- Jochen Ickinger
The question regarding highly credible and reliable witnesses, in what they observe and describe, is as old as UFO research. The focus is here on the professional group of pilots, to whom such a particularly high reliability is attributed. This is currently evident in the discussion about unidentified flying objects observed by pilots of the US Navy, who are also regularly regarded as "trained observers" to this. This is probably due to the fact that it is, without doubt, a highly qualified professional group, which moves in the same medium, as usually the observed unidentified objects; in the atmosphere. Thus, pilots are also credited with a high level of expertise in assessing what they observe.
However, already early UFO researchers like J. Allen Hynek or Allen Hendry, as well as the former NASA engineer James Oberg, beside others, put this high reliability into perspective by pointing out the high rate of misinterpretations especially among pilots and also their susceptibility to deception. In the end, there are no studies to support this argumentation, especially since it is rather refuted by findings of psychology.
Appropriately, Prof. Matthew J. Sharps, forensic psychologist at the California State University in Fresno, with whom we have a very informative exchange, has written us a short essay, which we would like to make available here with his kindly permission. We also recommend the article from James Oberg on NBC News on this topic.