UFO Case Report:

TWA airline pilot sees round metallic object with portholes

Date: July 4, 1981
Location: South central Lake Michigan, United States

On a clear day in 1981, Captain Schultz was piloting TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport over Lake Michigan. In his written report, he described seeing a "large, round, silver metal object" with six jet black "portholes" equally spaced around the circumference, which "descended into the atmosphere from above."

Sketch showing the motion of the object witnessed by Captain Schultz through his cockpit window. (R.F. Haines / Credit: CFI)

Captain Phil Schultz demonstrates the size of the object he witnessed in its position relative to the cockpit window of his L-1011 heavy jet. Schultz said the object was the size of a grapefruit held at arms length. (R.F. Haines / Credit: CFI)

Classification & Features

Type of Case/Report: StandardCase
Hynek Classification: DD
Shape of Object(s): Disc
# of Witnesses: Multiple
Special Features/Characteristics: Pilot/Aircrew, Portholes/Windows

Full Report / Article

Source: Richard Haines, 2000 (Credit: CFI / NARCAP)
[go to original source]

Summary from CFI (Coalition for Freedom of Information - from Richard Haines)

On a clear day in 1981, Captain Schultz was piloting TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport over Lake Michigan. In his written report presented to Dr. Haines, he described seeing a "large, round, silver metal object" with six jet black "portholes" equally spaced around the circumference, which "descended into the atmosphere from above." Expecting a mid-air collision, Schultz and his first officer braced themselves for an impact. The object suddenly made a high speed turn near the aircraft and departed.

Schultz did not inform TWA about the incident, but instead filled out a detailed report for . Haines. He also invited Haines into the cockpit of his airplane while on the ground, and reconstructed the event there to assure accuracy. Haines made a sketch of the event to Schultz's specifications, drawn to scale. With extensive jet combat experience in the Korean War and afterward, Captain Schultz had never believed in UFOs. But he stated at the time, "We have nothing that can do what that object did."

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From Richard Haines:

July 4, 1981 1646L UC South central Lake Michigan

Captain Phil Schultz, 54, was flying TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport, New York (on autopilot control) and was at cruise altitude (FL370) at 280 kts airspeed (540 kts. ground speed) in an L-1011 heavy jet. The sky was generally clear over Lake Michigan with a high, thin layer of cirrus over much of the southern part of the lake and some scattered mid-level clouds at about 10,000 feet. The sun was still high in the sky (41 deg. above the horizon) and behind the aircraft. Then the high altitude encounter (FL370) happened. In the captain’s own words, "A large, round, silver, metal object descended into the atmosphere from above and to the left of my airplane to about 40,000 feet overhead and passed off to my left." After an extensive reconstruction of this event in the cockpit of his aircraft, I was able to ascertain many more important facts about this event [cf. Haines, 1982(a); 1982(b)]: (1) The object traveled very smoothly during the five or six second-long encounter. (2) The UAP was about 2.5 times wider than thick with six jet black perfect circles ("portholes") aligned and equal-spaced around its circumference. Centered on the bottom surface of the circular disk was a single, jet-black circle. (3) The UAP traveled along an approximately parabolic course and performed a high speed turn (calculated to be approximately 20 g) relatively near the aircraft before departing in a gradual climb to the north and leaving a darkish wavy trail behind in the sky. (4) Its approach and departure speed was calculated to be about 1,000 mph, (5) No shock wave or turbulence was felt at any time. Capt. Schultz remembered seeing a fan-shaped region extending outward from behind the object which was "of a much darker blue than the rest of the sky." (6) The aircraft’s autopilot remained coupled throughout the encounter and no E-M effects were noticed. (7) The FO saw approximately the final two-thirds of the event but the FE did not see anything due to his position in the rear of the cabin. (8) When Captain Schultz called Chicago Center to ask about other possible traffic in the area he was told there was none. He did not report what they had just seen. (9) Before this sighting Capt. Schultz did not believe in UFO at all. His extensive jet combat experience during the Korean War and afterward had left him with the strongly held belief that such objects "simply do not exist." This encounter instantly changed his view and, when I asked him what he thought the object was he quickly replied." (10) Both pilots were very concerned about a mid-air collision and began to brace themselves for an impact. Other technical details must be omitted due to space limitations. (Pilot report form)

Case ID: 656 edit: 656

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