All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens SP s02e01 Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.eng

NARRATOR:
UFOs engaging with commercial aircraft.

There's a spotlight
that just kind of came over us.

And I thought, "Oh, my God."

NARRATOR:
Airborne vehicles descending into the ocean.

How could a vehicle fly into
the water at 100 miles hour?

NARRATOR:
And unexplainable events witnessed by U.S. Navy pilots.

JEREMY CORBELL:
If we don't know whose technology this is...

(men exclaim)

Houston, we have a problem.

NARRATOR:
Reports of unidentified aerial phenomena

have now gained
national attention,

but are these really encounters
with alien entities?

NARRATOR: And if so,
might there be evidence

that extraterrestrials

have been among us
for thousands of years?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
We have similar depictions in ancient times.

The same visitors
that we've had back then

are showing themselves again.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR:
July, 2019.

San Clemente Island, California.

68 nautical miles west
of San Diego.

Nine U.S. war ships belonging

to an elite Navy unit called
Carrier Strike Group Nine

are performing nighttime
training exercises

in restricted waters.

The Navy was undertaking
an exercise

with Strike Force Nine.

This is an integrated group

centered on an aircraft carrier

but with multiple other
U.S. Navy vessels

and jets really testing

how the U.S. military
would respond

in a war fighting situation.

So, everything
has to be seamless.

And then, into the middle
of all of this,

suddenly and unexpectedly,

the exercise is interrupted

by an unknown presence.

NARRATOR: The ships are swarmed
by what the Navy refers to

as UAVs, or unidentified
aerial vehicles.

The UAVs fly
for prolonged periods of time

in low-visibility conditions,

performing brazen maneuvers
over the warships

near a sensitive
military training range.

Make no mistake about it,

something is penetrating

the sophisticated
air defense network.

CORBELL:
That swarm series of UFOs around Navy ships

is one of the most important
bodies of evidence

ever documented
and put out to the public

because it involved
so many ships.

There were
a strategic coordination

of these unidentifieds.

NARRATOR:
The Photographic Interpretation and Examination team

aboard the USS Russell

captured a compelling
18-second night vision video

of multiple UAVs hovering
just 700 feet above the ship.

CORBELL:
The USS Russell was swarmed by UFOs like other ships,

but this was different.

These were flying pyramids
without any control surfaces,

wings, rudders, tails,
plumes or exhaust.

Nothing.
How did these things move?

How were they able to get past

one of our nation's greatest
defense systems?

This was something
that we couldn't

even defend against.

NARRATOR:
In December 2017,

just 18 months prior
to this incident,

The New York Times exposed
the U.S. government's

secret program to investigate
unidentified aerial phenomena.

Since that bombshell revelation,
numerous photographs and videos

have surfaced of Navy encounters
with different types of UAPs.

And as far as
ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned,
the video captured

from the USS Russell may be
the most extraordinary of all.

Not because there were
so many objects seen in the sky,

but because of the UAPs'
very unique shape.

TSOUKALOS:
The fact that there are pyramid-shaped objects

that have been filmed
by the Navy

is beyond interesting to me

because we have similar
depictions in ancient times

of flying craft that seem to be
in the form of pyramids.

Clearly, what we see
in this footage of today

is pyramid-shaped,
three-dimensionally.

It's not flat.

It's a three-dimensional pyramid
floating in the sky.

Providing that
the footage is real,

providing it is
extraterrestrial,

then one could argue
that the same visitors

that we've had back then
are showing themselves again.

NARRATOR:
On display in the Egyptian Museum and Royal Mummies' Hall

is an artifact from
the pyramid of Amenemhat III

called a Benben stone.

In ancient Egypt, similar
pyramid-shaped capstones

were placed on the top of giant
standing stones called obelisks.

The first of these Benben stones
predate the earliest pyramids.

The obelisk pointed up
toward the heavens,

so it is an object of worship
and that capstone,

that Benben stone,
was the meeting place.

That was the portal to
other worlds where human energy

lifted up and made contact
with the gods.

HUGH NEWMAN:
So, the shape of the Benben stone

is like a classic pyramid shape.

And, uh, you know,
apparently, the design

of pyramids was based
on the Benben stone itself,

and these are like
giant versions of it.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
The Benben stone was not just, uh, symbolizing

a connection to the heavens,

it was actually memorializing
an extraterrestrial visitation.

TSOUKALOS:
In ancient Egypt, it's chock-full of references

of celestial beings
descending from the sky

and imparting knowledge
to our ancestors.

One of the origin stories says

that a Benben stone
descended from the sky,

out of which the first
creator gods emerged

and started
Egyptian civilization.

It was a flying craft.

NARRATOR:
Could the pyramidal capstones

found atop Egypt's obelisks,

and even
the pyramids themselves,

have been inspired by
an extraterrestrial visitation?

And if so, is it possible

that similar alien craft
were captured on video

above the USS Russell?

What we're seeing
from the USS Russell--

these kind of objects
flying around in the sky--

were an identical shape,

and there was multiple ones
witnessed and filmed.

And so, is there a connection?

Is this what was witnessed
from the USS Russell?

CHILDRESS:
It's a fascinating idea that, perhaps,

extraterrestrials first arrived

in Egypt in these
small pyramid-shaped craft

like we're seeing in this video.

And, in fact, many of the UAPs

that have been reported
in modern times

and that we see
in the recent Navy videos

are very reminiscent
of ancient accounts

of strange objects in the sky,

accounts that you can find
in many ancient cultures

around the world.

NARRATOR:
Did people living thousands of years ago

encounter the very same objects
in the sky

that appear in recent videos
and photographs

taken by the U.S. Navy?

And if so,
could this indicate that humans

have been sharing planet Earth
with another race

of intelligent beings
since our earliest history?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes,

and suggest further evidence
can be found in India,

within the pages of one
of the world's oldest texts.

NARRATOR:
The coast of Florida.

January, 2015.

The crew of a Navy F-18
fighter jet

fly into restricted airspace

and encounter an airborne object
directly in their flight path.

They aim their
forward-looking infrared camera

at the object
and capture it in flight.

F-18s were chasing this thing
and they couldn't catch it.

The UAP is doing things

that modern
aerodynamic vehicles can't do.

NARRATOR:
The pilots in pursuit of the unidentified craft

observed that it performed
unusual maneuvers

unlike any military aircraft
they had ever witnessed.

And all while flying
at high velocities.

One of the impressive
aspects of it

is that it's moving
against the wind.

And you can hear
the pilot say this.

CORBELL:
It doesn't lose speed, and it rotates

mechanically against the wind.

This Gimbal footage
is one of the rare pieces

of physical evidence
that is corroborated

directly by individuals who
are out there on the east coast

documenting these things.

It is highly impressive.

Now, modern-day aircraft can yaw
and pitch and they can roll,

but they can't simply
pitch straight up and continue

to move forward
into the line of flight.

This thing does that.

It's moving extremely fast
and it's accelerating

much faster than the F-18s can.

So, that in itself
is a feat that mankind

has yet to accomplish.

CORBELL:
We tried to vet this for a long time.

What's uncomfortable is that
we haven't figured it out.

That we don't know
whose technology this is.

If you can't identify someone
that's far more advanced

than you, technologically--
Houston, we have a problem.

NARRATOR:
Navy video of the incredible encounter was made public

in December 2017,

and the object
was dubbed "Gimbal"

due to its ability
to rotate on an axis.

But for
ancient astronaut theorists,

just as intriguing as the way
it moves is the object's shape.

The craft itself
is an acorn-shaped craft.

Immediately, that's reminiscent
of what the ancient Indian text

described as the Vimana,
which were acorn-shaped craft.

TSOUKALOS:
In the Mahabharata and many of the ancient Vedic texts,

they speak about
the so-called Vimanas.

The Vimanas were flying vehicles

with which to reach
the celestial realm.

NARRATOR:
In the ancient Sanskrit epics of India,

there are highly-detailed
descriptions of the Vimana,

which carried the gods
and other important figures

through the sky and sometimes
to other planets.

The acorn-shaped craft
were even incorporated

at the very top
of many Hindu temples,

and some researchers believe
they also inspired

similar Buddhist structures
called stupa.

TSOUKALOS:
If we go to Indonesia and look at Borobudur,

where we have 194 stupas
sitting in concentric circles,

each stupa, in my opinion,

represents a type
of flying craft.

Because stupa actually means
"celestial chariot,"

or a way with which to reach
the celestial realm.

And they are in the shape
of the so-called Vimanas.

NARRATOR:
Often, the Vimana were described as war machines,

armed with incredible weapons.

There are tales of flying craft
that could defy gravity

and fly at extraordinary speeds
that defy the laws of physics.

These were military in usage,

had powerful engines
and powerful weapons.

In these battles, missiles would
fire that could wipe out cities.

These were
the earliest stories we have

of flying military craft.

HENRY:
In the Indian text,

the Vimanas are the chariots
or craft of the gods.

They were clearly
a method of transportation

that could take the gods
from place to place,

country to country,
or even to other planets.

They're sometimes described
as bright clouds.

Some of them
are seven stories tall.

NARRATOR:
According to the Hindu text,

the crafts were mind-controlled,

able to change direction and
pitch and travel at high speeds,

defying our current knowledge
of aeronautical physics.

What's really cool is that
these modern-day UFO videos

show that these vehicles

are capable
of ridiculous maneuvers.

That they can accelerate
at the drop of a dime,

or they can just stop
or change direction immediately

at g-forces
that we could not survive.

In the Vaimanika Shastra,
which describes

what these Vimanas
were capable of doing,

the exact same
descriptions exist.

The fact that we have
similar stories in ancient times

illustrates to me
something similar has happened.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that the ancient Sanskrit texts are describing

extraterrestrial vehicles
even more advanced

than the U.S. military's most
sophisticated fighter jets?

And if so, are we seeing

the same alien technology
on display in the recent videos

released by
the United States Navy?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes and suggest

that this technology
may also be depicted on the wall

of an Egyptian temple that dates
back thousands of years.

NARRATOR:
Dendera, Egypt.

Roughly one and a half
miles southeast

of this ancient city
lies the Temple of Hathor,

one of the most impressive
and well-preserved

archaeological sites
in all of Egypt.

Among the vast hieroglyphs
that cover

the columns of the temple
are numerous depictions

of pharaohs standing
on mysterious ships

and purportedly traveling
through the stars.

HENRY:
At the Temple of Hathor,

we see a remarkable depiction
of a resurrected pharaoh

standing on what
the ancient Egyptians called

the Ship of Eternity.

This is a-a craft
that was created by Ptah,

the ancient Egyptian god
of technology

who the Egyptians
connected with the star Sirius.

In ancient Egypt,
we learn of pharaohs,

gods, who traveled the stars
riding these craft.

NARRATOR:
According to William Henry,

who has spent decades studying

the ancient
Egyptian iconography,

an important detail found
in some of the depictions

at Dendera and elsewhere

is that the pharaoh is shown
within a circle or bubble.

HENRY:
In another remarkable example,

we see a pharaoh
sitting on a throne

with Isis and Nephthys
on either side of him,

and he's sitting in
a blue bubble or magic bubble.

NARRATOR:
The so-called magic bubble imagery

is found in artwork
throughout the ancient world.

And some researchers
speculate that the repeated

connection between
the bubble shape and ascension

may indicate that it represents

a common experience
describing space travel.

Throughout the ancient world,
we find other very compelling

examples of beings
surrounded by a bubble.

For example, in Tibet,
we find Padmasambhava,

who sits on a lotus throne

surrounded by
rainbow-colored light

with a thin line symbolizing
some form of a bubble.

When you see the earliest
examples of Jesus

ascending into the heavens,

he's sitting on a throne
surrounded by concentric rings

that form a bubble
around his body.

These are supposed to represent
what the book of Acts says

he ascended in
and will return riding upon.

TSOUKALOS:
There are countless paintings of saints

and other celestial beings

that happen to be shown

in some type
of an energetic bubble.

What if people saw something
that surpassed

their technological intellect?

And thus drew it in that way?

NARRATOR:
Mainstream historians interpret the bubble shape

found in religious art
as simply symbols of divinity.

But could the repetition of this
iconic imagery across traditions

suggest it was something
our ancestors witnessed?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes

and believe further evidence
may be found

by taking a closer look at the
recently released Gimbal video

captured by Navy jets in 2015.

NARRATOR:
When aerospace engineer Dr. Travis Taylor examined

the Gimbal video, he noticed
a very curious anomaly,

a halo of light
surrounding the craft.

TAYLOR:
After further analysis of the video,

what we can see is
there is a bubble region

that sort of
surrounds this craft.

This is something
that you don't see

when you look through
the same instrument

at, say, an F-18
or an F-22 or an F-35.

Black is hot on their
forward-looking infrared camera.

And if black is hot,
then white is cooler.

So, this is a colder region
around the vehicle.

So, maybe

this is a warp bubble

or some sort of propellant-less
propulsion field

that someone has discovered.

NARRATOR:
The concept of the warp bubble was introduced in 1994

by Mexican physicist
Miguel Alcubierre,

as part of a hypothetical model

for traveling faster
than the speed of light.

MICHIO KAKU:
I once asked Miguel Alcubierre

how he came up with the idea
of the Alcubierre drive.

He told me that he was
watching Star Trek.

And, in Star Trek, they, well,
compressed the space

in front of them and expanded
the space behind them

and would rocket faster
than the speed of light.

And then he said,
"Well, wait a minute.

I think I can duplicate that."

NARRATOR:
In Alcubierre's theoretical model,

the warp drive vehicle

is surrounded
by an energy bubble

within space-time.

KAKU:
You need energy to create a bubble,

what's called a warp bubble
surrounding your starship.

Then you need what is called
negative energy

to drive it faster
than the speed of light

while, inside,
you feel almost nothing.

When we look at the idea
of a warp bubble

that could surround
a spacecraft, in the video,

engineers are seeing exactly
that principle in action.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned,
warp bubble technology

could be on display,
not only in the Gimbal video,

but also in artwork
created centuries ago,

like the Pharaoh's blue bubble,

the Tibetan lotus throne,

the ascension of Christ,

and countless other
sacred images

that seemingly show
identical phenomena.

TSOUKALOS:
So, you have to wonder,

what is it that the artist
tried to depict here?

It's just like
Arthur C. Clarke said,

"Any advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."

HENRY:
These are powerful examples that are

suggesting ascended beings

who traveled the stars
in magic bubbles.

That precisely matches

the Alcubierre
warp bubble concept.

TAYLOR:
Could these ancient drawings be showing us

the same thing that
we're seeing today in these

modern-day infrared cameras?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that depictions of figures

encompassed by bubbles
found throughout history

and all around the world

represent an alien technology?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining another
extraordinary Navy video

and its direct connection

to the ancient world.

NARRATOR:
Veteran journalist George Knapp

and documentary filmmaker
Jeremy Corbell

publish astonishing video

they acquired from the USS Omaha

that shows a mysterious
spherical object

flying at speeds approaching
160 miles per hour

before disappearing
into the ocean.

The USS Omaha is one of
the central pieces of evidence

that I've put forward to
the American and global public.

There were objects that were
swarming this Navy warship,

and one in particular
appears to transcend

between the space
of air and into sea.

They call that
a trans-medium vehicle.

A vehicle that can operate
equally as well

from in the air
and under the water.

Now, this was suspected,

but when they went to go look
for this craft under the water,

or for wreckage,

none was found.

NARRATOR:
Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett,

an outspoken proponent
for disclosure of UFO sightings,

was one of the first
members of Congress

to review the footage.

TIM BURCHETT: To me,
it's pretty astounding when

they showed that craft actually
going, and it popping up.

It looked like
it didn't even slow down.

It wasn't any friction at all
when it hit the water.

So, to me, that's something
that we can't even begin

to understand, I don't think.

I've read the
mathematical equations

of friction and things
like that,

and it just defies all of that.

TAYLOR:
How could a vehicle fly into the water

at 100 miles per hour?

Well, that suggests either
the surface of this vehicle

is frictionless,

and it wouldn't have any
interaction with any material

it was flying through,

or it's not frictionless,
it's actually a warp bubble

where the spacecraft
or craft is inside it.

The stresses and strains
by flying through the atmosphere

in outer space and then
plunging into the oceans

would be enough to rupture
any of our known aircraft.

POPE:
These reports of USOs,

unidentified submerged
or submersible objects,

are much more common
than people might suppose.

In 1991, Jing Yu Xian,
a fisherman,

was at Fuxian Lake
when he encountered

this strange craft
in the waters of the lake.

He described it
as a shining disc.

This UFO was so close
and so powerful

that it actually
tossed the boat around.

And then, rapidly, this craft

just disappeared
up into the sky.

Over the years, there have been
many, many cases of UFOs

seen over the water,
disappearing under the water,

and, in some cases,
emerging from under the water.

CHILDRESS:
On December 29th, 2020,

a very curious thing happened
off of the coast of Hawaii.

People could see a huge

cigar-shaped craft

hovering off the coast

and took photos of it,

and, eventually, this craft
then plunged into the ocean.

And the Navy
went out there to also

look for possible wreckage
of some craft

crashing into the ocean
and found nothing.

POPE:
One theory about this trans-medium travel

and these USOs is that
what we're seeing

is evidence of underwater bases.

Now, this makes
a good deal of sense.

The distance involved
for interstellar travel

means that it's much easier
to have a base

on the location
that you're interested in

than to constantly
travel there and back.

But what if that presence
goes back millennia?

They're operating here,
but under the oceans,

right under our noses.

HENRY:
When we see the spherical object in the video taken by

the USS Omaha hovering
for a time and then descending

into the water,
this opens up some really

interesting concepts in relation
to the ancient world.

For example,
in Sumeria and in Babylon,

they talked about a god being
named Oannes

who lived in the sea,

who emerged from the sea
wearing a fish cloak.

He was an initiator of humanity,

who taught writing and science
and-and other concepts.

What's amazing about this
is that Oannes

also founded a priesthood

of beings called Apkallu priests
who also wore fish cloaks.

And in Sumerian cylinder seals,

we see these Apkallu priests
on either side of a luminous

or radiant tree of life with
a winged disc hovering above.

The inference is that this craft
came from the sea

because these are priests
of a sea being.

And so, here's an example
of an ancient being

emerging from the sea
and connected with a craft.

NARRATOR:
Oannes belonged to a group of powerful beings

known in ancient Mesopotamia
as the Anunnaki.

The term Anunnaki means

"Those who from
the heavens came,"

and refers to beings
descending from the sky,

imparting knowledge.

That is the most important thing
that we can read and learn

about the Anunnaki,
that they were our teachers.

So, I think it's very possible

that what the ancient people
tried to record

was an extraterrestrial
visitation.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

perhaps the most compelling
evidence of an alien presence

that traverses Earth's oceans

can be found
in an account from 1492

recorded by
Christopher Columbus.

CHILDRESS:
It's a famous story about Christopher Columbus,

and he wrote this
in his journals

that, as he was moving west

across the Atlantic
towards the Caribbean

in his first voyage,

he saw a light out in the ocean

to the west
hovering over the water.

And this light then descended
into the water,

but Columbus felt that
this light was guiding him

towards his destination.

So, if this glowing object
that Columbus saw

did, you know,
go into the water,

he's perhaps one of the first
witnesses to describe

a trans-medium craft like this,

which could hover, uh,
above the water

and then disappear
into it like a submarine.

NARRATOR:
Could the account of Christopher Columbus

and the ancient
Babylonian stories of Oannes

have a profound connection
to the object

recorded from the USS Omaha?

Do they provide further evidence
that the same crafts witnessed

in the distant past are still
visiting Earth in the present?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes,

and they suggest
that the military accounts

of UAPs are not
the only resource

for descriptions of unidentified
aerial phenomena in our skies.

Similar references
can be found in the reports

of everyday citizens,

as well as
the incredible encounters

that have been documented
by hundreds of civilian pilots.

NARRATOR:
In 2017,

The New York Times
broke the story

of the U.S. government's
secret investigations

into unexplained
aerial phenomena.

And in the years that followed,
a number of sensational

UFO videos have been released,
or leaked, to the public.

NARRATOR:
Nearly all of the footage

was recorded by cameras mounted
on U.S. Navy fighter jets.

The videos captured
the public's imagination

like no other UFO images
that had come before them.

NARRATOR:
But Navy pilots are not alone

in witnessing
unidentified flying objects.

For decades, shocking encounters

have been reported by
non-military, civilian pilots.

UAP sightings by
commercial airline pilots

are a lot more commonplace
than what we generally think of.

We've seen a lot of the footage
from the military,

but we're actually getting
a lot more reports

from our civilian pilots.

There are more civilian pilots
than military pilots.

And you have an exponentially
larger amount of flights

with commercial airlines than
you do with military airplanes.

NARRATOR:
Japan Airlines Flight 1628

is carrying cargo
from Paris, France

to Narita International Airport
near Tokyo.

The three-person crew is led
by Captain Kenju Terauchi,

an ex-fighter pilot with over
10,000 hours of flight time.

As the 747 approaches Anchorage,

Captain Terauchi notices
two strange lights

out of his cockpit window.

It's dark. It's, uh, very
early morning before sunrise.

These lights
are clearly maneuvering.

They are in relationship
to each other.

One is on top of the other.

And they move directly
in front of his aircraft.

Now, he's flying at about
500 miles per hour.

These things are pacing him.

NARRATOR:
Captain Terauchi

realizes the lights are strange
oval-shaped flying objects,

and they are getting dangerously
close to his aircraft.

As bright lights
fill the cockpit,

Captain Terauchi radios

the Anchorage Air Traffic
Control Center,

and asks if they can identify
the objects near his plane.

NARRATOR:
As Terauchi attempts a series of evasive maneuvers

to avoid a potential collision,

the two UFOs suddenly disappear.

In their place,
is another object.

One so large it dwarfs the 747.

DOLAN:
His words for describing it were "gigantic spaceship

the size of maybe
two aircraft carriers."

Just immense.
Tarauchi sees this massive

thing in the sky,
and he's scared.

NARRATOR: Concerned by
Captain Terauchi's report,

the air traffic controller
calls NORAD,

the North American
Aerospace Defense Command,

based at Elmendorf
Air Force Base in Anchorage.

Communication specialists
at the airbase

confirm that there is a
very large, unidentified object

on their radar screens.

Traffic control told them
that they could actually take

whatever evasive actions
they needed to,

to avoid collision,
and they even dropped down

to 4,000 feet above sea level.

And the thing continued
to follow them.

RYAN SPRAGUE:
Air traffic control diverted another

commercial flight
to come look at this UFO.

And by the time they got there,
UFO was completely gone.

One of the reasons why the
JAL report is such a big deal

is because the corroborating
evidence is overwhelming.

Not only are there eyewitness
reports, but there's the records

of the communication systems
that Terauchi was in touch with,

actual dialogue that happened.

"Hey, we are up here.

We see this. Are you guys seeing
this on your radar?"

All this stuff is recorded.

NARRATOR:
Once safely grounded,

Captain Terauchi, his co-pilot,
and flight engineer

were immediately interviewed

by Alaska Federal Aviation
Administration officials

and other special agents.

There's an FAA investigation
into this.

There's lots of documentation.

Uh, there's no real, hard
and fast conclusion about this.

And so, the pilot,
perhaps out of frustration,

talks to the media.

NARRATOR:
In December 1986,

one month after the encounter,

Captain Terauchi
contacted Kyoto News

and said he believed
the mysterious crafts

were of extraterrestrial origin.

The unauthorized statements

prompted
Japan Airlines officials

to remove Captain Terauchi
from pilot duty

and assign him to a desk job.

Around the same time,

John Callahan,
the FAA's Division Chief

of the Accidents
and Investigations branch,

learned of the incident
and deemed it worthy

of investigation.

DOLAN:
John Callahan went to D.C. about this,

and there was a meeting
that was chaired

by one of the top people
of the FAA.

This meeting was also attended
by representatives of the FBI,

representatives of the CIA,

and representatives of
President Reagan's White House.

They had audiotapes
that were played

between the pilot
and air traffic control,

describing everything
that was happening,

and written reports.

And, at the end of the meeting,

one of the CIA, uh, agents

stood up and said,
"This meeting never happened,

"and we're confiscating
all of the data

that has been, uh, shared here."

Now, Callahan,
he was a little sly,

but he was within his rights.

"They never asked me,"
he said, "if I had a copy

of any of this myself,"
he said, "which I did."

He had a copy of the audio
recordings, if nothing else.

And, little over a decade later,
shared that with the public.

MICAH HANKS:
John Callahan came away with the feeling

that there was essentially
a kind of coverup.

The FAA didn't want
the fact that this incident

had occurred to get out.

POPE:
I've spoken to pilots who have seen

amazing things out there,

but never report it because of
the fear of being disbelieved,

being ridiculed,
and perhaps being grounded.

You won't be flying anymore.

So, what did they say?
Most times, nothing.

TSOUKALOS:
You have countless commercial and private airline pilots

who spend an exorbitant
amount of time up in the sky,

and, in my opinion,
I think they're the best people

to discern what is natural
and what is not.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned, UFO encounters
reported by civilian pilots

provide some of the most
compelling evidence that there

is an extraterrestrial presence
in the skies above Earth.

And, according to some pilots,

what they've witnessed
presents a serious danger.

NARRATOR:
The House Oversight Committee

holds a landmark
congressional hearing

to record firsthand accounts
of UFO activity.

The subcommittee hearing

on unidentified
anomalous phenomena,

or UAPs, will come to order.

NARRATOR:
During the proceedings,

lawmakers hear testimony

from three notable witnesses:

former Navy pilot Ryan Graves,

former Air Force Intelligence
Officer David Grusch,

who also served
on the UAP Task Force,

and David Fravor,

a former commanding officer
in the U.S. Navy.

The retired military veterans
address the implications of UAPs

on national security
and public safety,

including within
the commercial airspace,

an area Lieutenant Graves
feels is largely overlooked.

With commercial aviators,
they're reaching out because

they're having somewhat similar
experiences as our military

brothers and sisters,
but they do not have

any reporting system
that they can send this to.

What steps do you think
have to be taken to improve, uh,

pilots' UAP reporting,
be it military or commercial?

Right now,
we need a system where pilots

can report without fear
of losing their jobs.

Uh, there is a fear
that the stigma

associated with this topic

is going to lead to
professional repercussions,

either through management
or perhaps through their

yearly physical check.

So, having a secure system,
reducing the stigma,

uh, and making this available--

this information available
through the public

is going to reduce, uh,
the concerns that air crew have.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

UFO sightings reported by pilots

are particularly intriguing

because, while accounts
of strange phenomena in the sky

date back millennia,

it is only in the past century

that humans have had
an aerial vantage point.

For thousands of years,
we could only observe things

in the sky from the ground,

but in the last
hundred or so years,

we've had the ability to fly.

And so, now, we're up
in the sky ourselves.

We can discern natural
phenomenon from powered craft.

NARRATOR:
Thousands of pilots have reported observing phenomena

in the sky that do not resemble
any weather anomaly

or man-made aircraft
they've ever encountered.

Such was the case
with Captain Erik Delgado,

who served as an
Air Force pilot for ten years

before being hired to fly
for FedEx in 2001.

On the evening
of March 20, 2020,

Captain Delgado departed
from Mexico City

in a Boeing 767 bound
for Memphis, Tennessee.

One hour into the flight,

Delgado noticed something
strange in the distance.

DELGADO:
Usually, when we get to altitude, we'll relax.

I was conversing with my first
officer, and as I'm looking

at him, his eyes got really big,

and, uh, his mouth
kind of dropped.

And I'm like, "What the hell
is this guy looking at?"

And he goes,
"Look at the shooting star."

And he stops, didn't ever--
never finished the word "star."

And so, I kind of looked
over my left shoulder,

and if you can, uh, imagine
a lighthouse in thin fog,

kind of just
a-a spotlight sort of

that just kind of came over us.

And I thought, "Oh, my God,
it's another airplane,

and he's got a vector toward us.
What's this clown doing?"

I grabbed the throttles,
gripping it with a death grip.

I was getting ready
to disconnect the autopilot,

and I'm looking at the screen,

realizing there's nothing
on the screen.

NARRATOR:
Delgado immediately used his digital camera

to record the astonishing sight.

NARRATOR:
Within minutes of the sighting,

the orb moved towards the plane
at a high rate of speed,

then suddenly stopped short.

My heart was racing still.
Speed doesn't kill, you know?

Deceleration, stopping,
that's what kills you.

And the fact that this thing
stopped like that,

if there were somebody
inside there, you know, uh,

our conventional laws
of physics and stopping,

they wouldn't have
survived the g-forces

to-to come to a stop like that.

NARRATOR: The UAP flew
alongside Delgado's aircraft

at an astonishing
500 miles per hour,

and yet, there was no sign
of a propulsion system.

DELGADO:
This thing was parked on our wingtip,

about 1,000, 2,000 feet,
and it didn't move.

With your naked eye, it was just
bright, dim, bright, dim.

And it was very cyclic, it
didn't waver, it was the same.

And you look through the camera,

and now you could see
features in-in a shape.

NARRATOR:
The object continued to track Delgado's aircraft

for nearly 30 miles.

DELGADO:
This thing started rotating and started changing colors

and it started taking off,

and so, I'm zooming in
as fast as I could.

DELGADO:
This thing took off at a pretty good velocity.

NARRATOR:
After making a safe landing,

Delgado shared his videos

with air operations
center personnel,

even though
his co-pilot was reluctant

to file an official report.

DELGADO:
There was still a stigma behind the whole thing.

You know,
are-are they gonna ground us?

Are they gonna ask
for our medical, you know?

Are we gonna have to
go see somebody?

So, I could understand
where he was coming from.

HANKS:
In recent years,

we've seen military pilots
being encouraged

to come forward and talk
about things they've seen.

The same has not necessarily
always extended

to commercial pilots,
because there isn't an interest

in collecting information
from those pilots

the same as there would be
with military pilots,

where, in the interest
of national security,

if you see something,
say something.

But traditionally,
when commercial pilots

contacted the FAA,
they have been told, "Hey,

you need to talk
to civilian UFO researchers,"

or they don't actually have
a clear idea

of where else they can even
log those reports,

so it's a very
different situation.

NARRATOR:
Captain Delgado

decided not to give the video
to the FAA,

and instead turned it over to

the National Aviation Reporting
Center on Anomalous Phenomena--

or NARCAP--

a civilian organization
made up of volunteers

who investigate
unidentified aerial sightings.

They concluded
that the glowing object

was consistent with that
of an exotic craft

with a plasma exterior that
could disrupt radar signals.

I think I saw...

some intelligent anomaly.

It's amazing,
I-I'd like to know

more of the science
and the physics

behind what I was
looking at, maybe.

But you know, see the footage
and-and form your own opinions.

TSOUKALOS:
Things need to change,

because pilots
should be at the forefront

of being free enough

to come forward
to report what they saw.

NARRATOR:
The FAA has never conducted

an official investigation
into pilot Delgado's incident.

But would they take notice
if a UFO sighting

affected an entire airport?

A ramp employee for
United Airlines Flight 446

spots a metallic
saucer-shaped object

hovering over Gate C-17,

between 1,000 and 1,900 feet
in the air.

Within minutes,
federal authorities receive

nearly a dozen panicked phone
calls from airport personnel.

SPRAGUE:
Here you have pilots,

here you have people
working at the airport,

and civilians going
to get on their flights,

all witness a UFO
hovering directly over

one of the gates at the airport.

This UFO was cylindrical
in shape, it was metallic.

NARRATOR:
Witnesses estimated the object

to be between 16 and 24 feet
in diameter.

POPE:
Suddenly, this thing just accelerates vertically,

and punches a hole
through the cloud.

Everyone's staggered by this.

Now, there is
a meteorological phenomenon

called a hole-punch cloud.

But that doesn't really fit
with the idea

that there was
this metallic craft hovering

before this happened.

STEVEN GREENSTREET:
A hole-punch cloud is a real phenomena.

But the weather conditions
needed

to produce a hole-punch cloud

weren't there that day.
(chuckles)

They weren't there that day,
and so,

that explanation doesn't
make any sense at all.

HENRY:
The Chicago Tribune, they end up, uh,

filing a Freedom
of Information Act request

with the FAA, and lo and behold,
they get a recording.

So, we have a United Airlines
supervisor on the phone

with the FAA controller
using the word "UFO."

So, once again, we have
a scenario where the FAA--

and we have United Airlines
personnel, in this case,

saying there's nothing to see
here, but in fact, there was.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible the U.S. government

has been concealing evidence

about UAP sightings
near our airports?

According to UFO researchers,
it would fit

a disturbing pattern
of ignoring what many believe

are serious threats
to the millions of people

who travel the skies every day.

Threats that are surprisingly
well-documented,

and sometimes
even caught on tape.

NARRATOR:
For decades, civilian pilots have been frustrated

by the Federal Aviation
Administration's refusal

to investigate encounters
between commercial airlines

and unidentified
flying objects.

Skeptics argue
that these encounters

lack hard data like telemetry,

radar and audio recordings

that would warrant
an investigation.

But there have, in fact,
been numerous incidents

where viable evidence
has been collected,

including an event
involving two aircraft

traveling over
the state of Arizona.

In 2018, flying over Arizona,

you've got a Learjet, you've got
an American Airlines jet,

and something zips over
the Learjet.

Right over top.

And they immediately call ATC.

GREENSTREET:
And radar tower says, "We don't see anything,

we don't know
what the heck it is."

And so, the radar tower calls
the American Airlines jet

behind that plane,
and says "Hey,

"look out for a second, object
should be coming your way."

NARRATOR:
The pilot of the American Airlines jet

initially responds
requesting clarification.

NARRATOR:
Then, just moments later,

the American Airlines pilot
radios back

to air traffic control.

This incident is significant
because there are

audio recordings
of the whole incident

and the pilots
actually use the word "UFO"

when they're talking
to the control tower.

NARRATOR:
According to researchers, the Arizona encounter

was never openly investigated
by the government,

despite the evidence
presented in the recordings

between the two pilots
and air traffic control.

Neither was another incident,

this one so serious
it required a call

to the U.S. Air Force.

The Oregon Coast,
October 25th, 2017.

A radar operator
spots a fast-moving

unidentified object in
a busy commercial flight path.

DELGADO:
There were no pilots involved in that initial reporting.

It was just a tower controller
and a-- and, like,

a radar center operator, and
they're going back and forth.

NARRATOR:
The radar operator contacts air traffic control

in Seattle, Washington.

GREENSTREET:
And the object has no call sign.

It has no transponder.

It's not communicating.
What is this object?

Pilots in the air
start picking it up visually.

Multiple pilots
from multiple airlines flying

both north and south
up the coast.

And they see
this huge white object

moving extremely fast
at 37,000 feet.

CHILDRESS:
The pilots could see a white light

that was coming at them
and moving around

and they reported it
to the control tower

and the pilot said
that it was moving erratically.

GREENSTREET:
This object was a little bit too close for comfort.

And so, they tried
to communicate with it.

It-- All the things that this
object should have given off

if it was an authorized
aircraft-- a U.S. aircraft,

a commercial aircraft--
weren't there.

It was just silent.

And so, the military
scrambled two F-15 fighters

to go intercept this thing.

POPE:
Now, you don't do that lightly.

This is a big call.

This is the sort of thing
that you do

on a 9/11-type event.

So, what happened?

Why did they take this one
so seriously

that a fighter interceptor

was sent up
to try and take a look?

NARRATOR:
The F-15s race to intercept the UFO,

but this proves more difficult
than expected.

CHILDRESS:
Once the jets were on their way,

this UFO suddenly shot off
in a different direction,

and was very fast
and was able to make

these quick turns
and at very high speeds.

GREENSTREET: At one point,
this object changes direction.

It's flying southbound,

and then turns
and goes northbound.

So, the F-15 fighters,
they go there

and at the last minute,
as best anyone can guess,

it turns and zips out
over the Pacific Ocean.

NARRATOR:
Observers are shocked

that F-15s,
among the nation's fastest

and most sophisticated
fighter jets,

are unable to catch up
with the mysterious object.

GREENSTREET:
What's great about this is the audiotapes,

which were released via
the Freedom of Information Act.

When you hear the process
happen from initial sighting

to the scrambling
of military jets,

it's fascinating
to hear that happen.

"What should we do?"
It goes to the Air Force,

it goes to NORAD.

I-It's there and seen
by so many, and then it's gone.

NARRATOR:
These two incidents

are considered to be among
a multitude of reports

where analyzable data--
including radar,

radio transmissions, telemetry
and eyewitness accounts--

offer compelling evidence of
unidentified aerial phenomena.

Yet, to the public's knowledge,
these dangerous encounters

have never been investigated
by the government.

Or have they?

During the congressional
UAP hearing

conducted by the House
Oversight Committee,

former Naval intelligence
officer David Grusch

a made a shocking claim.

He disclosed
that certain factions

within the U.S. government
have been operating in secrecy

regarding Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena.

I was informed, in the course
of my official duties,

of a multi-decade,
uh, UAP crash retrieval

and reverse engineering program,

uh, to which
I was denied access

to those additional read-ons
when I, uh, requested it.

NARRATOR:
Due to national security concerns,

Grusch could not provide

more specific information
during the public hearing.

However, he expressed
his willingness to furnish

additional information
to the congressional members

during their
private deliberation.

Has the U.S. government
become aware

of actual evidence
of extraterrestrial

or otherwise unexplained forms
of intelligence?

I can't discuss that publicly,
but I did provide

that information
both the intel committees

- and the inspector general.
- And we could get that

in the SCIF if we were allowed
to get in a SCIF with you?

Would that be probably
what you would think?

Sure, if you had
the appropriate accesses, yeah.

NARRATOR:
Could David Grusch's sensational claims

that the United States
government is in possession

of extraterrestrial aircraft
be true?

And if so, has the military
been reverse engineering

this technology for decades,

as ancient astronaut theorists
have long proposed?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

a Pentagon-funded project
to build a flying saucer.

NARRATOR:
At dawn on April 14th, 1561,

the citizens
of this Bavarian city

at the center of Europe
awake to a commotion in the sky

unlike anything they have
ever experienced before.

People went outside
and they saw

what they described
as a celestial battle.

The witnesses observed
seeing hundreds

of these strange-shaped objects.

What were these strange shapes
that they were describing?

The aerial scene, illustrated
in this contemporary woodcut,

is described
in the accompanying text

as "a very frightful spectacle."

Strange objects
seemed to launch projectiles

as onlookers below
watch in amazement.

This was actually witnessed
by thousands of people.

Had it been a meteor shower

or something like this,
then the reports

would have been,
"Okay, this happened before

because we've seen this before,"
but that was new.

HENRY:
The witnesses, they wouldn't have had a conception

of some kind of
a mechanical spacecraft,

but that seems to be exactly
what they were describing.

And this has to be one
of the greatest mass sightings

of a UFO phenomena
in all of recorded history.

NARRATOR:
Incredibly, a very similar incident

was reported in Basel,
Switzerland five years later,

and was illustrated in a woodcut
that still exists to this day.

Is it possible
that these two events

witnessed by thousands,

represent the first
mass UFO sightings on record?

TSOUKALOS:
The UFO phenomenon is not modern.

It goes back as far
as we can remember,

because we have accounts
of lights and craft

not only in modern times
but also in ancient times.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists find it remarkable

that the depictions
of these 16th-century sightings

include every shape of craft
that has been reported

by UFO witnesses
in modern times.

But it also poses
an important question:

if these are, in fact,

representations
of alien vehicles,

what could explain
all the different shapes?

BILL BIRNES:
So it well might be that different types

of UFOs are tasked
for different purposes.

There are scout ships,

there are ships that only orbit,

there are mother ships.

They're all tasked
for different purposes.

NOORY:
If you look at our planet today,

almost every country has
some kind of flying machine

that is different
from what we have.

I think the same thing is
the case with extraterrestrials.

Let's assume there's
ten different E.T. races

within our Milky Way galaxy.

Each one could have
a different shape to its craft

because that's just
the way they created it.

And I think
that's very conceivable

when we see cigar-shaped UFOs,
triangular-shaped UFOs,

round UFOs.

They're coming from
different planetary systems

throughout the universe.

NARRATOR:
Could the various shapes

that have been witnessed
in the sky for hundreds of years

all represent
extraterrestrial crafts,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?

And if so, with a more advanced

technological frame
of reference,

might modern humans be able

to gain insight
about who or what

is visiting Earth
by examining these shapes?

Are there conclusions
that you can make about

the different shapes
of UFOs that are reported?

Might there be links, even,

between the shapes of UFOs
and the different types

of entities that are
sometimes reported?

NARRATOR:
In modern times, the most commonly reported

UFO shape is
the iconic flying saucer.

The term was coined in 1947
after pilot Kenneth Arnold

spotted a number
of flying objects

near Mount Rainier in Washington
traveling at incredible speeds.

He described them
as skipping through the air

like a "saucer," he said.

And this is really where
the term "a flying saucer,"

uh, arrives in English language,

is from Kenneth Arnold's
description.

NARRATOR:
With more saucer-shaped objects

reported around the globe,
the United States government

began to investigate reports
of UFO activity.

It wasn't just the United States

that was interested in potential
UFOs in the mid-century.

Canada, France,
the Soviet Union,

the United Kingdom and Brazil

all had various programs

to determine whether or not
it was a threat for humans.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that reports of flying saucers

caught the attention
of world governments

because they have a shape
unlike any man-made aircraft?

Ufologists suggest
that these sightings

triggered a competition
by world powers

to manufacture their own craft
based on this exotic design.

A design that many presumed

must have some unknown but
inherent advantage for flight.

There's no question
that, uh, historically,

governments have attempted
to recreate the shape

of UFO craft that have been
seen, spotted or crashed.

NARRATOR:
In the 1950s,

the Pentagon funded a prototype
for a disc-shaped craft.

This once-classified project
yielded

a nearly three-ton
flying saucer, the VZ-9 Avrocar.

TEITEL:
The Avrocar was one attempt to develop a flying saucer,

and it was a VTOL design,
a vertical takeoff and landing.

It was designed
by a Canadian company, Avro,

for the U.S. military.

The U.S. Air Force
wanted it to be a supersonic

interceptor and fighter,
and the U.S. Army wanted it

to be something stealthy
that could hover

above the ground in silence
and detect radar.

Avro engineers thought
that this big circular wing

might be the design that could
meet both requirements.

NARRATOR:
In 1959, after years of top-secret development,

this flying saucer prototype
was finally put to the test.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR:
In preparation for the final contractual demonstration,

a representative course
was selected

where the vehicle could
demonstrate its capability

while remaining in view
of the observers.

TEITEL:
It turned out that the cushion of air under that wing

became extremely unstable
just a few feet off the ground.

There was one model built
and some wind tunnel tests done,

but ultimately, it was deemed

completely
aerodynamically unstable.

NARRATOR:
While the Avrocar failed,

in 2019,

Romanian engineer Razvan Sabie
and aerodynamicist Iosif Taposu

unveiled their answer
to the flying saucer problem.

The All-Directional
Flying Saucer, or ADIFO,

demonstrates precision
maneuverability and outperforms

all previously known flying
saucers constructed by humans.

TEITEL:
The ADIFO design looks really interesting.

It looks like
a highly maneuverable

flying saucer design,
but it's small and it's a drone.

It would be interesting to see
how the engineering works

with a full-size design,

because engineering
is very difficult,

and usually doesn't
scale up very cleanly.

NARRATOR:
This saucer utilizes four ducted fans

like a quadcopter drone,

and it is also equipped
with jets for added thrust

and lateral nozzles that provide

side-to-side mobility
and rotation.

The saucer only currently exists
as a miniature prototype,

but its creators plan
to pursue a full-sized

manned version
capable of hypersonic speed.

If successful,

will we have finally achieved
the same technology

as extraterrestrial
space travelers?

Or could recent events
reveal that they are still

light-years ahead of us?

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists have speculated

that one reason
extraterrestrials

might have designed
disc-shaped craft

is so that they can
instantly change direction,

and at tremendous speeds.

CHILDRESS:
We can learn a lot from modern UFO reports.

These disc-shaped craft are able

to make sudden turns,

turning at-at high speeds
in any direction.

DOLAN:
When you're thinking in terms of aerodynamics,

shape should matter
a great deal.

But what if aerodynamics
is not really relevant?

What if these objects

are able to employ
a different kind of a science

that makes aerodynamics
irrelevant?

CHILDRESS:
One of the concepts here is that these circular

or disc-shaped craft are using

antigravity for propulsion.

They're not rockets,

they're antigravity,
they're generating

their own gravitational field,

which would likely be
a spherical field

around the craft.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that reports of disc-shaped objects

changing direction
at incredible speeds--

some of which have
even been captured on video--

are alien craft
with antigravity technology?

While there is no hard evidence

that antigravity aircraft
do exist,

there has been
much speculation

as to how such craft
might function.

One theory is that
they could be, in part,

driven by centrifugal force,

the force that is felt by
a rotating or spinning object.

The shape of these craft
is consistent

with these different models
of rotation

around a central axis

involving something
with high mass and high energy.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists

point out that such spinning,
wheel-like machines

bear an eerie resemblance
to one of the most famous

and enigmatic stories
from the Hebrew Bible:

the story of Ezekiel's Wheel.

TSOUKALOS:
When you have these ideas that are currently proposed,

of these gigantic wheels
in the sky

that spin on their own axis

in order to create
artificial gravity,

I might as well
be reading Ezekiel.

It's very similar.

NARRATOR:
In the Bible's Book of Ezekiel,

the prophet describes
a fiery chariot

drawn by four living creatures.

Each creature is flanked
by a metallic object--

a wheel within a wheel--
that Ezekiel observes

as it descends, making
a tremendous amount of noise.

In his 1968 book,
Chariots of the Gods?,

ancient astronaut theory pioneer
Erich von Daniken

proposed that what was actually
being described in Ezekiel

was a spaceship.

NASA engineer Josef Blumrich
was determined

to debunk
this controversial theory.

But after painstaking research,

the author was shocked
to find himself agreeing

with Erich von Daniken.

In 1974,
he published his own book

supporting Erich's theory,

entitled
The Spaceships of Ezekiel.

TSOUKALOS:
Blumrich reads Ezekiel, and he has an epiphany,

because what is he describing?

He is describing
a wheel up in space.

Blumrich says,
"By gosh, Erich is right."

And so, he conceived what
Ezekiel may have described

in that ancient biblical text.

TAYLOR:
Ezekiel describes

that the outside
of the wheel doesn't spin,

the inside of the wheel spins.

So his-- he's telling us
that's the engines.

None of this
necessarily has to be magic.

This could all be technology.

HENRY:
Perhaps what the wheel actually signifies

is the secret of the gods,

the secret of their
extraterrestrial spacecraft,

and how humans might be able
to reverse engineer that wheel

and ultimately,
make their own craft.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that a story from the Bible's Old Testament

describes the propulsion system

of an extraterrestrial
spacecraft?

While Ezekiel's description
of wheels within wheels

may represent
a primitive interpretation

of highly advanced technology,

one man claims
to have firsthand knowledge

that antigravity craft
do exist,

Area 51 whistleblower Bob Lazar.

Investigative journalist
George Knapp

was the first
to interview him, in 1989,

about the notorious
military base

that has long been rumored
to be hiding alien technology.

He told this incredible story,
that he'd been working

at this facility called S4,
south of Groom Lake.

That they had a hangar hidden
in the desert to make it

look like it was actually
a part of the desert terrain,

and inside those hangars
were, uh, nine flying saucers.

So, Bob Lazar was tasked,
at area S4--

a subsite of Area 51--

to reverse engineer the power
and propulsion of what we know

as a flying saucer.

All of the nine craft that Lazar
was able to see with his eyes

were said to have worked
on the same gravity system.

Bob Lazar said the craft
would turn belly-first

and the gravity wave amplifiers
would all point

to the place in time-space
where you wanted to go.

We're talking about
a gravity-propelled craft.

We're talking about something
that y-you don't have any effect

of the inertia or-or momentum,

it's just instantaneously--
voom, voom, voom--

one place, then the next.

BOB LAZAR:
Element 115 was

what we would call the fuel
that provided the power

for the reactor to work.

Element 115 affects gravity.

Element 115 produces
its own gravitational energy.

The resulting gravity wave
creates a distortion

in front of it allowing
the craft to slide forward.

And that's how it proceeds.

NARRATOR:
Could Bob Lazar's extraordinary claims

about the flying saucers
he allegedly worked on at S4,

along with video evidence
of UFOs,

reveal that there are alien
aircraft in our skies

equipped with
antigravity technology?

KAKU:
Antigravity is not possible with the known laws of physics.

So, when I talk to my physicist
friends about flying saucers

and stuff like that,
I get the giggle factor.

They start to giggle, their eyes
roll up into the heavens,

because, you see,
I think they make a mistake.

They assume that the aliens
are maybe a hundred years

more advanced than us,
in which case, yeah,

it is impossible for
a civilization a hundred years

from us to reach us
from the stars.

But what if, what if they are
a million years ahead of us?

New laws of physics
are gonna open up

once you have a civilization

that is a million years
more advanced than us.

And a million years is nothing
but a blink of an eye

compared to the age
of the universe.

NARRATOR:
Many UFO researchers believe

the flying saucer
is designed to take advantage

of an antigravity
propulsion system,

and is the optimal shape

for maneuvering quickly
in any direction.

But what could explain
the numerous other types

of unidentified craft
that have been reported?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

a UFO shape that more closely
resembles man-made aircraft:

the flying triangle.

NARRATOR: March 13th, 1997.

At 6:55 p.m.,
local police receive a report

of a massive V-shaped object
traveling southeast

across the night sky.

Over the next three hours,

the craft is witnessed
by thousands of people

as it journeys
down through Arizona

and into Sonora, Mexico.

With most of the reports
coming from Phoenix,

as well as photographs
and video footage,

the incident becomes known
as the Phoenix Lights.

DOLAN:
The entire city of Phoenix was able to see

this half-a-mile long display
of lights over the city

in a very, very
distinctive pattern.

It was a triangular-ish-shaped
object,

uh, seen very reliably by quite
a large number of witnesses.

Who's our best witness to that?

The best one?

Governor Fife Symington
of Arizona.

FIFE SYMINGTON:
As a pilot and a former Air Force officer,

uh, I can definitively say
that this craft

did not resemble any man-made
object that I'd ever seen.

BIRNES:
And says, "Yeah I really did see the UFO," and he describes it.

He actually was maybe
a hundred feet away

from that flying triangle
and could see through it

and the stars above.

DOLAN:
Governor Symington was a qualified pilot,

and in the Air Force Reserve
as well.

I think he knew
what he was seeing.

NARRATOR:
The governor of Arizona described

a strange triangular UFO
that appeared translucent,

camouflaging itself
amidst the star field above.

This incredible
mass UFO sighting

made the front page
of USA Today.

And then, three years later,
it happened again.

January 5th, 2000.

At 4:00 a.m.,
three large triangular objects

are seen by multiple witnesses--

including police officers--

flying silently
in the night sky.

I looked up in the sky
and observed this huge,

arrow-shaped,
triangular-shaped object.

NARRATOR: They are observed
for at least two hours,

and over more than one town.

SCHRATT:
This is known as the famous

Southern Illinois
flying triangle.

We have about four different
police officers.

What they describe seeing
are three distinct

arrowhead-shaped craft.

Officer Craig Stevens
was directly below

one of these triangles,
and he said

that it was trying to cloak
or camouflage itself

against the night sky,
and was projecting

the star field above it
on the bottom surface

allowing it to e-effectively
blend in with its background.

NARRATOR:
The ability of triangular-shaped objects

to hide in plain sight
reminds many observers

of modern stealth technology.

Developed by the U.S. military
in the 1970s and '80s,

stealth technology allows
triangular-shaped aircraft

to appear invisible to radar,

sonar and other
detection methods.

DENNIN:
To make something invisible to radar,

all you have to do
is make sure that the radar

doesn't reflect back
to the receiver.

So, you send out a radio signal,
you bounce it off the plane,

you get the signal back
and now you detect it by radar.

This all comes down to, mostly,
the shape of the planes,

though it's a little bit
the material, too,

but it's predominantly
the shape.

You want it shaped in a way
so that the radar

either scatters
in random directions

or literally just bounces off
in a completely opposite way.

NARRATOR:
Could the masking technology

attributed to the Illinois
flying triangle

and to the craft observed during
the Phoenix Lights incident

be a highly advanced version
of this same principle?

Some kind of alien stealth?

MICHAEL SALLA:
Stealth technology has been developed

to hide
some of these spacecraft

to simulate a environment
behind the craft.

So this can be done in a way
to make a craft disappear.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

that the triangular shape
employed by the Phoenix

and Illinois craft
and now by the US military

has populated the skies
since ancient times.

As proof, they point to evidence

of triangular E.T. surveillance
craft in the ancient world

in the form of a symbol often
called the "all-seeing eye."

BRUCE FENTON:
The triangle with an eye in the center

is commonly used
as a depiction of God,

particularly in ancient Egypt,
but we also see this

in the Catholic faith,
Masonic circles,

we see it
on the U.S. dollar bill,

and indeed, you know,
in some of the ancient artwork.

Now, could it be
because the craft,

which we have reported
in the skies,

look like a triangle
with a light in the center,

rather like an eye
looking down on us?

NARRATOR:
Some believe that the eerie similarity

between triangle-shaped UFOs
and the U.S. military's

stealth aircraft
is no mere coincidence.

Stealth technology
traces its roots back

to a single series of papers
written by a Soviet physicist.

And this Soviet physicist
realized

radar doesn't see the way
that the human eye sees.

And so, if you change the shape
or composition of an object,

that'll affect
how it shows up on radar.

American engineers,
when they learned about this,

went back
and started experimenting

with how to apply that
to an aircraft.

And a lot of their test work
was done

at Area 51 and Groom Lake,

which, of course,
has just made it a Mecca,

uh, for conspiracy theorists.

And then later,
people started to wonder

if there were actually
alien technologies there.

NARRATOR:
Area 51?

The U.S. Air Force installation
in Nevada

long suspected to be hiding
alien technology?

Is it possible that the
conspiracy theorists are right,

and that the Stealth Bomber
is the result

of reverse engineering
extraterrestrial craft?

A lot of people say
this is actually something

we've developed,

back-engineered from
extraterrestrial technology.

This is absolutely
quantum-leap technology.

NOORY:
I think there's no question that we have reverse engineered

or have looked at

the shapes of these craft

and have tried to create it
for ourselves.

Look at some
of the new stealth jets

that are coming out right now.

They're amazingly close
to what we saw

20 years ago from UFO reports.

NARRATOR:
If the U.S. military

really is in possession
of an extraterrestrial craft

that it has successfully
deconstructed,

reverse engineered
and incorporated

into the latest fighter jets
and Stealth Bombers,

could even more astounding
technology be in development?

Might we soon have aircraft
that can perform

the same type
of incredible maneuvers

that have been recorded
during encounters with UAPs?

When you're looking at all
of the different UFO reports

over the many years
with all of the shapes

and types of performance
that are noted,

all of these have shown
incredible ability to accelerate

from zero
to fill in the blank.

DOLAN:
We really do struggle to understand

just what it is
we're dealing with.

I've looked at UFOs
for many years now,

and one thing that I have
definitely come to understand

is this phenomenon

represents an order
of intelligence

that I don't think
we have achieved yet.

Some of these craft

actually appear to change shape,

and that the metals in the craft
can somehow rearrange themselves

- into something else?
- MAN: Oh!

CHILDRESS: And these craft,
in my mind, are also able

to instantly jump
to hyperspace...

and go into another dimension,

which would make them
just basically disappear.

So, all of these
unusual characteristics

have been associated with UFOs,

not just in the last 50 years,
but for many centuries.

NARRATOR:
From Ezekiel's Wheel,

the Vimana of ancient India

and a 16th-century woodcut
depicting a battle in the sky,

to pilot encounters
with unexplained lights,

V-shaped craft hovering overhead

and military video
of flying objects

performing impossible maneuvers,

could it be
that what we now call

"unidentified aerial phenomena"
represents an alien presence

that has been with us
for thousands of years?

And as humanity continues
to make technological

and scientific advances,

are we inching closer
to understanding

the true nature
of these unexplainable objects?

Perhaps our encounters with UAPs
have not happened by chance,

but are intended
to propel us forward,

leading humankind
towards the day

when we will once again
come face-to-face

with our alien ancestors.

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