Summary
From 1950 onward, the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) documented 1,305 cockpit encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The catalogue lists 606 military, 444 commercial airliner, and 193 private aircraft incidents, plus 62 multi-aircraft or unspecified cases. Witnesses possess professional training in estimating distance, geometry, and velocity, and many events are corroborated by radar data, ground observers, or independent flight crews.1
Among all cases, 702 originate in North America. Radar-visual subsets (200 incidents, roughly 15 percent) are under examination at the French space agency CNES as a SEPRA project led by Jean-Jacques Velasco. Preliminary comparisons show radar-derived speed, range, and maneuver profiles align closely with pilot estimates. A separate study with Dr Richard F. Haines investigates 57 events (about 4 percent) that reported electromagnetic interference affecting radios, radar, compasses, or engines.2
The 50-page report publishes concise case summaries without interpretive commentary, providing researchers a uniform dataset for safety analysis.
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