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Last Modified: Tuesday 22-Jul-2008 04:19:30 EEST        

Quick Technical Overview: What we think we know about UFOs

Some key points: UFO shapes and sizes, as reported by eye-witnesses, change over time. Since the 1990s, the objects reported near the ground or landing are now mostly smaller ones (2-3m egg-shaped, down to basketball-sized spheroid objects) in contrast to the predominance of larger objects, like the 15-35ft (5-10m) disks and ovals, of previous decades. On the other hand, since the 1980s, a much larger percentage of UFO reports is of triangles and boomerangs, some incredibly large and reported all over the world (note: triangle-shaped UFOs are reported as far back as 1950s, it's not a contemporary phenomenon). Also, note the UFO - water connection, i.e. reports of low-altitude UFOs near bodies of water (lakes, rivers etc).

Based on 60 years of eyewitness reports and other data (photos, radar etc), UFO investigators have been able to arrive at several conclusions, as presented in books, papers and newsletters, summarized below:

1. Shapes/Types: Most UFOs are symmetrical objects (sometimes with protrusions / "extensions" / "antennas" and/or "windows" / "portholes"). There is a great variety of shapes, but the highly repeating ones are:
   • disk / saucer
   1. flat bottomed saucer (described as a "chrome hubcap" "upside-down saucer", "silver dome" etc), often with a dome. Examples photographic cases by Trent USA 1950, Nagora Austria 1971 photo1, photo2 etc), Vancouver Canada Oct-1981, Lac Chauvet, France 1952, Weyauwega WI, USA 2003 etc
   2. flat-top "straw hat" / "top hat" saucer (e.g. photographic cases by Heflin USA 1965 (.pdf) or Kluj Romania 1968 or Belotie Yugoslavia 1974 or Kosina, Hungary in 1996, more) and double flat-top "straw hat"
   3. lenticular saucer, convex on both sides (like two metal soup bowls glued together rim to rim) e.g. Trans en Provence, France, 1981, Harwinton, CT USA 1995 or the sighting by US astronaut Gordon Cooper
   4. bowl with dome "like a lemon squeezer" or "a cup upside-down on a saucer", e.g. sketch by Michalak, Falcon Lake, Canada 1967
   • spheroid
   1. perfectly spherical (e.g. San Jacinto, CA USA 1988 "very bright sphere, much like a large reflective mirrored ball, like ball bearing") or with a "band" / "ring" around the equator e.g. Leslie Michigan, USA 10-Jul-1998.
   2. flattened sphere with an equatorial ring ("flange"), "saturn" shape (i.e. like planet Saturn with its rings), e.g. Trindade island, Brazil 1958, Passo Fondo, Brazil 12-May-1976.
   3. walnut e.g. the smallish UFO Zdany Poland 8-Jan-2006 and the "huge" UFO seen at the Japan Airlines JAL-1628 17-Nov-1986 and Lincolnton, NC on 1-May-1985 at 21:30 (src: MUFON Journal Mar-86, p5) cases
   • ovoid
   1. elliptical / ellipsoidal (oval, rugby football, dirigible, egg, acorn, teardrop), e.g. Socorro, New Mexico USA 1964 (police officer Zamora incident), dirigible-shaped Puerto Maldonado Peru, 1952, Isle Of Vaddo, Sweden 11-Nov-1956, Roswell UFO crash Jul-1947 (described as egg-shaped 12-15ft long, 6ft high) and smaller egg-like objects e.g. Kecksburg Dec-1965 (replica) or Lynn MA USA Dec-2006), sometimes with a transparent upper part (e.g. Hochries, Germany 1973, Volvi Greece 1938)
   • Conical
   1. giant disk / shallow cone, conical hat, "coolie hat" (e.g. Korea 1950, Costa Rica 1971)
   2. medium-size (e.g. Yacanto Argentina 1960)
   3. small-size like a "top" (e.g. Vins, Var, France 14-Apr-1957)
   • cylindrical / "fuselage" range from giant cigars, width about 1/6th of their length (e.g. 28-Nov-1942 during WWII raid on Turin (Italy) from official British Royal Air Force files, 8-Jan-1956 at Weddell Sea Antarctica by 4 scientists from Chile estim. 450ft (137m) long and 75ft (22m) in diameter more) to smaller cylindrical craft e.g. Coyne, Army Reserve UH-1H helicopter-UFO encounter 1973 or an under-water UFO (a/k/a USO) argentinian merchant ship Naviero, Sep-1968)
   • triangular (black triangles / Big Black Deltas aka BBD) / "delta"-wedge. Hundreds of well-documented sightings in recent decades e.g. Hudson Valley NY USA in the early 1980s, the landmark Belgium 1989-1990 UFO wave (photo of triangular UFO over Petit-Rechain, Belgium 1990 estim. to be 36m / 120ft per side, ref: testimony of Belgian Airforce Maj.General, Ret. Brouwer), the triangle flyover RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury UK in Mar-1993 (ref: nickpope), over St.Petersbug, Russia Feb-1997 (videotaped by 3 separate witnesses, incl. air traffic controllers), the Illinois, USA 5-Jan-2000 (NIDSCI, ufoevidence, dbakertv), the Peterborough, Ontario 2004 etc. Larger triangles often have 3 lights on each corner and one pulsing light in the middle. More about triangles. A long wedge-shaped UFO, was seen by crew of commercial airliner flight BA5061 over Manchester in Jan-1995 and investigated as a "near miss" by CAA.
   • boomerang or "crescent" ("V"-shaped / chevron), include many landmark cases in UFO history. One such case is of the famous Lockheed aeronautical engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson (who designed the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes) and test pilots in 1953 (nicap). Extract from the "Best Evidence: Top-10 UFO sightings" 2007 documentary:
     
     Similar reports: drawing by Gene Congdon, CA USA 12-Aug-1964 / stories. Night sightings of boomerangs mention several distinctive "lights" on the underside - drawing, model, reports. Often described as huge (e.g. estim. ~800m / 0.5mile wide using laser range finder in USS Memphis 1989 case, if authentic), othertimes est. 150-200ft. Pilot Kenneth Arnold report in 1947 included one crescent-shaped object.
     Sightings of boomerangs in USA include the Lubbock USA 1951, the Arizona 1981 (more) and New York and Connecticut 1983. During the famous Hudson Valley 1983-1984 sightings (stats which prompted astronomer Dr.Hynek to co-author the "Night Siege" book), a boomerang reported on 24-Mar-1983 was said to be large enough to be a "flying city". Overall hundreds of sightings, with best known case that of "Phoenix Lights" in 1997 recently confirmed seen by then Arizona Governor Symington (note that lamestream media mix the early afternoon 18:00-20:00 sightings of "immense V-shaped formation of lights flying over people's heads" with the 22:00 "lights across the horizon", possibly military flares). Boomerangs keep being observed over various parts of the world: in April-2007, there have been sightings over Athens Greece, Shanghai China (video, note: explained to be a kite ;-), Istanbul Turkey, Calgary Canada, Missuri USA etc.
     Smaller boomerangs have been recorded several decades back e.g. Fort Stockton, TX 1972, Ocala, Florida USA 2-May-2005.
   • Other: cross-shaped e.g. Dorset, Britain Oct-1967 (project1947, or by two British policemen video), oblong/rectangle pic1, pic2, toroid/ring (donut) shaped etc, other
   
   Ref: NUFORC's Report Index by Shape of Craft and Cashman's Collections Of UFO Cases
2. Sizes vary very widely. From ~0.3 to 0.6m meter spheres ("like basketball" which have become much more prevalent since the 1990s) to 600 meter or more for the huge "motherships". Saucers, spheres and ellipsoidal craft ordinarily range 3-30m in diameter, typically 9m (30ft). Saturn-like objects (sphere with a "ring" at the equator) are in 2-15m range. Triangles 3m-300m per side. Boomerangs ("V") up to 800m across. Oval/ellipsoidal craft 6m axial, 3m cross diameter. Conical "coolie hat" types about 200m (e.g. Costa Rica 1971, Korea 1950). There is also a "dirigible" version of 100m. For reference, a Boeing 747 "Jumbo jet", one of the largest passenger aircraft, has a length of 70m (230ft) and wingspan of 60m (195ft).
3. Carrier deploy/recover: spheres and saucers leave and enter large cylinders, dirigibles and cones, i.e. very small "orbs", smaller round-/discoid-/egg-shaped craft (thought to be "scout ships" / "earth excursion vehicles", as they are typically seen near the ground) are dispatched from larger craft (thought to be "mother ships") which typically stay at high altitudes, comparable to our "aircraft carrier paradigm", dispatching various aircraft, helicopters or UAVs.
4. Merging/Splitting: Also, UFOs have been reported "splitting" into smaller objects, in a soundless "explosion" with bright light (e.g. Rendlesham forest Dec-1980, or Puerto Rico 28-Dec-1988)
5. Rotation/Spin: Typically anti-clockwise. Often observed to have rotary components on the underside or around the perimeter of the craft, like a rotating ring at the circumference or an annular bulge around it, often reported "flashing" (todo: check parallels with Podkletnov's work on gravity effects of rotating superconductors / Gravitomagnetism). The rim is described as rotating independently from the central part or cupola, which remains stationary. Occasionally the two parts rotate in opposite directions. Saucers are rarely seen to rotate in their entirety, despite the popular myth.
6. Wobble: while hovering, many round craft (saucers, spheres etc) exhibit a "wobble" in a sinusoidal path (typically about 30°, ±15° from centerline), a rocking motion, like a gyroscope or a top (other expressions used by witnesses: "like a boat at anchor on water" or "tipping right and left").
7. Radiation: When airborne, UFOs often emit electromagnetic energy, both in the form of visible light, as well as invisible EM energy at a broad spectrum of frequencies. (reference: Tour of the electromagnetic spectrum @ NASA)

   EM radiation at the high end of the spectrum, includes UV and soft X-rays, as shown by the many cases of sunburn-type effect and eye irritation on human witnesses. Other physiological effects reported are extreme dryness of the nasal area and of the throat, and in some cases a heating / burning sensation. Harder radiation like mild Gamma-rays (e.g. 600keV in test soil of Lake Anten, Sweden 1970 case), is suspected for symptoms similar to radiation sickness in witnesses who have closely approached a UFO. However, lasting radioactivity, which would indicate the presence of particle radiation, has not been found at landing sites. Cases: Michalak, Falcon Lake, Canada 1967 (ufologie, ufoevidence) and Mrs Catherine Burk, Bellwood USA CE2 Oct-1983 and medical effects.

   NASA/NACA aeronautical research engineer Paul Hill in his book "Unconventional Flying Objects" estimated UFO radiation in a range between the bottom of X-ray band and the lower end of Gamma-ray band. This radiation creates the universally seen "ion sheath". Conversely, the existence of the ionized air around the UFO lends weight to the concept of high-intensity x-ray type radiations from the UFO. X-rays would also penetrate a few inches of soil, giving up their energy to plant-root depths. Soil being a thermal insulator, the heat would escape slowly and the temperature would build up with time below a low-hovering UFO. Most ground heating data is from saucer-type UFOs, and these are the ones known to focus their ionizing radiations downward with considerable accuracy, because of the observed saucer "ion cones" (notice the luminous "icecream cone" under the disk in the French Gendarmerie photographic case on the right) and "saucer ring" on ground data.

   EM effects observed: often electrical circuitry and radio communications are interrupted, batteries are burned out, gasoline engines stop (but diesel are apparently unaffected), strong magnetic field, compass swings wildly. Absense of heat near a UFO only mild sensation of warmth, so not much infra-red radiation. The surfaces of the UFO are not very hot, nothing is at a red heat. A "corona", i.e. a luminous plasma (ionized air) is produced around specific areas of the UFO, probably created by the intense EM radiation (radiant ionization).

8. Colors, luminosity and lights: People very often report that the UFO appeared to be a light-source, rather than just reflect light from elsewhere. Generally the glow in many colors is thought to come from the ionized atmosphere ("plasma sheath") surrounding the UFO, not from the UFO itself, except by reflection from the UFO's surface. Usually just a soft glow "like neon light", but occasionally very bright, eyewitnesses describe it as "dazzling" or "blinding" or bright as "welder's torch" or "magnesium flare" or "it lit up the entire landscape, you could read a newspaper" at night, whereas in daylight they describe "imagine the brightest, shiniest metal", "like mirror in the sun" etc. Many UFOs also have "running lights", typically arranged in a ring around the circumference, often "strobe-like" which flash in sequence. Some UFOs also have powerful beaming spotlights.
   • At low-light conditions (night or twilight), observers distinguish two types of UFO lights:
     1. Running lights: In many patterns, sometimes they blink, making the object look like a Christmas tree or theater marquee.
     2. Illumination / Halos: The night-time neon-like, solid color luminosity emanating from an envelope of air around the craft, like a halo, rather than from the vehicle directly. This halo tends to obscure the vehicle, making the edges indistinguishable. In saucers and saturns the halo concentrates near the "ring" rim more intensely below than above it. Usually emits luminosity in a shape which depends on its current maneuver, such as an ice cream cone halo underneath the saucers. The big cylindrical mother ships sometimes have great white cloud.

        This solid color luminosity / "iridescensce" comes in golden orange, amber, yellow, red, green (like copper flame), blue-green, blue, bluish-purple, blue-violet, brilliant white, singly or in combinations. Though sometimes described as "flames" or "exhaust", close observations have shown that this luminosity does not have a high temperature, and it probably represents an ionization of the local atmosphere similar to what occurs in a neon light. The golden yellow / orange is seen at "low energy" mode of operation, when the object is stationary (hovering) or traveling very slowly. Higher speed is associated with vivid red. The intense ultraviolet that gives the skin burns, when the telltale strong blue of nitrogen ionization is present. At higher accelerations the blue and brilliant white appear.

   • In daylight: UFOs in the air range from a dull aluminum with just an aureole of dark orange, to bright "metallic" polished silver / chrome ("like mirror in the sun" when brilliant plasma reflects off the UFO's surface). Flat-bottomed disks are often darker underneath, in a central circular area or in an annular ring near the rim.
   Note: It has been noticed in UFO sightings that the object when stationary gives out less light than when in motion. This rule, of course, is not invariable. UFOs emanating no (visible) light at all have been seen moving at high speed, while others glowing brightly have been seen to hover and even to land.

   Hill felt that the indefinite profile and the "like heat haze" simmering effect often reported for UFOs was the result of the ionized atmospheric gas (a.k.a. "plasma") surrounding the craft, which lights up the surrounding air like a neon sign. Plasmas in addition to radiating light, also absorb light at the same frequencies. Light from the edges of the craft must pass through a greater region of plasma to reach the eye or camera. If the plasma is particularly dense, the light is fully absorbed by the plasma and randomly re-radiated or scattered. As a result, the edges of the craft are indefinite, appearing fuzzy and luminous, or the "cotton ball" effect. The more central region, however, has a shorter path length to the eye, and may thus be visible through the plasma, though still distorted. Darkened regions could conceivably be the result of plasma absorption of light in the visible spectrum, with reradiation primarily in the non-visible, such as ultraviolet and infrared, but this is more speculative.

   "The phenomenon of ionized and excited atmospheric molecules around a UFO also ties together a number of related mysteries about the UFO. It accounts for the general nighttime appearance of the UFO: the many observed colors, the fiery, neon-like look, the self-illuminating character, the fuzzy, indefinite or even indiscernible outline, yet an appearance of solidity behind the light. In the daytime the same plasma is present, but usually invisible. Morning and evening, it is partly visible. The ion sheath also accounts for some daytime UFO characteristics such as a shimmering haze, nebulosity of the atmosphere or even smoke-like effects sometimes observed. The absorption characteristics of the plasma can also partly account for the daytime hazy or smoky appearance of the atmosphere around the UFO. When the surrounding illumination is brighter than the plasma, the plasma absorption may be greater than its emission, making it look darker or hazy."

   Empirical observation results suggest that luminosity changes during acceleration or direction change. Luminosity increases with acceleration and UFO were observed dimming during deceleration. (ref: color changes related to motion)
9. Flight Characteristics: UFOs can travel through air, underwater (a/k/a USOs = unidentified submerged objects, see www.waterufo.net and Blue Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships) and in the vacuum of space (10m disks observed as high as 200 miles from surface of Earth, so they are space-capable).
10. Maneuvers: Characterized by high speed, controlled maneuvers, extreme mobility. Swift and abrupt change of direction: UFO movements are not continuous like those of an airplane, but abrupt and rapid, with sudden changes of course and speed, and right-angle turns. Hovering at any altitude is common. UFOs hover close to the ground for long times instead of landing. UFOs often tilt to perform maneuvers: they sit level to hover, tilt forward to move forward, tilt backward to stop, bank to turn. They often move in steps: "undulating, like bat" (Trindade, Brazil), "weaved like the tail of a Chinese kite" or "fluttered like they were speed boats on very rough water... they flew like when you take a saucer and throw it across the water, like a saucer skipping on water" (Arnold 1947). The different maneuvers include:
    • 90° angle or acute-angle turn with rapid stop at the vertex, sudden reversal of direction (zig-zag moves)
    • bank and turn - exactly like conventional aircraft
    • descend by "falling leaf" or UFO-rock, like a coin falling in water (where the object swings like a pendulum from side to side while descending). This maneuver to lose altitude was first used in human flight by Paul Hill, the NASA engineer who invented the flying platform and wrote one of the most interesting books about UFOs
    • ascend or descend in a spiral / "corkscrew" (e.g. video Jan-1990 @ Area51).
    • silver-dollar wobble - like a coin with a slow spin on a flat surface. This maneuver is consistently observed at the end of a rapid descent as the UFO initiates hovering
    • departures on high-angle (typically 45°), high acceleration ("like a bullet") ballistic-arc trajectories. These flight characteristics have been thoroughly researched by Paul Hill.
    A curious phenomenon has been 'ground-hugging' / 'terrain following' (following the contour of the earth, maintaining a constant distance from ground).
11. Landing Traces: Sometimes UFOs hover low above ground, producing swirled-down grass rings / nest-like imprints called "saucer nests". Examples of "saucer nests" include Langenburg Saskatchewan, Canada, 1974 and Tully Australia 1966 cases. Othertimes UFOs simply do a belly-landing, creating annular rings of heat-damaged soil with chemical and physical alterations, subsoil burning of plant roots and unusual effects on the exposed plants (such as changes in the chlorophyll), e.g. the Trans en Provence, France 1981 and Delphos USA 1971 cases. (note: although the Delphos case comes up on every list of UFO landing trace cases, it is atypical, in that the UFO seemed to also have ejected some sort of glowing white material, which caused the "self-luminous ring" on the soil -- Ted Philips talks at length about it, in the 30-Mar-2008 Paracast podcast)
12. Weight: There were many UFO landing cases in the 1950s to 1970s, where UFOs extended retractable landing gear of some sort, usually legs with footpads, typically 3 legs for 18-30ft saucers and 4 legs for the 20ft egg-shaped objects. It was those landing gear which have left marks (imprints) on the ground, amenable to soil compression analysis, from it was possible to estimate the probable weight and density of some UFOs.
    According to Ted Phillips / CPTR, UFOs are quite massive. Soil compression testing of imprints of 18-30ft saucers and egg-shaped 20ft ones, indicated a range between 8 and 18 tons. One case cited in Hill's book, in France on 10-Sep-1954, an oval UFO 6 meters axial, 3 meters cross diameter landed on railroad tracks leaving deep indentations on wooden crossties, and was estimated at 30 tons. This is 965kg/m3 (1000kg/m3 is the density of water), which is like our modern nuclear submarines, but is more than our jet airplanes.
13. UFOs observed near or on the ground between 1950s and 1970s consistently fell in these groups (sorted by size):
    • smaller hemispherical (= dome, helmet, mushroom) / spherical / conical object, from 1.2-4m (4ft-12ft) in diameter, sometimes with external "vents" or "extensions". They rarely touch the ground but remain stationary 1-5ft above ground surface. Generally leave behind circular areas which are depressed, burnt or dehydrated.[example]
    • small egg-shaped object 2-2.5m (6-8ft) long [drawing or see photo from Dec-2006 MA, USA case], which hovers with the long axis vertical.
    • A spherical object about 15 ft in diameter.
    • elongated cylinder without external appendages, comparable in size to the body of a jet fighter, that flies in the direction of its axis.
    • oval/egg-Shaped objects, 5-6m (16-20ft) in length [e.g. drawing of Zamora, Socorro NM 1964, cases] with visible landing legs, generally four, on occasion six. These make ground contact, leaving burnt areas, imprints, some tree damage. Small humanoid beings are often reported.
    • typical flying saucer, 3m - 12m avg 9m (10ft - 40ft, avg 30ft) in diameter. They land, leaving burnt or depressed areas with an irregular configuration. Larger disks typically have retractable landing gear, three legs in equilateral triangle. E.g. Hill's book starts with the case of the landing of a 12 meter disk at Aluche, Spain on 6-Feb-1966, which 15x30cm footpads with X-print left deep 12cm imprints, arranged in a equilateral triangle of 6m per side (imprint-to-imprint).
    (ref: CPTR's 30yr of physical trace case reports)

    In recent decades, reports of larger disks have almost disappeared and instead the number of very small objects (from basketball / beachball down to baseball sized) have increased significantly.

14. Wakes: dirigibles and cylinders have plume-like wakes when accelerating rapidly or moving at high speeds. These wakes are gray to straw-colored in daylight, flame-colored at night. UFOs can move slow at 100 mph without generating a wake.
15. Speed: 9,000mph [2.5 miles/sec, 14500Km/hr, 4 Kilometer/sec, Mach 12] in the Earth's atmosphere (but even 12,000mph have been reported from military radar observations, e.g. Aug-1956 at Bentwaters England), as well as being able to hover motionless in the sky.
16. Acceleration: Can accomplish 100g (note this 100g figure is what is seen by external observers, the ship itself and its occupants may be in the local inertial frame LIF motion of "free-float" i.e. zero-g, just like our astronauts orbiting the Earth with rockets switched off and no spinning of the craft). Hill points out that the dazzling maneuver performance of UFO scout ships seems to result from their being over-designed for the investigation of planet Earth. If the UFO mission is planetary exploration, the high-g capability they demonstrate would enable them to explore giant planets with gravity on the order of 100 times Earth gravity. Exploring Earth is UFO PLAY.
17. Propulsion: Many researchers such as Plantier, Oberth, Hill etc speculated that the method of propulsion utilizes a "force field" that works on metals as well as non-metals. This field is a non-shieldable field much like gravity, but it can be repulsive as well as attractive. Indeed, witness reports describe that these fields bend and break tree branches, bump or slow automobiles spinning them out of control or tipping them over, stop people by force or knock them down. There is no jet propulsion. There is no ejection of propellant of any kind.

    Note: UFO's propellantless propulsion and associated phenomena seem to defy our Physics theories. Some UFO researchers, attempt to explain UFO propulsion based solely on the Physics we know; mostly based on "MagnetoHydroDynamics" (ionize the ambient medium and work with magnetic fields), but IMHO these doesn't conform to the evidence (such as direct gravity effects - more on this issue in our UFO Physics page).

18. Sound: Researcher James McCampbell classified five basic groups of UFO sounds: violent (bang, loud explosion), low pitch (hum, buzz), rush of air (whoosh, swishing, rushing), high-pitch (shrill whir, high pitched hum/drill) and "signals" (beeping sound, shrill beeping) [more in UFO sounds by J.McCampbell].

    Humming UFO "sounds" heard by humans are believed to be due to the pulsed EM energy directly stimulating the auditory nerve, i.e. not pressure of sound waves to the eardrum. Sound rises in both pitch and intensity seconds before and during take-off. Steady motion either a light swish-of-air (like deflating balloon) sound or running absolutely silent. Operation is almost completely silent compared to conventional jets and rocket engines. No shock waves or 'sonic boom' are produced even when the UFOs are traveling several times the speed of sound. One theory for this is manipulation of the acceleration-type force field, resulting in a constant-pressure, compression-free zone without shockwave in which the vehicle is surrounded by a subsonic flow-pattern of streamlines and subsonic velocity ratios. Rarely, violent explosive noise / "thundering, "deafening roar" / shock waves appear to be generated right before take-off or rapid acceleration (possibly as air adjunct to UFO is pushed away by the "force field" to create near-vacuum - ref: cases of patrolman @ San Joaquin, CA and policeman Zamora @ Socorro).

19. Jitter: at times UFOs seem to "vibrate" heavily. Their motion seems jerky and jittery at low speed. This could be an optical effect rather than a real jitter. Many night-time UFO photos once developed show just a mesh of colorful "squiggly lines of light" (e.g. stills from the recent Stephenville, Texas USA Jan-2008 video stills and photos, the "ambersand UFO" of the famous sightings at New Zealand Dec-1978, Mrs Dorothy Izatt of Vancouver, CA who back in the 1970s captured on Super-8 home-movie tape on 1/18sec single-frames without bleed-over to the next frames: pic1, pic2, pic3, those taken by reporter Bill Jackson and local law enforcement in Dulce, New Mexico USA during a cattle mute investigation in 1976 using Lentar lens and highspeed film from Kodak, night-time photos taken in the Smoky Mountains National Park in Feb-2008, or those taken in 1999 by Rhonda Rose, filmed near the Columbia River, close to Hood River, Oregon pic1, pic2). So conceivably
    • what is reported as "jitter" and "shape-shifting"
    • the eyewitness reports of apparent change in UFOs' angular diameter (e.g. LtCol USAF C.Halt microtape "looks like the pupil of an eye winking at you", or the Allagash four: "winked out, from the outer edges inward", "seemed to implode, it shrank and at a higher level it reappeared again")
    • the reports of UFO bending light of car headlights or beaming spotlights (e.g. Burkes flat case) and
    • the disappearance/invisibility phenomena
    might all be aspects of the same phenomenon, i.e. UFOs' effects on EM waves such as light.
20. Disappearance / invisibility: Among researchers, this is probably the most disputed aspect of reported UFO behaviour. In previous decades, UFO researchers discounted eye-witness stories about UFOs "vanishing" in plain sight and assumed that UFOs accelerate out of the picture so quickly, that witnesses simply failed to notice. However, there are cases where "disappearance" (the terms "dematerialization" / "disintegration" were used in the USAF 1947 memo by General Schulgen) or "invisibility" / cloaking is more strongly suggested. Sometimes UFOs instantaneously "blink out" (e.g. David Biedny, co-host of the Paracast podcast, often describes his own first-hand UFO experience as a teenager in Caracas Venezuela in Jul-1974 "watching along with 100s of people, a giant cigar hanging up there in the sky, hatch opening, 3 disks coming out and position themselves in a triangular pattern around the cigar, then the whole lot vanishing instantaneously" - related: APRO's Lorenzens went to Venezuela in Aug-74, a UFO wave commenced right after the July earthuake and lasted well in August) or slowly in 10-20sec "fade" and vanish while in plain sight (e.g. J.C. Duboc, captain Air France testimony at the NPC 12-Nov-2007 event). Many cases report UFOs diminish in angular diameter, e.g. "winked out, from the outer edges inward", "seemed to implode, it shrank, and at a higher level it reappeared again" (4 witnesses of the Allagash case). FWIW UFO researcher Paul Bennewitz (who btw was victim of a disinfo programme) thought that "UFOs have the ability to cloak -go invisible- by a field that causes the light waves to bend around the object and that one sees the sky behind them" (src: PB interview by Jim McCampbell, published 1984) -- which might tie into reports of e.g. car headlights "bending" in front of a UFO. [a kind of miniature-scale "gravitational lensing"-type phenomenon?]
    (Though IMHO unrelated wrt the Physics involved, one can read demonstration of a working "invisibility cloak" by scientists at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering) or watch the "optical camouflage" videos.)

Information about UFOs from thousands of eye witness reports and physical evidence such as landing marks, photos, videos and radar data, has been compiled over the last 60 years. Such descriptions have been put in official documents as early as 1947. On 28-Oct-1947 General (USAF) George Schulgen, then Asst. Chief of Staff for Air Intelligence, issued a classified draft order (portions reprinted below) for American intelligence operatives throughout the world directing them to gather all potentially relevent information about "flying saucers":

"An alleged "Flying Saucer" type aircraft or object in flight, approximating the shape of a disc, has been reported by many observers from widely scattered places, such as the United States, Alaska, Canada, Hungary, the Island of Guam, and Japan. This object has been reported by many competent observers, including USAF rated officers. Sightings have been made from the ground as well as from the air.
[snip]
Commonly reported features that are very significant and which may aid in the investigation are as follows:

1. Relatively flat bottom with extreme light-reflecting ability.
2. Absence of sound except for an occasional roar when operating under super performance conditions.
3. Extreme maneuverability and apparent ability to almost hover.
4. A plan form approximating that of an oval or disc with a dome shape on the top surface.
5. The absence of an exhaust trail except in a few instances when it was reported to have a bluish color, like a Diesel exhaust[...]
6. The ability to quickly disappear by high speed or by complete disintegration.
7. The ability to suddenly appear without warning as if from an extremely high altitude.
8. The size most reported approximated that of a C-54 or Constellation type aircraft.
9. The ability to group together very quickly in a tight formation when more than one aircraft are together.
10. Evasive action ability indicates possibility of being manually operated, or possibly by electronic or remote control devices.
11. Under certain power conditions, the craft seems to have the ability to cut a clear path through clouds -- width of path estimated to be approximately one-half mile. Only one incident indicated this phenomenon.
    [snip]

The first sightings in the U.S. were reported around the middle of May. The last reported sighting took place in Toronto, Canada, 14 September. The greatest activity in the U.S. was during the last week of June and the first week of July..."

Source: Brig.Gen. Schulgen "Intelligence Requirements on Flying Saucer Type Aircraft" 28-Oct-1947, a/k/a Schulgen memo [must-read!], obtained under FOIA from the US National Archives in 1985. What is remarkable about this order is that it goes into very specific details about saucer construction.

Apparently some publications for Firefighters make them aware of the safety risks associated with UFOs. The following excerpt appeared in Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control by William M. Kramer and Charles W. Bahme. It is copyright (c)1992 by Fire Engineering Books & Videos, Saddle Brook, NJ. 641 pages ISBN 0-912212-26. It is NOT "official" material, although in Internet circles it's referred to as "Firefighters FEMA UFO Manual":

WARNING "Near approaches of UFOs can be harmful to human beings. Do not stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case the safe thing to do is to get away from there very quickly and let the military take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger and there are known cases where persons have been burned by rays emanating from UFOs. Don't take chances with UFOs!" -- Ch.13 Enemy Attack and UFO Potential

Lecture Notes About Flying Saucers 1954 by Prof. Hermann Oberth, German Rocket Scientist, the teacher of space scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun. Paul Norman obtained Oberth's translated lecture notes from Drs. Blumrich and Ferdie, at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. In the notes Prof. Oberth gave his observations about UFOs as follows:

"There are about 50 observations known from the time before World War II. Then the number of appearances increased; the Allies thought it was a German secret weapon, and the Germans thought it was one of the Allies. Since 1947, the reports of eyewitnesses increased considerably. It is said by the English Air Marshall Lord Dowding that there have been 10,000 (reports) by 1953."
"The appearances are usually described as disks, sometimes as balls or ellipsoids. It sometimes happens that these disks place one upon the other, the largest in the center, the smaller toward the ends, to form an object the shape of a cigar, which then flies away with high speed. Sometimes one already saw such a cigar (UFO) stopping and untie into separate disks. The disks always fly in a manner as if the drive is acting perpendicular to the plane of the disk; when they are suspended over a certain terrain they keep horizontal; when they want to fly very quick, they tilt (tip) and fly with the plane directed forward. In sunlight, which is brighter than their own gleaming, they appear glittering like metal. They are dark orange and cherry red at night, if there is not much power necessary for the particular movement, for instance, when they are suspended calm. Then, they also do not shine very much. If more driving power is necessary, the shining increases (brightens) and they appear yellow, yellow-green, green like a copper flame and in a state of highest speed or acceleration extremely white. Sometimes they suddenly blink or extinguish. Their speed is sometimes very high, 19 km/sec has been measured with wireless measuring instruments (radar). Accelerations are so high that no man could stand it; he would be pressed to the wall and bruised. The accuracy of such measurements has not been doubted. If there would be only 3 or 4 measurements, I would not rely upon them and would wait for further measurements, but there is existing more than 50 such measurements; the wireless sets (radar) of the American Air Force and Navy, which are used in all fighters, cannot be so inaccurate that the information obtained with them can be doubted completely." -- src

Assorted tidbits of info from statistics on decades of UFO sighting reports:

1. water connection: UFOs appear more frequently near bodies of water, like lakes (e.g. the Great Lakes in the USA-Canada borders), rivers (e.g. Hudson Valley USA 1983-1985), reservoirs and even swamps (the famous "swamp gas" sightings in Michigan, USA 1966, a term which became a national joke ever after). UFOs are reported to dive or emerge from lakes and seas. Also, UFO sighting databases list many cases of UFOs "sucking" fresh water from lakes, rivers or reservoirs (e.g. New South Wales Australia Dec-1995, fishfarm with water in interconnected tanks in Japan, Argentina concrete water tank 2006).
   It was author Dr. Ivan T. Sanderson who in the 1970s suggested that aliens could remain undetected by building their bases beneath the world's oceans. He found that by actual count, over 50% of the UFO sightings he investigated had occurred over, coming from, or plunging into or coming out of water. This includes oceans, seas, lakes, and reservoirs.
2. covert reconnaissance?: UFOs are seen more frequently near
   • military installations, particularly nuclear weapon related ones (e.g. the 1940s Roswell, NM USA was home to the 509th atomic bomb group, which dropped the two bombs in Japan, the Dec-1980 Bentwaters USAF/RAF bases in England, the Minot AFB Oct-1968 etc), but also
   • nuclear energy facilities (e.g. huge boomerang over Indian Point Nuclear Reactor Complex the night of of 24-Jul-1990, nuclear plant @ shore of Lake Ontario, Canada 1966)
   More: NICAP's Nuclear Connection Project
3. nocturnal habits: They appear mostly at night.

IMHO the fact that many of these observations, reported quite consistently for 60 years, do not conform to currently accepted physics (in particular reactionless drive issues) is not the problem as skeptics suggest. Many have been suckered into this argument, that the observations have to comply with accepted physics theories before they can be accepted. This is untenable. If that had always been the criterion then physics would not have advanced one iota. The observations must be validated using other criteria, after which the physics must conform to these new observations, not vice versa.

References: Books by P.Hill, J.McCampbell, UFO illumination and performance, UFOlogy Chapter 2: The Vehicles, NUFORC reports by Shape, Summary of UFO key points, Physical effects of UFOs upon people (.PDF), Odors from UFOs (.PDF), Landing trace cases, Interim Report 2004, Ted Phillips' Physical Trace Catalogue, Dr.Harder on magnetic effects, analysis of UFO luminosity, Measurements, Calculations And Experiments Related To UFOs and other links of this page.

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