Page Content (OCR)
broader scope, incorporating perhaps a wider range of phenomena, which, for example, may not appear to be a flying object. No matter which acronym is employed, the phenomenon is often motionless or hovering, not flying, and sometimes is simply seen as unusual lights rather than a solid object, especially at night when brilliant illumination overpowers the observation of any physical structure. "UAP" maintains the clarity that these unusual objects and lights may represent many types of phenomena originating from different sources. 17 4 -4atoos » a re 44 An. ar A second fundamentally important point is that roughly 90 to 95 percent of UFO sightings can be explained. Within the remaining 5 to 10 percent, once an object has been determined to be a genuine UFO by the proper standards, then all we know is what it is not: something man-made or natural, or an outright hoax, of which there are unfortunately too many. Examples of phenomena sometimes mistaken for UFOs are weather o 6 balloons, flares, sky lanterns, planes flying in formation, secret military aircraft, birds reflecting the sun, planes reflecting the sun, blimps, helicopters, the planet Venus or Mars, meteors or meteorites, space junk, satellites, sundogs, ball lightning, ice crystals, reflected light off clouds, lights on the ground or lights reflected on a cockpit window, temperature inversions, hole-punch clouds, and the list goes on! Yes, the vast majority of reports can usually be explained by one of the above, but of course it's only the ones that can't that we're interested in. roo. a ce as . 4 1 we 11 It follows, therefore, that the often asked question "Do you believe in UFOs?" is actually baseless, but it's frequently asked and creates endless problems in communication. It really doesn't make sense, because we know that unidentified objects exist, officially documented and defined as such by the U.S. Air Force and other government bodies around the world. For over fifty years, the reality of unidentified flying objects has not been a question of belief or a matter of faith, opinion, or choice. Rather, when using the correct definition of UFO, it is a matter of fact. Like conventional identified objects—such as aircraft, missiles, and other types of man-made equipment— these unidentifieds can also be photographed, create radar returns, leave marks on the ground, and be observed and described by multiple independent witnesses at separate locations. In terms of belief, the questioner is really asking, "Do you believe in alien spaceships?" That is an entirely different question. To approach UFOs rationally, we must maintain the agnostic position regarding their nature or origin, because we simply don't know the answers yet. By being agnostics, we are taking a giant step forward. So often, the UFO debate fuels two polarities, both representing untenable positions. On one side, the "believers" proclaim that extraterrestrials have arrived from outer space and that we already know that UFOs are alien vehicles, and on the other, the "debunkers" argue with aggressive defensiveness that UFOs don't exist at all. This counterproductive battle has unfortunately dominated public discourse for a long time, only