CEFAA presses its challenge
 | By Billy Cox
De Void
2-28-12 |
Considering how 21st century media is more into images than ideas, Open Minds magazine editor Antonio Huneeus figured last weekend’s International UFO Congress offered an irresistible hook — footage. And not the usual fabricated crud and dreck that dominates YouTube. A fairly recent UFO event was reportedly documented from seven different video angles. Its authenticity was vetted by the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA), Chile’s multi-disciplinary, government-run UFO investigations team.
The incident occurred during military ceremonies in Santiago on Nov. 4, 2010. Look for the full accounting soon on the Open Minds website. Briefly, the UFO was zipping along so quickly it wasn’t observed in real time. The thing was detected after the fact, via slo-mo replay. Its velocity was calculated against the known speeds of F-16s during the flyover. After all other suspects — balloons, birds, etc. — were eliminated, CEFAA found itself mystified by a metallic disc traveling at lethal, bone-sloshing velocities.
“This was a world exclusive that we brought to the UFO Congress,” says Huneeus of the event at Fountain Hills, Ariz. Unveiling the footage was CEFAA’s director, former Chilean air force general Ricardo Bermudez, who reviewed three of the seven videos. But as we know, the mainstream media missed the show altogether.
Curiously, the 11/4/10 incident occurred just two months after yet another sublime UFO intrusion over Santiago, a bicentennial festivities that also involved huge crowds and military planes. As before, the 9/17/10 bogey wasn’t observed in real time; the Chilean Air Force photographer who grabbed the 12-frame, 11-second sequence discovered the curiosity after reviewing the film once ceremonies ended. This object was no less exotic than the one Bermudez attempted to introduce to America last weekend. Working with CEFAA data, the non-profit National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena decided to call it — for lack of a better explanation — a “luminous contained plasma” due to its shape-shifting properties.
But the most significant pattern here is the fearless transparency of CEFAA, which operates under the Chilean equivalent of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Bermudez’s power-point presentation also included recently declassified audio recordings — with English translations — of UFO-related chatter between Chilean pilots and control-tower operators, some of it dating back to the 1970s, some including near-collision scenarios.
Bermudez reiterated how the U.S. embassy in Chile ignored his request to liaison with an American government counterpart on this incipient aviation safety issue. “His own personal idea is that this should be brought to the United Nations,” Huneeus added.
With plenty of data to work with, Chile appears to have created a framework for how science and government can partner up. Next question: Is there any reason to believe the UN would find any more spine than Uncle Sam to give CEFAA a fair hearing?
