In the past year, Americans for Safe Aerospace has 

sat across from more than 800 aviators, radar operators, and civilian observers,

 listening as they described things they could not explain – near-midair collisions, sustained tracks on multiple sensors, objects that defied the limits of known flight. Many had never spoken about it before. They came to us because they believed we would take them seriously, and because they needed to know their accounts would be handled with the kind of discretion that keeps faith between people who’ve seen something they can’t forget.

For too long, this subject was met with the indulgent smile reserved for the implausible. That era has passed. Witnesses now tell us that they come forward because they sense a change, and that serious people are listening. 

Senior lawmakers, current and former intelligence officials, federal law enforcement, and flag-level military officers

 are treating these accounts with the gravity they deserve. What was once a fringe curiosity is now an acknowledged matter of aviation safety and national security, spoken of soberly in the rooms where real decisions are made.

Our data and interviews indicate that approximately 

 – commercial and military alike – have experienced an anomalous sighting during their careers. That is an extraordinary number in any field, let alone one defined by precision, discipline, and safety. Yet our 850 total reports represent only a tiny fraction of those encounters. When measured against the hundreds of thousands of licensed aviators in the United States, the gap between experiences had and experiences reported is enormous.

This is not merely a data project; it is 

a matter of aviation safety and national security

, and, above all, a moral imperative – to honor the courage of credible witnesses by giving them the respect they deserve. Every account we review strengthens the case for transparency and accountability. Our work moves these stories from whispers in ready rooms to evidence in the hands of lawmakers.

Behind the Scenes: How ASA Handles Witness Reports

We don’t yet have a conclusion or an answer, and we don’t make assumptions. We are collecting data – carefully, systematically, and without precondition or judgement – because only with a disciplined record can we begin to separate what is extraordinary from what is merely unexplained.

When a witness reaches out to Americans for Safe Aerospace – be it a military aviator, a commercial airline captain, a radar operator, or a civilian on the ground – the first and most essential currency is trust. For many, it is 

the first time they have given voice to what they have seen.

 Some carry the quiet dread of professional reprisal; others bear the deeper wound of having spoken through official channels only to watch their testimony be minimized, set aside, or erased.


Every report is submitted through ASA’s secure online form, capturing date, time, location, media, and a detailed witness statement. Our intake team reviews the submission, checks for completeness, and assigns an initial confidence rating. Where appropriate, a member of our team contacts the witness to schedule a confidential conversation. We listen. We ask clarifying questions. We make sure the witness understands how their identity will be protected, and exactly how their information will be used, if needed.



It is a sustained act of discernment – classifying each report by the nature of the encounter, whether a fleeting visual sighting, a hard sensor track, a near-midair incident, or a multi-witness observation. We note any 

 such as sudden acceleration, low observability, or biological effects, and complete over 40 fields of additional detail concerning the appearance of the objects and circumstances in which they were observed. When possible, we cross-check the account with radar data, flight logs, or other corroborating evidence.

All reports are stored in our database, with a range of parameters identified and recorded to help assess emerging trends and patterns. This archive is designed not only to preserve each account in its original form but to allow for comparative analysis across time, geography, and encounter type.

In the future, we aim to involve our members more directly in this process – enabling you to review and vote on key portions of a report to evaluate its completeness and accuracy. This would create a form of peer-reviewed ranking, strengthening the credibility of our dataset and ensuring that the highest-quality reports rise to the forefront of public and legislative attention.


We search for the threads that bind them: location clusters that refuse to be coincidence, flight behaviors that recur across continents and decades, signatures that echo from one cockpit to another. It is about 

, but it is also about the moral obligation to meet credible witnesses not with indifference, but with the respect their vigilance has earned.

4. Escalation to National Security Partners


The most credible, well-documented reports – especially those involving flight safety or proximity to sensitive infrastructure – are shared with trusted national security or law enforcement partners for further investigation. In the coming months, we will share more about how these partnerships work, what happens once a report is escalated, and how this process is helping close critical gaps in our understanding of US airspace.


The best-documented cases do not stay on our desks. They move into the rooms where decisions are made. ASA has carried pilot testimonies directly into the offices of senior lawmakers and staff on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), both before and after the historic Congressional hearing on UAPs. These are the 

committees responsible for shaping U.S. defense policy and overseeing intelligence agencies.

Each report that makes it to this stage is more than a line in a database – it is a vetted account, backed by corroboration, carried into high-level briefings where it can inform legislative priorities, guide the development of safe reporting channels, and influence the allocation of resources to address airspace security gaps. 

When credible witnesses step forward, their voices can – and do – reach the highest levels of government. ASA ensures that happens.

The accounts line up with unnerving precision across platforms and decades.

 Pilots flying different aircraft, separated by years and even generations, describe movements so similar they could be drawn from the same flight log – abrupt accelerations, improbable turns, and a stubborn consistency that suggests intention rather than coincidence.

The safety risk is real and not theoretical.

 In case after case, pilots witness extraordinary objects – often in the crowded, carefully managed corridors of controlled airspace – moments where a split-second decision can stand between routine flight and potential disaster. Such events are rare to discuss publicly, given the professional stakes, but they represent a clear and present hazard to aviation safety.

Underreporting is the rule, not the exception.

 Most of these incidents never make it into an official report. The stigma is real, the career risk even more so, and the few reporting channels that exist are murky at best. For every case we hear about, there are many more left sitting in the silence of a cockpit after landing.

This is not a question of party politics.

 Safety and national security concern everyone, and on this matter, both sides are watching.

In Washington, the air is charged in a way we’ve never seen before. The 

, interest is building, and the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets is preparing for hearings that will carry this subject further into the light than ever before. Separately, there is growing momentum behind bipartisan, bicameral efforts to examine federal transparency around UAPs - legislative proposals tied to increased hearings and accountability. Legislation like the 

Safe Airspace for Americans Act and the UAP Disclosure Act

 now stand a real chance of passing, opening the door to transparency and to the kind of safe, standardized reporting channels aviators have needed for decades.

This is the moment we have been working toward, and it is a moment that can be lost if we fail to maintain pressure. The 

stakes are as high as they have ever been

 - for safety, for national security, and for the truth itself.

Stay engaged. Pay attention. The more of us who stand together, the harder it becomes for anyone to look away.

If you’ve witnessed something, 

, each report helps refine our data and strengthens the case for safety and transparency.

What We've Learned from Hundreds of UAP Witnesses