Case comparison register

Individual findings for all 123 catalogue entries. Each note draws on its published case dossier; entries may contain several episodes or repeat events discussed elsewhere.

Research cut-off: 7 November 2026.

Search case comparisons

123 case comparisons

Congressional proceedings and the 2023 interception sequence

2023 House Oversight UAP Hearing

Different witnesses describe direct observation, operational reporting and allegations received from others; the hearing does not make these equivalent forms of access.

Chinese surveillance balloon and "object" shootdowns

The recovered Chinese balloon and the other three targets require separate identities. Changed detection thresholds affect operational counts and the comparison with earlier reporting.

November 2024 House UAP Hearing

Witnesses have different access to the alleged events and documents. Message receipt, claimed programme knowledge and an inference of deletion require separate corroboration.

Radar, electronic, infrared and other operational recordings

Aguadilla Incident

The water-crossing and splitting interpretations depend on reconstructed depth and source continuity. AARO's performance assessment and lantern identification have different confidence levels.

Air France AF3532 / Coulommiers

The unassigned radar return lacks the altitude and visual-position agreement needed to give the observed form a measured range; balloon and aircraft candidates require separate matching.

Canary Islands event

The May transcript records a coordinated search, but inconsistent reference origins, clocks and speeds prevent a single verified radar–visual track.

Chilean Navy / “Pelican” IR case

The IBE6830 candidate and a different proposed landing aircraft are competing reconstructions. Their agreement that an aircraft is possible is not independent confirmation of one flight.

Haneda/Tokyo radar-visual case

The identified C-54 and brief unidentified return are different detections. A proposed clock correction and borrowed radar range must be justified before calculating the light's dimensions.

JAL Flight 1628

The initial lights, the captain's large structure and the radar material have different support. Processing explanations and negative observations constrain a common-target account.

Kaikoura lights

Film photometry depends on assigning radar range to the filmed source. A timing correction does not itself add a range measurement, and separate ground footage cannot identify the flight sequence.

Lakenheath–Bentwaters Incident

The closer Bentwaters temporal association and later interception accounts require separate treatment. British crew descriptions constrain the more continuous American tail-chase narrative.

Mexican Air Force / Campeche infrared case

The operator distinguishes the main infrared light group from radar detections. A flare reconstruction requires pointing and platform calibration before the infrared sources are placed on the ground.

The Minot B-52 radar and visual reports

Preserved radar photographs constrain returns, but Haines's physical estimates borrow a range setting from later testimony. Shough's reflector reconstruction concerns a specific sequence, not every reported phase.

Official Night of the UFOs

Bearing agreement in one interception and radar-only detection in another cannot form a uniform common track. The interceptor's Mach figure must not be assigned to the target.

RB-47 Incident

Reported losses and reacquisitions provide concrete association tests. A timing mismatch and failed airborne-radar acquisition prevent all detections being assumed to form one continuous source.

Rendlesham Forest Incident

Early patrol accounts differ over a mechanical source and recognition of a beacon. The later contact narrative cannot resolve that disagreement by supplying detail absent from the early statements.

Sea Fury incident

Three radar echoes permit comparison without fixing a common target. Jessop's qualification of the manoeuvre, timing differences and a Convair candidate require explicit matching.

Tehran UFO Incident

Reported directional equipment loss and recovery provide a specific causal clue. Missing system ordering, maintenance history and radar data limit a demonstrated common mechanism.

USS Nimitz "Tic Tac"

The visual interception, controller's subsequent patrol-point report and later FLIR1 sortie require distinct records. Extreme motion calculations depend on associating endpoints with the same source.

USS Roosevelt "Gimbal/GoFast"

GOFAST geometry constrains apparent performance while leaving source identity open. GIMBAL's optical question and broader squadron accounts need their own evidence rather than inheriting that result.

Washington D.C. radar/visual sightings

Different radar intervals have different support, including stronger returns and ground-target interpretations. Later propagation research supports a mechanism rather than an exact reconstruction of every July contact.

The Woomera radar and visual reports of May 1954

Contemporary paired reports warrant comparison, but approximate timing and speed conversion do not create a continuous jointly measured radar–visual track.

Aviation observations and operational encounters

Alderney Incident

Real-time aviation reporting and partial agreement from another position strengthen the observational record. The radar comparison does not establish the range needed for large physical dimensions.

Bariloche airport incident

The located searchlight account permits a concrete direction comparison. Enlarged vertical plotting and independently explained outages limit a unified airborne-interference interpretation.

The BOAC Stratocruiser sighting over Labrador

A mirage model addresses a specific visual configuration but lacks a fully reconstructed atmosphere. Differences between early and later descriptions affect the proposed match.

Chiles-Whitted Encounter

Early pilot accounts share an elongated bright source but differ over terminal movement. The fireball model must address the apparent structure without borrowing uncertain close range.

Coyne Helicopter Incident

The reported climb requires attitude, airspeed and control-input reconstruction. Crew members had different views, and their presence aboard is not four equivalent measurements of external force.

Frederick Valentich disappearance

The radio exchange documents an alarming report and engine complaint, without continuous attitude or position. Search-datum revisions and non-unique debris identification limit reconstruction.

Gorman Dogfight

The pilot's own turns affect apparent evasion by a light. A dated balloon release gives a testable source candidate, requiring compatibility with the actual viewing sequence.

Kenneth Arnold sighting

The exceptional speed estimate depends on the assigned mountain-to-mountain path. Early descriptions should be compared directly rather than reduced to a later media-shape story.

Kilimanjaro aviation sighting

Conflicting route accounts materially alter celestial and aircraft comparisons. Uncertain custody of the original photograph limits claims derived from later reproductions.

La Joya Air Base interception

The contemporary May message and the named pilot's April account require documentary reconciliation. Firing without observed explosion does not establish projectile impacts or absorption.

Manises UFO incident

The initial airborne lights and later airport celestial observations should not be conflated. Proposed optical conditions, radar association and the warning-receiver emitter need different tests.

Mantell Incident

Oxygen deprivation has stronger investigative support than the exact pursued-object identification. Uncertainty about a balloon's launch does not supply evidence of an attack.

Nash and Fortenberry over Chesapeake Bay

Prompt reports by two pilots preserve a concrete movement account. Reconstructed range and duration still determine the exceptional speed and reversal interpretation.

O'Hare Airport

Operational reporting supports an observed airport episode. A fallstreak mechanism may explain the cloud opening without identifying the reported dark source; departure descriptions differ in directness.

Southwest Ireland pilot reports

A dated fireball candidate is testable against the pilot reports. Flight screenshots from different moments cannot supply a simultaneous multi-aircraft geometry.

Xiaoshan Airport UFO event

The airport closure is better documented than the link between initiating observations and popular images. Each image requires independent date and provenance before entering the event reconstruction.

Abduction accounts and extended encounter narratives

Allagash Abductions

Rak's retained light sighting and rejection of abduction distinguish the early episode from later narratives. Firewood recollections cannot retrospectively measure missing time.

Berkshire UFO

Later institutional recognition and recollection of a broadcast are not recovered contemporary event records. The 1966 polygraph must not be assigned to the 1969 event.

Betty and Barney Hill abduction

The pre-hypnosis sighting material, Betty's dreams and later treatment narratives require separate dates. Later detail cannot be counted as independent confirmation of the earlier account.

Emilcin encounter

The witness's uncertainty over origin differs from later alien labelling. A staged-hypnosis explanation needs demonstrated contact and chronology rather than resemblance to a possible scenario.

Meng Zhaoguo encounter

Companions' observations of collapse do not corroborate the private encounter. Reported equipment trouble and examination results do not establish an energy mechanism or justify a new diagnosis.

Pascagoula Incident

The covert recording preserves behaviour and expressed fear under particular conditions. Later accounts of prior agreement and withheld detail limit its use as a universal exclusion of deception.

Travis Walton case

Witnesses' views of the flash differ, and absence from home is distinct from the interior narrative. Early published material prevents attributing all later details to hypnosis.

Zanfretta encounters

Colleagues' observations of distress and reported marks differ from the later encounter narratives. Conflicting dimensions and an unverified animal explanation require their own records.

School reports and other close encounters

Ariel School Incident

The interviewed children and selected drawings are subsets of the reported group. Differences in landing, structure and figures must survive comparison rather than becoming a uniform witness total.

Broad Haven school sighting

Named early accounts differ over figures, duration and episode. The later adult observation and conflicting accounts of school collection procedures must remain distinct.

Cussac encounter

A helicopter model addresses cabin shape, occlusion and sound. Later theodolite reconstruction measures remembered directions rather than the original event, and sibling discussion affects independence.

Father Gill sightings

Named figure observers form a smaller group than sighting endorsers. Comparison of drawings and the assumed height of figures affect independence and inferred range.

Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter

Gunfire and the search are documented responses. Amalgamated drawings and reused sketches affect apparent witness agreement; an owl model still needs a site-specific fit.

Kofu Incident

Adult reports corroborate lights rather than the children's figures. Later damage inspection lacks a pre-event baseline; an instrument blank is not an environmental soil control.

Eileen Moreland’s Blenheim report

Prompt police and air-force documentation strengthens the reporting history. The main object description remains a single observer's account, with variable dimensions and no diagnostic ground trace.

Voronezh Incident

The investigator's contemporary rejection of the press agency's scientific endorsement and the terrestrial rock assessment limit claims of institutional corroboration.

Westall School Incident

An early named adult account adds evidence independent of later pupil recollection. Site-location differences affect trace comparisons, and a balloon-programme date needs a matching trajectory.

Alleged recoveries, impacts and compound encounter accounts

Atalanti incident

A re-entry candidate, disputed recovery narrative and inaccessible archive are different evidential problems. An attributed laboratory claim requires the actual signed report and sample history.

Aztec, New Mexico "crash"

Failed material demonstration and problems with the promoters' authority weaken the recovery account. Those findings do not establish every participant's intentions.

Kalahari alleged crash

Document inconsistencies, mismatched corroboration and later status withdrawal weaken the alleged crash package. The evidence does not securely identify its author.

Kecksburg Incident

Fireball trajectory evidence and later recovery descriptions require separate corroboration. An unsuccessful contemporary search does not authenticate the subsequent acorn-shaped object narrative.

Maury Island Incident

The fragment-origin admission and evidence of older boat damage provide positive contrary evidence. The later aircraft accident requires its own mechanical history.

Roswell Incident

Contemporary debris evidence and later occupants require distinct chains of support. A general balloon account has a different evidential status from a precise Mogul flight attribution.

Shag Harbour Incident

The apparent surface event and search have contemporary support. Missing impact views, unsampled foam and absence of recovery limit later claims of an underwater journey.

Varginha Incident

The proposed human identification and alleged military recovery require separate support. Later photographs and unverified transport or death associations cannot complete the chronology.

Public observations, regional waves and repeated monitoring

Bardenas Reales military incident

Six declarations preserve different views; the sergeant's binocular structure cannot be assigned to every guard. Duplicate document packets add no independent observers.

Belgian UFO Wave

The admitted Petit-Rechain fabrication removes photographic support from that image. Radar lock changes require separate analysis and do not identify every visual report.

Canary Islands event

A launch-plume model must distinguish the initial cloud appearance from the later ascent and supply compatible launch timing and geometry.

Canary Islands mass sighting

Launch-plume geometry and the vehicle occupants' accounts require separate tests. The doctor's reported figures were not uniformly observed by the other passengers.

Clarenville Harbour UFO

The contemporary police account and a dated Jupiter comparison can be tested against time and bearing. Later light-response detail should not be inserted into the early account.

Cosford/Shawbury wave

Re-entry explains the principal lights and trails; conflicting Shawbury timing prevents a single secure chronology. A clock adjustment needs evidence before repairing the match.

Exeter Incident

Sequential civilian and police observations support a light episode. The tanker-light mechanism requires a matching flight, and glare limits inferences about a continuous structure.

Greifswald Lights

Flare behaviour supplies a developed mechanism; operational attribution requires the correct date and unit. Edited recordings cannot establish uninterrupted duration through omitted intervals.

Hessdalen phenomena

Most radar returns lacked simultaneous visual confirmation; other instruments often recorded at different times. Two echoes yield high speed only if their common source is established.

Hudson Valley sightings

Documented formation flying supports a mechanism for matched episodes. The fraction of the wider wave explained requires dated flight-to-report comparisons.

Illinois Triangle

Dispatch records constrain chronology, while a remembered clock time differs from transmission time. Source continuity and those timings determine the proposed inter-location speed.

Ladakh luminous-object reports

Planet and lantern explanations apply to specified observation sets, whose boundaries remain important. Security responses do not establish the physical identity of every reported source.

Lubbock Lights

Faculty observations and the Hart photographs are separate evidential sets. Different bird interpretations must be tied to the observations each analyst actually considered.

Michigan "Swamp Gas" Wave

The marsh-gas proposal was narrower than the regional slogan. Structured-object, glow and Hillsdale accounts differ; the public controversy is not a physical identification.

Montreal / Bonaventure Hotel UFO

Large dimensions depend on remembered angle and assumed altitude; photographic angular estimates differ. A pool-light explanation requires its own verified geometry.

Moorabbin / Bass Strait reports surrounding Valentich

Surrounding reports have uncertain clocks, viewing geometry and later transmission. Proximity to Valentich's disappearance does not identify a common source or supply his aircraft's missing position.

New Jersey/Northeast "drone" sightings

Broad official explanations have a defined coverage, while particular military-site observations require incident records. A regional report total cannot classify each source.

Petrozavodsk phenomenon

The photographed expanding phase can be compared with a dated launch plume. Additional low-object reports require independent timing and source association.

Phoenix Lights

The later stationary lights and earlier moving formations are separate episodes. Flare evidence for one and aircraft observations during the other should retain their individual coverage.

Samudra Tapu / Himalayan scientific-team observation

A direction described as different from the wind is not necessarily against it. Local airflow, range and viewing geometry are needed to test the reported movement.

Seoul mass aerial-light incident

An aircraft-incursion account and a reflected-balloon model address different reported sequences. Original flight and firing records are needed before either chronology supports a precise calculation.

Stephenville Lights

The corrected F-16 presence changes the operational context. Selected radar returns require continuity checks before they supply a trajectory or range for visual size estimates.

Tananarive mass sighting

Uncertain date and named-witness coverage differ from a mass-witness total. City-lighting and distant-location claims require separate chronology, and meteor models depend on assumed duration.

Yukon giant-UFO reports

A specific re-entry candidate can be matched against witness groups with different clock quality. Analyses using common orbital inputs are not wholly independent confirmations.

Photographs, films and recording provenance

The Barra da Tijuca photographs

Distance diagrams do not establish a large remote disc; illumination objections are substantive. Attribution to military examination cannot replace the missing analytical method.

Calvine photograph

Continuous grain is compatible with a single staged exposure. Model experiments test image formation but do not connect their props to the original photographers.

Carp / “Guardian” UFO case

Unknown photographer identity, uncertain tape sequence and disclosure before the fuller witness account weaken the claimed connection between video, witness and field.

Chulucanas sightings

Differing inventories require matching each recording to its submission and assessment. A reliability grade and a reported computer theft cannot substitute for original dated media.

The Drury film over Port Moresby

Contemporary correspondence establishes receipt and examination of a film. Later claims about resolved structure and removed decisive footage exceed the inspectable examination history.

Gulf Breeze sightings

Specific reflection objections and the reported attic model compromise the principal photographic claim. The disputed prop history does not identify every regional light report.

Kumburgaz videos

The January 2008 examination cannot authenticate three years of later recordings. Night crescents, dawn lights and processed occupant patterns require session-specific source and image analysis.

Lake Cote aerial photograph

Original-film inspection bears on a deformation hypothesis. Physical dimensions and speed remain dependent on uncertain range, image scale and the absence of the feature in adjacent frames.

The Mariana film at Great Falls

The film preserves two bright sources but no secure range or resolved disc structure. An aircraft-reflection identification requires a defensible date and matching flight geometry.

McMinnville photographs

Both exposures must fit a common scene reconstruction. Underside brightness, glare, surface reflectance and possible suspension geometry constrain specific models without yet selecting a shared range.

Mexico City eclipse UFO videos

Each tape needs its own date, camera position and celestial alignment. A well-matched Venus sequence cannot identify all recordings, and an unresolved enlargement cannot invalidate that match.

The Tremonton film

Loose grouping, relative movement and brightness permit a bird comparison. An assumed distant range cannot supply physical speed where the film lacks resolved anatomy or independent distance.

Trindade Island photographs

Reported absence of post-exposure manipulation does not exclude pre-exposure staging. Translated examination claims, official classifications and later recollections are not separate original laboratory tests.

Reported injury, vehicle effects and equipment interference

Ronald Sullivan’s Burkes Flat report

Conflicting event dates and absent light-bending measurements constrain the proposed optical effect. A subsequent fatal accident does not corroborate its cause.

Cash-Landrum Incident

Medical documentation, disputed exposure interpretations and the alleged helicopter operation have different evidential foundations. A legal outcome does not resolve the clinical cause.

Colares Flap

Military observations, patient accounts and the doctor's own sighting are distinct sources. An identified celestial image within the records must retain its individual scope.

Falcon Lake Incident

Early injury records, initially negative radioactivity findings and later site discoveries should remain dated separately. Later contamination cannot be made into an immediate measurement.

Levelland Incident

Reported engine and light failures do not share one uniform sequence. Those differences are consequential for a proposed common interference mechanism.

Malmstrom AFB Missile Incident

The Echo outage and circuit susceptibility are documented questions distinct from an external initiating signal. Oscar allegations and nearby visual reports need their own chronology and sources.

Nullarbor / Knowles family incident

The tested deposit came from the left front wheel area; tyre damage offers a specific mechanical explanation. Different family views and withdrawn vehicle details constrain a uniform encounter narrative.

Oil-field UFO reports

A cable relaying machinery trouble is not a recovered technical investigation. Missing pump and operational records limit attribution of the reported malfunction.

Trancas encounter

The chemical letter and press account differ in composition claims. The material does not identify a projecting device, and later beam descriptions require separate source comparison.

Val Johnson Incident

Responders documented damage, while attribution to the light depends on the encounter account. Fracture mechanics, ordinary deposits and handling history do not demonstrate an unusual physical mechanism.