A Brief Introduction

The National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena was established late in 2000, and is dedicated to the advancement of aviation safety issues as they apply to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

NARCAP collects data regarding aviation community reports of aerial encounters with lights or objects that seem inconsistent with known categories of aircraft and common natural phenomena. These lights or objects are reported to appear in a variety of colors and shapes. We refer to these objects or lights as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

Pilots and other aviation specialists often report that these lights or objects closely approach aircraft. Encounters with these lights or objects, UAP, have a demonstrated a variety of safety related effects on pilots, crew, cockpit discipline and on-board instrumentation. Until these effects are understood and reasonable operating procedures are developed, there exists a tangible threat to aviation safety. Comparable issues in the aviation arena include wind shear and other types of events with a low frequency of occurance.

Though aerial encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) have been documented at least since the 1930's, the aviation industry has been hesitant about addressing this matter. Cold War security issues, cultural mythology as well as concerns about image have prohibited many aviation executives from pursuing this matter with more curiosity. Certainly many cases have gone unreported by aviation professionals for the same reason.

NARCAP Science Director Dr. Richard Haines is a perceptual psychologist and former Chief of the Space Human Factors Office at NASA Ames Research Center and a former Sr. research scientist for both NASA and Raytheon. He acquired extensive experience with aviation and aerospace human factors during his 37 year career at NASA before retiring in 2001.

To view a list of research publications by Dr. Haines, click here. Over the past 40 years Dr. Haines has collected more than 3400 reports from aviators and aviation professionals involving unidentified aerial phenomena, UAP. NARCAP Technical Report One, Aviation Safety in America – A Previously Neglected Factor was written by Dr. Richard Haines , to call attention to a relationship between these reports of incidents involving UAP and concerns for aviation safety.

Of great interest are the many observations of transient or permanent effects on avionic systems reported during alleged UAP encounters. These effects are described in NARCAP Technical Report Three, A Preliminary Study of Sixty-Four Pilot Sighting Reports Involving Alleged ElectroMagnetic Effects on Aircraft Systems Dr. Richard Haines and Dominique Weinstein, 2001

There are threads of commonalties between UAP reports that may suggest that there are more than one kind of UAP or more than one source. Many UAP are described as unusual lights while others are refered to as objects. A listing of 1300 aviation related reports of UAP encounters may be found in Technical Report Four Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Eighty Years of Pilot Sightings Weinstein, Dominique 2001.

There is a bias in the aviation community against reporting or publicly acknowledging observations and incidents that may involve UAP. The sources of this bias are discussed in NARCAP Technical Report 8, Aviation Safety in America: Under-reporting Bias of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena and Recommended Solutions  Ted Roe, 2004

Disclaimer: The term "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" or UAP is an attempt to address the fact that not all UAP are described as UFO. Many are simply described as unusual lights. NARCAP feels the term "UAP" more accurately reflects the broad scope of descriptions in aviation reports as well as the possibility that these unusual phenomena may arise from several different sources.

NARCAP is aware of an intense debate regarding the existence, nature and source of so-called "UFOs". NARCAP Technical Reports and documentation have been used by various "UFO" groups to promote their theories and opinions regarding the existence of "alien spacecraft" and "extraterrestrials". NARCAP does not endorse any of these claims nor does it encourage this use of its material.

The answers to the questions regarding the existence, source and nature of the subcategory of UAP referred to as UFO are likely to be found in the data. Given that pilots do report aerial phenomena that they describe as structured objects, NARCAP feels it is appropriate to give attention to the witness' description of what was seen or detected.