Chile's CEFAA and the Navy Helicopter Video
Chile's civil aviation authority runs the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA), which has investigated reports since the late 1990s. In January 2017 it released infrared and color video taken from a Chilean Navy helicopter in November 2014, showing an object leaving a dark trail over the ocean. After two years of study, the committee said it could not identify the object.
The ledger
What the record shows, what people say, and the best explanation available so far.
What's documented
- The video and CEFAA's statement on its release.
What's claimed
- A Navy crew filmed an unknown craft dumping something into the air.
Best explanation so far
Within weeks, analysts at Metabunk matched the timing and direction to Iberia flight IB6830, an Airbus A340 climbing out of Santiago. The bright 'object' is the engines' heat in infrared, and the trail is a contrail. It's a lesson in how an official 'unidentified' can mean 'not yet identified.'
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