The Cote UFO Photo: The Clearest UFO Image Ever Captured?
Source interview: Watch on Somewhere in the Skies’s YouTube channel.
Interview analysis
Ryan Sprague speaks with filmmakers Adam Pillon and Megan Woomer about their documentary on the 1971 Lake Cote photograph, recorded during a Costa Rican government aerial-mapping mission. Pillon and Woomer trace the people, film copies and later scans through which the image became public. Two published studies provide an unusually detailed technical record and retain the photographed feature as unidentified. Differences between the interview’s timing and scale figures and those papers leave estimates of motion and size dependent on unresolved source details.
Key themes
From survey flight to analytical record
The photograph is connected to a documented mapping flight rather than an anonymous sighting. Haines and Vallée’s 1989 paper analysed second-generation negative and positive transparencies; their 1990 follow-up states that they then examined connected frames 299–301 of the original film. That change in source material is consequential because only the later study could inspect the physical film for deformation.
Findings from the published analyses
Haines and Vallée reported image detail, tonal variation and no evidence of several proposed defects or deliberate fabrication. A referee appended to the 1989 paper proposed a pressure mark; the 1990 inspection found no corresponding deformation on the original film and retained the classification as unidentified. The studies test defined photographic explanations while leaving distance, composition and origin undetermined.
Timing and scale require source control
Pillon and Woomer give an approximate 13-second interval between exposures and an 84-metre diameter if the feature were at ground level. The 1989 paper records a 20-second intervallometer setting and calculates a maximum dimension of about 210 metres at the camera’s maximum 10,000-foot distance. Flight and camera records are needed to resolve that discrepancy. Unknown distance and trajectory presently prevent a unique calculation of size or speed.
A documentary that leaves the material open
The production connects the image with photographer Sergio Loaiza, researcher Esteban Carranza, scan technician Michael Strickland and others involved in its later history. The filmmakers also say that a high-resolution scan is freely available for further examination. Establishing the generation and processing history of that file is necessary before results from it can be compared directly with the original aerial film examined in 1990.
Assessment
A well-documented unidentified exposure
The Lake Cote case has a stronger research trail than most isolated UFO photographs: the flight, camera format, adjacent frames and two published technical studies can be examined. Frame 300 contains a disputed oval feature, and the flight crew reported seeing nothing unusual at the time. Haines and Vallée’s original-film study rejected several artefact and fabrication hypotheses and retained the image as unidentified, a classification that carries no positive finding about a craft. Further progress depends on direct comparison of the surviving original film, later copies and the downloadable scan through reproducible tests of competing image-formation mechanisms.
Navigate the source interview
- 5:47 — The photograph and its aerial-mapping context
- 16:39 — The single frame and the interview’s exposure-interval account
- 22:17 — Scale estimates and the unknown distance
- 25:27 — Photographic analysis, scanning and prior research
- 58:49 — Provenance compared with the Calvine photograph
- 65:10 — The filmmakers’ method and stated limits
- 72:09 — Access to the high-resolution scan
Questions
5:47 Which surviving records establish the photograph’s origin and chain of custody?
16:39 Why does the interview’s approximate 13-second interval differ from the published 20-second camera setting?
22:17 How does the unknown distance affect estimates of size, altitude and speed?
25:27 Which tests address film artefacts, and which interpretations remain open after those tests?
72:09 How does the downloadable scan relate to the original aerial negative examined in 1990?
Selected quotations
Three full stops (...) mark words omitted from the transcript, including verbal filler or false starts. Every retained word follows the source transcript. Use the linked timestamp or full transcript for surrounding context.
It is one photo ... it doesn't give you all the answers.
Pillon identifies the limitation of reasoning from a single exposure, even one with an unusually strong provenance.
We didn't really set out with an agenda to ... prove or disprove anything. We just wanted to make an interesting film and do it the best that we could.
Pillon describes the documentary as a record of participants and interpretations rather than a controlled test of every claim.
Sources
- Haines and Vallée, “Photo Analysis of an Aerial Disc Over Costa Rica” (1989) — The first published technical study, based on second-generation transparencies and accompanied by a dissenting referee review.
- Haines and Vallée, “Photo Analysis of an Aerial Disc Over Costa Rica: New Evidence” (1990) — The follow-up analysis reporting examination of connected frames 299–301 of the original negative.
Read the full source transcript (plain text). The supplied wording and time markers are retained.