Page Content (OCR)
Briefly, AR 200-2 makes a flat and direct statement that the Air Force is definitely concerned with the reporting of all UFO's "as a possible threat to the security of the United States and its forces, and secondly, to determine technical aspects involved." Then, in the controversial paragraph 9, the Secretary of the Air Force gave specific instructions that Air Force personnel are not to release reports of UFO's. "Only reports ... where the object has been definitely identified as a familiar object." Early in 1959, John Lester of the Newark Star-Ledger reported that a group of more than 50 airline pilots, all of them with more than 15 years of experience, had termed the Air Force censorship policies as being "absolutely ridiculous." Each of these pilots had seen at least one UFO, and all had been interrogated by the Air Force. Their consensus was that they were completely disgusted with Air Force procedures and policies. Lester quoted a pilot as saying that any pilot who failed to maintain secrecy after sighting a UFO was subject to a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000. "We are ordered to report all UFO sightings," complained a pilot, "but when we do, we are usually treated like incompetents and told to keep quiet. "This is no fun, especially after many hours of questioning - sometimes all night long. You're tired. You've just come in from a grueling flight, anxious to get home to the wife and kids. But you make your report anyhow and the Air Force tells you that the thing that paced your plane for 15 minutes was a mirage or a bolt of lightning. Nuts to that. Who needs it?" The commercial pilots have any number of good reasons for being disgusted by the Air Force's making AR 200-2 applicable to them as well as to servicemen. An increasing number of airlines are becoming uneasy about the mysterious air explosions and crashes, which continue to take large numbers of air passengers and crews each year.