These days this type of report would seem to be classified under the phenomenon of ball lightning, no? [1]
It seems irresponsible for the article to not even mention it. On the other hand, I suppose that would puncture the fun that it would be actual extraterrestrial spaceships or something...
The article starts off with a report of what sounds like an actual helicopter, but then the bulk of the article is about reports of lights moving around and changing direction far faster than a helicopter could.
The author seems to be deliberately confusing the two for the reader. But obviously an article about a couple of rogue helicopter visits wouldn't be worth reading about.
Funny you mention that. In an earlier comment, I shared a link to the website of Tom Mahood, an engineer/Area-51 observer. Mahood had a theory that the lights seen over Area 51—moving in ways no known craft could maneuver—were, essentially, artificial ball lightning.
I don’t think my scientific credentials are sufficient to critique this idea, especially in regards to what happened here. As far as a lot of those other reports describing supernaturally fast and maneuverable craft, however, the idea that this is a non-physical object of some sort sounds plausible to me in a way that theories about extraterrestrial technology generally don’t.
Yes, I got the same impression. It seems like they're also confusing a small number of official reports with old war stories on a website for veterans who used to be stationed there. Overall this story seems far less interesting than the 2004 Nimitz incident.
It seems irresponsible for the article to not even mention it. On the other hand, I suppose that would puncture the fun that it would be actual extraterrestrial spaceships or something...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning