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threat to aviation safety, but this aircraft suffered no ill effects. [6] These are unusual cases. Shorter events involving near misses are more common. On August 8, 1994, a commercial flight en route from Acapulco, Guerrero, to Mexico City, Mexico, almost collided with a UAP that darted out of a cloud straight toward the aircraft. Fortunately, the UAP maneuvered to avoid the collision. A Japanese Transocean Air Boeing 737 commercial airliner was on route from Okinawa Prefecture to Tokyo at cruising speed on November 11, 1998, when the first officer suddenly saw two white "strobe lights" in front of him. The two lights separated rapidly, and he made a dive to avoid a collision. [7] In these two cases, neither object was detected by ground radar. In 2004, during the sunny afternoon approach of a commercial flight to Brazil's Sao Paulo airport, both crew members saw a self-luminous sphere ahead of them that remained at their altitude as they descended. The twin turboprop airplane had to bank altitude as they descended. The twin turboprop airplane had to bank sharply and dive to avoid a collision. In America, the case of Captain Phil Schultz is exceptional—one that I personally investigated. I interviewed the captain extensively and received a six-page, handwritten Aerial Sighting Report from him. Captain Schultz was piloting TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport over Lake Michigan one bright clear summer day in 1981. Suddenly he saw a "large, round, silver metal object" with six jet- black "portholes" equally spaced around the circumference, which quickly "descended into the atmosphere from above." Captain Schultz and his copilot were so close to the object that it appeared as large as a grapefruit held at arm's length. Expecting a midair collision, they braced themselves for impact. The object then made a sharp, high-speed turn, avoiding the aircraft, and departed. Schultz did not file a report with TWA, but instead worked diligently with me to accurately reconstruct the event in the cockpit of his aircraft. This allowed me to ascertain many important facts about the event. Its approach and departure speed was calculated to be about 1,000 mph, with a high G turn, as well. No shock wave or turbulence was felt at any time. The aircraft's autopilot remained coupled throughout the encounter, and no electromagnetic effects were noticed. The first officer saw the final two-thirds of the event, but the flight engineer did not see anything as a result of his position in the rear of the cabin. Chicago Center had no other air traffic in the area, although their radar at the time had a eo. 4A With extensive experience as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the Korean War and afterward, Captain Shultz never accepted the reality of UFOs prior to this incident. This encounter instantly changed his belief. When I asked him what he thought the object was, he quickly replied, "There is no doubt in my mind. It was an extraterrestrial craft." He said as much in his wand Lo. handwritten report that he filled out for me, saying he believed the thing was a "spaceship." [8] range of about 150 miles.