreds of witnesses tied up phone lines at the Pentagon and Project Bluebook for days. The story also generated newspaper headlines around the country. Three days later, on July 29, the Pentagon held a press conference with Major General John A. Samford, the chief of Air Force intelligence, presiding. In the 80-minute briefing before a full room of reporters, the General stated that he believed UFOs did not pose a threat to the security to the United States and that the Air Force had nothing in its arsenal capable of the unlimited speed and massless behavior that UFOs often exhibit. Much of the news conference was spent trying to explain away the Washington, D.C., fly-overs as a However, neither Major Dewey Fournet, the Pentagon's liaison, nor the Navy radar specialist who were in the control room when the events occurred were at the Pentagon briefing. Both of these men rejected the weather anomaly hypothesis. These men were convinced that what they had tracked were metallic craft which traveled at speeds 40 a weather anomaly.