NUFORC Sighting 130706

Occurred: 1987-07-01 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2016-10-19 17:05 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 7

Location: Ft. Campbell, KY, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Large UFO sighted moving slowly just north of Ft. Campbell Army Airfield by military pilots and ATC.

At the time of this sighting, I was an Army Chief Warrant Officer 2, CH-47D pilot-in-command stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY. We had just finished a night mission (without night vision goggles) and were hovering up runway 36 of Ft. Campbell, KY airfield, back to our parking area. At that time, the 160th Special Ops Aviation assets were not in their present position (per Google maps). They were located to the west of the departure end of runway 36 (the 4 buildings, 2 of which have light colored roofs). The currently shown position of Special Ops, was at that time, an unused, and undeveloped, area of the airfield. Because of that, there was typically NO air traffic in our traffic pattern between the east side of the departure end of 36 and the north side of the arrival end of 23. If you refer to google maps, I’ll try to paint the picture.

As we were hovering, both of us pilots at the same time noticed approximately due north of our position a set of lights, probably where the 117 marker is next to the 41 (see google map highways marked north of Campbell Army Airfield). It was a very dark night, and I believe that there was also a low cloud cover, so it was impossible to tell if we were looking at one very large aircraft with numerous lights, or a flight of smaller aircraft maintaining perfect formation. All we could assertain were the lights.. there was no form or shape visible in the darkness.

Everyone on board, including the 2-3 flight crew in the back, were adept at identifying all the aircraft typically seen in and around our airfield. This object, or objects, did not reflect the lighting, light spacing, flashing, strobing, or light colors of any of our known aircraft. I just remember the lights being white. Without perfect visual reference, and based on other known aircraft light sizes, we can only guess that the object was within 2-3 miles of the airfield and flying very slowly (slower than any of us would fly in a traffic pattern) at perhaps 800-1000 ft elevation. As we watched this thing, because by now it was clear that the lights were moving perfectly together, so it most likely was one aircraft, it moved very slowly from east to west, perhaps less than 30mph.

I clicked the mike and called our tower: ME: “Do you guys see that?” ATC: “Yep. We’ve been watching it for awhile now.” ME: “What is it?” ATC: “We have no idea.” ME: “Can you see it on radar?” ATC: “No. We are going to call The Center and see if they can see it.” (Center couldn’t see anything either) Our ATC was not military. They were all civilian, many of them the FAA guys fired by Reagan, so they were top-notch, experienced air traffic controllers.

If this were one aircraft, and was in the position that I am estimating, I would say that this aircraft was huge, perhaps several hundred yards long.

There were at least the 4-5 of us in my Chinook, and the 2-3 guys in the tower, that saw it. I’m sure there were probably more people on the airfield that night that saw it too. It was hard to miss.

And then, frankly, I can’t remember what happened, I think it just disappeared. We all agreed we weren’t going to report it or say anything to anybody about it. All pilots fear the FEB (Flight Evaluation Board), and we figured that is what would happen to us. I don’t know why we felt that way. I do not think I made a note of this incident in my logbook, if I did, it was something cryptic that I have been unable to find. But I was stationed at Ft. Campbell from 1986 - 1990.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD

Posted 2016-10-21